"For those of you who are reloading 44-40, do have a favorite bullet you want to recommend?

How do you feel about Sarline brass?

Favorite powder?"

Howdy

I prefer Winchester brass for 44-40. Winchester has the thinnest brass at the case mouth, around .007 thick. Starline can be a hair thicker. This can matter because rifling groove diameter can vary quite a lot with 44-40 guns. The 19th Century standard for 44-40 was .427, as opposed to .429 for 44 Russian, 44 Special, and 44 Mag. But in fact, 44-40 groove diameter could vary all over the place with old guns, as low as .425 and up to over .430.

If you look up the SAMMI specs for the cartridge, the groove diameter is still supposed to be .427, but a lot of modern manufacturers today routinely use standard .429 44Sp/44Mag barrels. Ruger does. Most Uberti rifles are coming through today with .429 barrels too. This means that with lead bullets, a .430 bullet will be ideal. However, sometimes you will run into a chamber that is a bit tight. If you encounter the combination of a barrel requiring a .430 bullet and a tight chamber, you may find difficulty chambering the round. That is where the thinnest possible brass comes in. It may buy you an extra .001 or so, which may make the difference between chambering the round and not chambering the round.

There can also be problems with chamber throat diameter and barrel groove diameter with 44-40 in revolvers. When Ruger first started chambering the Vaquero for the cartridge, they were putting cylinders with chamber throats around .425 on guns with barrels of .429. This silly combination resulted in bullets being swaged down as they went through the throat and then they rattled down the bore. Most of those guns behaved fine when the chamber throats were reamed out to .429 or so.

For bullets with Smokeless powder, I have always used any hardcast 200 grain Round Nosed Flat Point bullet, sized appropriately. With Black Powder I use my own home cast Big Lube Mav-Dutchman bullets cast from pure lead and lubed with SPG. I size them to .428 because my rifles vary in groove diameter from .427 to .429. The dead soft lead bullets bump up in the bore to fill the grooves. At least I think they do, they shoot fine out of my Henry.

For powder, I prefer Unique for Smokeless, but mostly I use FFg.

Regarding previous comments about loading 44-40; yes I lube my cases, with Hornady one shot spray lube. Much quicker and easier than a lube pad.

Regarding the crimp; there really is no such thing as a 'heavy crimp' with 44-40. The brass is so thin it does not really form much of a roll crimp. It kind of just smooshes into the crimp groove and takes the shape of the crimp groove. You will never get a whole lot of neck tension with such a thin brass cross section, you just do the best you can.

Regarding difficulties crumpling 44-40 cases, two suggestions: If you are loading relatively large diameter bullets, like up around .430 you might try using the expanding plug from a 44 Mag/44 Sp die set. The plug included in most 44-40 die sets is for .427 bullets. Shoving a .430 bullet into a neck sized for .427 can create enough friction grab the brass and mash it down with the bullet. The plug from a 44Mag/44 Sp die set will be a couple of thou larger. Try the standard plug first, but if you are having problems, see if you can order the 44Mag/44Sp plug.

2. Adjust your seating crimping die very carefully. Adjust it so that the crimp does not quite contact the underside of the crimp groove. If the crimp is jammed up against the underside of the groove, the brass may actually get shoved down a hair as the crimp is formed, resulting in a bulge under the bullet. The more robust neck of a straight walled case will just bite into the bullet, but the thin neck of 44-40 is not strong enough and something will have to give. The brass usually gives. I like to leave a gap of maybe .005-.010 above the case mouth when I load 44-40. Many shooters use a Lee Factory Crimp die because of this, but I have good results with a standard RCBS seating/crimp die.

ALSO...do not rush when loading 44-40. If you jam one into the bottom of the sizing die, it will probably crumple. Work a little bit slower so you feel it if one strikes the bottom of the die. Back off and center the case better.

For what it's worth, I reload all my 44-40 on a Horndady Lock & Load AP progressive press, but I run it a little bit slower than when I am loading 45 Colt.