Huey
While Jim is casting, I'm loaded for the Winchester 44-40...
Saturday, December 19, 2020, 11:41

Wanted to push some loads up to 30-32k psi. To accomplish this, I used pretty stout loads of Unique. Not testing for max velocity, just wanted to see how the gun handled high pressure loads.

The Starline 44-40 Brass holds about 1.5 grn more powder than their 44 Magnum Brass. I just extrapolate load data from there. It's not exactly rocket science.

When I reached 1400 fps, I quit. This doesn't sound powerful, but is about typical of most 44 Magnum Revolvers. Most consider them fine hunting ballistics and I agree

I loaded Missouri Bullets TC on the left and Acme SWCs on the right. Both 240 grn and both coated with Hi-Tek Coating.

The SWCs fed like glass and I'm glad the tapered/necked case eliminated my friend's 44 Magnum problem. I'm not sure if his gun's feeding problem is due to the straight wall case or just his gun.

Surely, H110 and 2400 will produce higher velocity. I'm expecting 17-1800 fps at the end of testing.

I don't think in our Magnum Era that the old 44-40 WCF is ready for a back seat just yet. It's been around a lot of years and still will get the job done...