Question for the 44-40 fans.

[tcassem]

I have been unable to find a round-nose, 200-grain mold for my 44-40 Vaquero. I did snatch up a Lee tumble lube, 230 grain, .430 swc. I cannot find a load for this for 44-40, so I was wondering if I could use this bullet and seat it to the same depth as the 200-grain bullet. This would put me at the third ring from the top of the tumble lube rings. Does anyone see a problem with this? I'm also going to go down to 5.25 grains of Trail Boss instead of my normal 6.0 grains. Just to let you know, my cylinder has been bored out to .430 and the barrel is .429. The chambers were .425-.426. This was a common problem with the early Vaqueros. My test loads for the Lee .430 do fit the chambers.

[Bad Ass Wallace]

I use the Saeco #446 in my Vaquero's as I doulbe up and use the same ammo in my Pedersoli Lightning.

https://www.redding-reloading.com/online-catalog/88-bullet-moulds-charts

[Tar Heel]

I am curious as to why a heavier SWC is what you are using when a round nose bullet was your quest. To cure your cylinder mouth diameter issue, DougGuy can fix that for you and open up those mouths to .430". A 200gr RN mold will cross your path soon enough and I would suggest getting that cylinder off to DougGuy to have it opened up in the meantime so that whatever bullet you put through it shoots better. In my 44-40's I shoot a Lee 429-200-RF bullet. The blunt works fine and is compatible with a tubular magazine on a rifle. Best of both worlds for me.

[Buzz Krumhunger]

“Just to let you know, my cylinder has been bored out to .430 and the barrel is .429. The chambers were .425-.426.“ from the OP.

Sounds like he’s already had the chambers opened up.

[pworley1]

I use the starting load for the 44 special for the heavier round nose bullets in the 44 40. I only shoot modern rifles with these loads.

[Larry Gibson]

I have an old SS Vaquero 44-40. The throats are all .429 at the mouth so with the .429 barrel it shoots really well. I use a lot of the Lee TL429-240-SWC bullet in it. Those are sized .430 and lubed with BAC for loading in Winchester W-W cases which have pretty thin necks. In the few R-P and Star-Line cases with a bit thicker necks I push size those through a Lee .429 sizer or the cases can be hard to chamber. I seat the 240 TL SWCs to the first lube groove and crimp there. The Ruger cylinder throats are slightly tapered with the rear at .431 so the .430 sized bullets seated that way do chamber. Seated to the first crimp groove the base of the bullet does protrude into the case a bit but at the lower pressures with the loads I use it posed no problem.

I don't use TrailBoss so can help you there. I use 7.2 gr VV N32C (Tin Star), 6.2 gr Bullseye or 6.0 gr 700X . Since I also shoot the same loads in a M92 carbine I just use the loads for the carbine in Vaquero. That has worked out very well. The TL 240 SWC shoots extremely well out of the M92 at 1050 fps. Such load in the 7 1/2" barreled Vaquero then run 820 - 870 fps. These loads all pressure tested less than 18,000 psi.

For a "heavier" load I use 8.5 gr of Unique which pushes the TL 240 SWC out of the M92 at 1260 fps and out of the vaquero at 945 fps. For a bit "heavier" I use 25 gr RL7 under the TL 240 gr SWC for 1157 fps out of the Vaquero and 1488 fps out of the M92. These loads pressure tested less than 23,000 psi.

[Texas by God]

Sadly no handgun, but I've always liked that bullet, I've had that mould longer than any of my moulds, I think.
This load is a mild pinker from my Topper 20" carbine. Oh, and thanks for the loads Mr. Gibson- I will check those out! .https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20210426/e72f843371af2a38c028a76ec40dfd3d.jpg

Sent from my SM-A716U using Tapatalk

[tcassem]

Thanks Larry, all good information. I did a test run of the bullets today and did not have any problems.

[tcassem]

Thanks for your reply. As stated I was looking for a round nose 200 grain mold, but molds are hard to come by right now. I was able to get the mold I mentioned for now.

[Savvy Jack]

I have been unable to find a round-nose, 200-grain mold for my 44-40 Vaquero. I did snatch up a Lee tumble lube, 230 grain, .430 swc. I cannot find a load for this for 44-40, so I was wondering if I could use this bullet and seat it to the same depth as the 200-grain bullet. This would put me at the third ring from the top of the tumble lube rings. Does anyone see a problem with this? I'm also going to go down to 5.25 grains of Trail Boss instead of my normal 6.0 grains. Just to let you know, my cylinder has been bored out to .430 and the barrel is .429. The chambers were .425-.426. This was a common problem with the early Vaqueros. My test loads for the Lee .430 do fit the chambers.

This might give you an idea as to the possibilities.... https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1cZyKKXVyHq9as9uFJiko5yReJ9a-ER32YsENTgJGJs4/edit#gid=472614943

[Wayne Smith]

I think Accurate is shipping about as fast as he did prior to the current craziness - If you want a specific boolit I'd check out his website

[Savvy Jack]

I think Accurate is shipping about as fast as he did prior to the current craziness - If you want a specific boolit I'd check out his website

Accurate is the best!

https://www.accuratemolds.com/catalog.php?page=15#catalog-anchor

[Outpost75]

I have two Accurate 230-grain molds I use in the .44-40. I mostly use 6 grains of Bullseye, but also have good results with 17.5 grains of IMR4227 or 24.5 grains of RL7

283974283976

[Walks]

Second on the 6.0grs Bullseye.

I've used 7.0grs of Unique under a 225gr RNFP from a Magma mold. Used it that load for Cowboy Shooting since 1988. That bullet since about 1992.

[yeahbub]

tcassem, who did you have open up those chamber throats? I have an "old" Vaquero in .44-40 with .425 throats and a .430 groove. I have to wonder how the decision to build them like that was arrived at. Couldn't get any accuracy out of it.

Chambers are small, too. A .427-.428 is the biggest that would chamber easily and that was with Win brass, so it'll need the chambers opened up too.

Does anyone know whether Ruger does an effective job at fixing this problem

[45-70 Chevroner]

I have heard of guys sending cylinders back to Ruger to have cylinder throats fixed with nothing being done to fix thim. This is not a slam aginst Ruger because I like their guns. I think you will have better results sending it to someone that specializes in that area. There is someone on this site that does it and does very nicely.

[Wayne Smith]

DougGuy can fix you up - do a search for some of his posts and you will be convinced.