44 Mag cases resized to 44-40

G'day gents,

I thought I might try something out of the ordinary today. I resized 25 .44 mag cases to 44-40. I loaded some with 6.5 grns of trail boss and the remainder with 20grns of 2400. They fall into the 44-40 chamber of my '92 Winchester. I am conscious of the thickness of the 44 mag cases and that of the win. 44-40 cases. Is there someone out there with much more knowledge of pressure than myself. I am thinking that while the cartridges fall into the chamber, and when cartridge goes off I'm of the opinion the case would not go back to the 44-40 dimensions and may get stuck in the chamber. Am I on the right track with my figuring?

Any information in this regard would be appreciated so I don't blow up my '92 as well some serious injury to myself.

Regards Bob

You’ll have a lot of space at the base of the case of those “reformed” rounds. No way I’d shoot them like that in my gun. If you need to reform cases to 44-40, wouldn’t it be better to start with 45 Long Colt cases? The movie industry makes “5 in 1” blanks to use with 44-40 and 45 Colt rifles and revolvers.

You might be able to blow out the bases of 44 Mag cases enough to fireform them to fit a 44-40 chamber, but I wouldn’t do that with the kind of loads you mention. JMHO, but I do still have both eyes and all ten fingers.

Froggie

Best bet is to just buy 44-40 cases. They are out there, just not very affordable.

The base of the 44 Mag case is smaller, it will expand inside the 44-40 chamber and cause a weak spot just foreword of the web. May or may not ever be an issue when shooting such low recoil loads. The base of the 44 Mag case is no different in "thickness", strength as the 44-40 case so I would never shoot hot loads with the Mag cases with the damaged web transition.

.45 Colt cases are the proper ones to resize to 44/40. A .44 mag case is too small.

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Originally Posted by scattershot

.45 Colt cases are the proper ones to resize to 44/40. A .44 mag case is too small.

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If the 44-40 has a tight chamber, the 45 Colt case will not fit. In a rifle, you may have enough "leverage" when cycling the action to force the action closed. The larger rim may or may not hinder fitting in some firearms.

44-40 Base - .471
45 Colt - .480

I regularly load for my 44-40 revolver using 44 mag cases, but do not have a rifle in 44-40 so our situation is not the same. That said, these are my thoughts. As mentioned above, the diameter of 44 Mag is slightly smaller at the head than 44-40, so you will see expansion the first time you use them, and then just neck size thereafter. As long as you do not full length size with a 44 Magnum sizer, the expansion of the base with the first firing will be a one-time thing and does not weaken the brass. When I started this same experiment I reloaded the same cases multiple times. neck sizing in-between firings to see if the dimensions of the head area would change or show any signs of failure-- nothing changed after the first use.

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Originally Posted by BobInAus

G'day gents,

I thought I might try something out of the ordinary today. I resized 25 .44 mag cases to 44-40. I loaded some with 6.5 grns of trail boss and the remainder with 20grns of 2400. They fall into the 44-40 chamber of my '92 Winchester. I am conscious of the thickness of the 44 mag cases and that of the win. 44-40 cases. Is there someone out there with much more knowledge of pressure than myself. I am thinking that while the cartridges fall into the chamber, and when cartridge goes off I'm of the opinion the case would not go back to the 44-40 dimensions and may get stuck in the chamber. Am I on the right track with my figuring?

Any information in this regard would be appreciated so I don't blow up my '92 as well some serious injury to myself.

Regards Bob

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Bob your 92 will stand enough to frighten you or hurt
can you not get 44/40 brass?
if you need to do this try a narrow wrap of thin tape around the solid head area (to hold the case square in the chamber for the first firing) or the extra neck thickness might take care of this without the tape. If your undersize cases are sitting on the bottom of the chamber when they fire then most of the (body) expansion is on the top side - they bulge unevenly. PITA later on.