.44-40 in a revolver

[David LaPell]

I have run across a couple SAA clones in .44-40 lately, I haven't ever messed with that round before, I've had .45 Colt and .38-40, but never .44-40. Anyone else ever messed with that round in a six gun?

[DougGuy]

It's a very popular caliber even by today's standards. The bane of the 44-40 is that it used .427" boolits and almost every single modern manufacturer uses a .429" ~ .430" barrel so you start with an undersized boolit which does not make for accuracy or a clean bore. Reaming cylinder throats to use a .431" boolit often cures the ills, but as such chamber necks in the cylinder may be too tight to chamber a round loaded with the .431" boolit, so now you need the neck of the chamber reamed as well as the throats, and by now you have pretty much a decent shooting gun..

[Chad5005]

ive got a vaquero in 44-40 and its a decent shooter

[Outpost75]

My Ruger Vaquero was made in 1991 and had tight chamber necks and cylinder throats. I had John Taylor rechamber the cylinder to enlarge chamber necks from .444" to .4475" and cylinder throats from .425" to .4305". I now shoot .430" bullets in it and it is accurate.

[Wayne Smith]

I have two Uberti Cattlemans in 44-40 that I shoot 429/430 boolits in with no problems, interferance or inaccuracy. Full case of BP is about 42gr Goex FFFG compressed enough to seat the boolit - directly on the powder. I'm getting 860fps out of a 7.5" barrel and 1300 out of the 20" Short Rifle.

Boolit is the MAV Big Lube boolit. 200 gr.

[bob208]

I have a old Dakoda 5 1/2 barrel. bought it used 30 years ago. all I ever use in it is the rcbs 200 gr. rnfp bullet sized to .429. never had a problem with it chambering. it shoots tgo the sights.

[Silver Jack Hammer]

In the Colt’s the thicker rim of the .44-40 rubs against recoil shield. You’d think they’d fix that but, no. It functions but not smoothly. Takes more effort to cock the hammer. Then the round hits the target with less authority than the .45 Colt’s. Add the extra steps involved with the rimmed cartridge needing steel dies and lube. In the end you ask -Why am I doing this for the .44-40?

My .44-40 Colt’s cylinder just sits on the shelf and gathers dust. I load the .44-40 in the Winchester ‘73 but it gets less shooting than my Colt’s revolvers. Personally I stick with straight wall cases in revolvers.

[Walks]

I have 4, 2 COLT 44SPL with .44WCF cylinders made from .357Mag Cylinders. And Armi San MARCO. 44WCF. And a UBERTI .44SPL with an extra .44WCF Cylinder.

I load .428 sized bullets in both .44SPL & .44WCF, all guns will shoot under 3 inches at 25yrds.

Good enough for me and minimal leading in the Armi San Marco only.

[Larry Gibson]

I shoot the 44-40 in a Ruger Vaquero (old model with large frame). The cylinder throats measure .429 (pin gauged) and the barrel groove is also .429 (slugged). My Colt Anaconda 44 Magnum and Ruger Single Six 32 H&R also have cylinder throats the same size as the barrel groove diameter. I have found those 3 to be the most accurate revolvers I've ever had.

In the Vaquero 44-40 I use two 240 gr cast bullets; the Lee TL430-240-SWC and the Lyman 429360 (my favorite for this handgun). Both are sized .429 and lubed with BAC. Mostly I shoot either bullet over 6 gr of 700X. That is a very accurate load which runs 950 fps out of the 7 1/2" Vaquero. Another excellent load is either bullet over 8.5 gr of Unique for 1060 fps.

226369

[Texas by God]

I wish I had been a member here when I owned a lopsided Ruger Vaquero. I might still have it. I was about to fit a .44 mag cylinder to it but I swapped it even for a Browning A5 instead.
The cartridge itself I really like and I'd love an accurate handgun in it.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G930A using Tapatalk

[doc1876]

i have a couple, and love them. While I don't shoot them as often as my .45, I enjoy them right out of the box. It doesn't hurt that my Uberti Henry is in 44-40 to go with one of them.

[Beagle333]

I have a Navy Arms Uberti in nickel 4-5/8", an American Arms birdshead 5.5", a Cimarron Frontier 5.5", a Cimarron Model P 4-5/8", and a stainless Old Model Vaquero 7.5" just like Larry Gibson's pictured above. Yes, I do recommend a .44-40 in a revolver. 8-)