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Duplicating 44-40 performance with 44 mag?

2K views 2 replies 3 participants last post by  ironhead7544 
#1 ·
I am looking to have a '92 chambered in .44 mag. What I am after is a versatile rifle that can handle many situations, mainly hunting and plinking. I'd also like to have a 44-40 but it is pretty limited in the way of variation.

For the sake of a reloading situation, is it possible to load a .44 special or .44 mag to perform like a 44-40? What about in black powder?

What kind of stat comparison could be made between the three rounds: 44-40, .44 sp and .44 mag? This would be with 16-24" barrels.

Thanks,

Patrick
 
#2 ·
Easy enough. A 200gr cast bullet over about 7-7.5gr of Unique in the .44 mag case should be just the ticket to duplicate the .44WCF. Accuracy could well be a bit better than the average mag load since the rifling twist is better suited to the lighter bullet.
Black powder could be be a disappointment since the case volume is less and black thrives on volume. As a guess, I doubt that you can get much over 32-33gr of black in a mag case while the WCF will take about 38gr.
Have never checked speed on any .44 special loads in a rifle, but know that accuracy varies greatly from rifle to rifle with the short case. BOL
 
#3 ·
9 grains of unique with a 200 grain bullet will give about 1300-1400 fps in a rifle to duplicate the original 44-40 load. This load would group into 1 inch at 50 yards with my Marlin Cowboy with 24 inch barrel. Using a 6x24 scope for load testing, I could see the bullet strike the target. It goes a little over 1000 fps in a 4 and 5/8 in Ruger Vaquero. Black powder will work in the 44 mag but if you plan on hunting with it, then the 44-40 will give a little more velocity. Hope this helps.
 
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