I am using Lee’s 44-200RF sized to .429 in my Henry Arms Co. 1860 44-40. Is yours also made by them?
Yes it is..and I think I have that same mold. I may drop some lead if I get off work early enough.
Watch to see if the cartridges fit the chamber. I friend has a new Moruku (Japanese Winchester) and I had to size the bullets down to .427 to get them to chamber. .429 works fine for the other guys. Both his Revolver and Rifle. So just something to watch for. Go slow when reloading as the mouths are very thin. Only bell the mouth enough to prevent skinning the bullet. Good luck.
Heard. If I need to get a .427 sizer I will. Hoping .429 will fly though. Ditto on the thin necks.
My two Miroku 1873’s in 44-40 WCF requires WW brass ..430”, Rem. brass 429”, Starline brass .429” .If you measure your fired brass’s case mouth it’s more likely closer to spec.than what you have.
It might have been on this forum but someone called Henry to find out it’s barrel specs and was told Henry used a .428 groove diameter +/- .001. Mine is dead on out to 100 where I am “tinging” steel targets. .429 lee bullets. No doubt, it will ting targets at 200 with the sight raised. Right now I am using a green dot load for 1200 fps and want to get into the 1350 fps range with another powder.
Last edited by smkummer; 01-10-2023 at 08:50 AM.
You are going to enjoy that one. Congratulations!
NRA Benefactor Member NRA Golden Eagle
I am a wee bit envious!
I've seen 3 in the last 6mo.. I passed in the first 2 and kicked myself each time. Just paid my truck off so this time could afford a little joy.
FWIW, I bought my 1860 New Henry 44-40 carbine for almost 1/2 retail. The seller kept coming down price wise on gunbroker with no bids. We worked out a private deal. I truely believe these are currently slow movers because of the ammo situation. If your not a reloader, the 44-40 ammo situation is ridiculous. If it was a 45 colt chambering, it would have sold a long time ago.
Yep..44-40 is almost unobtainable commercially.
Any update? My Henry seems to have a very light hammer spring. Have you shot some reloads yet?
Have an Uberti 73 inbound in .44 WCF and was hoping I could use the Lee bullet. Good to see this.
Sorry.. forgot a range report.
She fires factory and reloads fine.. she for sure likes a more rounded nose biullet vs a swc design. The hornady factory is swc.. the winchester factory is rnfp. the swc hangs unless you aim the gun at a down angle while cycling. the rnfp runs fine. the lee bullets are rnfp and work great. I'm using cci pistol primers. no problems with strikes.
Nice, I wouldn't mine owning one of those one day, except in 45 colt.
I surely don't want to add another cal.
RP
Monte Walsh "You have No idea how little I care".
Yup..adding another caliber causes things to happen... Like.. Having to run out and but a revolver in the same caliber to match...like I did...
BP | Bronze Point | IMR | Improved Military Rifle | PTD | Pointed |
BR | Bench Rest | M | Magnum | RN | Round Nose |
BT | Boat Tail | PL | Power-Lokt | SP | Soft Point |
C | Compressed Charge | PR | Primer | SPCL | Soft Point "Core-Lokt" |
HP | Hollow Point | PSPCL | Pointed Soft Point "Core Lokt" | C.O.L. | Cartridge Overall Length |
PSP | Pointed Soft Point | Spz | Spitzer Point | SBT | Spitzer Boat Tail |
LRN | Lead Round Nose | LWC | Lead Wad Cutter | LSWC | Lead Semi Wad Cutter |
GC | Gas Check |