Experiment: 44-40 from 44 Magnum

Awhile back I got my hands on a Cimarron revolver in 44-40, but I could not find brass anywhere. My handbook of cartridge conversion says to make 44-40 from 303 British-- but its pretty complicated. So, I went to one of the CAS sites and researched using 44 Magnum. The general feeling there was that the 44 Magnum rim was undersized for rifle extractors, and that the slightly smaller diameter head on the 44 Magnum would lead to case splitting after 1 or 2 reloads. BUT-- I could not find anyone who had actually tried it.

So-- I acquired 10 previously fired 44 Magnum cases, and resized them to 44-40 and used a 205 grain cast bullet, and tested using the Hornady manual for my starting loads (They had data for a 205 cast bullet).

Bottom line is I formed the 10 cases to 44-40, loaded, crimped and fired them, resized, expanded and reloaded and crimped again. etc. etc. I have now reloaded those same 10 cases 5 times and see nothing unusual.

This shows the 10 cases after 5 reloads and then sized and expanded again, along with a sample of what a 44 Magnum looks like when converted to 44-40.

Attachment 297342

Very interesting. Having just picked up a 44-40, I'll have to file this one away for a rainy day.

The only caution I see might be if the 44m brass is thicker at the case mouth than the 44-40 brass. This would effectively reduce the max. boolit diameter you could use. A lot of 44-40 cylinders have a neck that is only .445" so subtract two thicknesses of brass from that and what's left is all the boolit you could seat in fireformed 44m brass.

If your 44m brass is .011" at the case mouth, then .445" - .022" = .423" where 44-40 brass I think is .007" or so case thickness, .445" - .014" = .431"

For your 44-40 WCF. Brass is not hard to find.
https://brentforcesecurity.com/produ...brass-100-bag/ $39.00

From the look of the "reformed" cases your cylinder has nice small diameter chambers which is a plus. I would have given it a try also.
We have Colt New Service (1903) which is at the extreme of fat 44 WCF chambers that would be a real challenge for 44 mag brass to expand to.

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Originally Posted by Randy Bohannon

For your 44-40 WCF. Brass is not hard to find.
https://brentforcesecurity.com/produ...brass-100-bag/ $39.00

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I saw that site. I wasn't sure of the legitimacy. Tons of fake gun and ammo sites popped up when all the panic started. I can't find any customer reviews, and I can't find any business by that name in Texas.

Edit. It's fake. They only accept payment via bitcoin and vanilla gift cards. Dead giveaway.

Thanks for this write-up, Mr. Hick. This conversion is something I've wondered about for a long time, but never had to try it as I had enough .44-40 brass. This is really good-to-know information, and like Thundermaker said, it's a good one to file away.

DG

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Originally Posted by DougGuy

The only caution I see might be if the 44m brass is thicker at the case mouth than the 44-40 brass. This would effectively reduce the max. boolit diameter you could use. A lot of 44-40 cylinders have a neck that is only .445" so subtract two thicknesses of brass from that and what's left is all the boolit you could seat in fireformed 44m brass.

If your 44m brass is .011" at the case mouth, then .445" - .022" = .423" where 44-40 brass I think is .007" or so case thickness, .445" - .014" = .431"

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Absolutely right-- and when I loaded the first set I found that I had to be very careful how I set the crimp. I had to fiddle with it awhile before I found a setting that let the cartridges drop in the chambers.

Sorry about that .

I think a 45 colt case might do much better. The base is slightly larger than the 44-40 case, but that could be trimmed down with the case in a drill and a file. I ran a 45 colt case into a 44-40 sizer die and it grew in length to 1.3ish", so it will have to be trimmed to length. It did push up a very small ridge where the base of the case did not go all the way into the die. If there is a little slop in your chamber, it might not be a problem.
As was mentioned above, the mouth thickness would be the next hurdle. The 38-40 case I have on hand measures .008" and the 45 Colt case was .012".

Here's a 38-40 case next to the formed 45 Colt case.
http://www.lsstuff.com/pics/misc/44-40.jpg

.45 Colt is larger in base diameter above the rim and cases reformed to .44-40 will not chamber unless chambers are very sloppy.

.44 Magnum, besides case mouths being too thick, the base diameter is too small and fired cases come out looking 3 months pregnant and may split.

Best to find the correct brass.

If you can find .38-40 brass it will neck up OK.

I can fire .44 Special/magnum CCI shotloads in my 44-40 single shot. They come out swelled from firing- but being aluminum and Berdan primed - I'm automatically tossing them, anyway.
I would keep looking for proper brass; but your experiment has met " rainy day" knowledge requirements.

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at $39.00 a 100, go for it! you can't make then for that!

I believe I would try lar45's method and turn the excess off on my lathe.

But....a fella has to do what a fella has to do!!!! Good use of your noodle!!!

44-40 WCF is not an exotic cartridge that requires a bunch of excess methods to get suitable brass. They haven’t stopped making it, might take a bit of looking around it’s out there.

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Originally Posted by Randy Bohannon

44-40 WCF is not an exotic cartridge that requires a bunch of excess methods to get suitable brass. They haven’t stopped making it, might take a bit of looking around it’s out there.

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Not right now it isn't. Believe me. I did more than "a bit" of looking around. I picked up some from the members here. Most of it is once-fired. It was never a high production item, and companies are focusing on other things.

As said, maybe you can come up with some 38-40 and just expand to make 44-40 cases.

I was sizing some 44-40 brass the other day and found an empty case that either my son or I accidentally fired in a 45 LC. It had expanded to the point it would not enter the mouth of the 44 resizing die - but wasn’t split or otherwise visibly compromised. I figured its life was shortened so just tossed it in the trash.

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Originally Posted by Outpost75

.45 Colt is larger in base diameter above the rim and cases reformed to .44-40 will not chamber unless chambers are very sloppy.

.44 Magnum, besides case mouths being too thick, the base diameter is too small and fired cases come out looking 3 months pregnant and may split.

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With respect, I think you missed the point. The reason I reloaded the same brass multiple times was to see how much they would grow and whether they would split.

44 Magnum brass is thicker than 44-40 brass, and the head of the 44 Magnum brass has to withstand over 30,000 psi when used in 44 Magnum, while 44-40 max pressure is 13,000 psi.

I ran the same brass through 5 reloads just because of the claim that the cases would bulge at the base and split. They did not. I also measured them before and after and they did not grow more than a couple of thousands of an inch. The photo in my post shows the cases after five reloads-- none of them look the slightest bit pregnant.

The basic point is that, while some say it won't work, it did. The sizing is tricky, the neck brass is thick, but it can be done.

Last year I placed an order with Starline and it took about five months due to the covid nonsense, but finally I got an e-mail from them , I called them again to refresh my credit card info and three weeks later got My 250 pcs. I was a Happy Guy.

Starline currently has .38-40 brass in stock. (3/10/22)

When I look at Starline Brass, 38-40 can be backordered, it is not in stock. Might have been for a short time?

I'm waiting for the day when 32-20 is in stock or at at least backorderable!

And speaking about 32-20 brass, I was looking at Gunbroker yesterday and there are a LOT of commercials for Winchester 32-20 brass for sale. These are 50-count bags of new production materials. Prices are higher that before, but what isn't? I am tempted to add some to my stash for 32-20 revolver and rifle uses, also to convert some to 25-20.

Contacted Starline the other day about 44-40 brass. The guy said that they have no plans on making it at this time, stated they hadn't had much request for it.

I recently acquired a 44-40 win model 92. I was lucky enough to find a fellow with 200 new Starline brass and Lee dies. Was a great find!