WB
I cheated. Not an original idea, this guy
Friday, October 19, 2018, 16:46

used to write for G&A, don't think it was Spankinburger (lol, sp?) a fellow with dark hair, where I first saw it in 1978-79. I took a second SBH .44 cylinder I fitted and self reamed it to .44-40, or .43-40 as Mr. Taffin put it.

My SBH has .431 or so throats so I just shoot .430" bullets loaded into .44-40 cases. Works just dandy. I went off the reservation and have some loaded up with H110 and 325 gr. cast plain base I bought from a Misfit who admitted his errors. I have redeemed him. lol

It still shoots the soft bullet Cowboy 200 gr. .427" loads fine. In FACT I accidentally shot a whole cylinder full of .44-40 through my Late Vaquero .45 Colt off the bench at 25 yds. Garnered a 4" group too! So my custom SBH shoots, all straight wall .44's including magnums and .44-40.

As to the .38-40 it is more tricky than the .44 WCF. I gave up on the .44 Colt Frontier barrel onto the OM Ruger like Taffin managed. Could never get the 2nd generation threads to match acceptably. So I just had Gary do me a 6-shot .38-40 on the old .357 Ruger chassis. It is a delight. I also have a larger chassis 6-shot in .401 GNR with an extra .40 S&W cylinder. Then a .401 Herter's with it's second .38-40 cylinder. The latter is actually, cylinder wise, not much if any bigger than the old Colt Peacemaker. The frame if beefy indeed. Dick Williams once borrowed the Herter's for an article on the .401 Herter. You can still find it on the net and a reference to Gary Reeder working over the .38-40 cylinder!