Does anyone know if the barrel on the 44-40 model 544 is the same as a 44 mag/special barrel as far as groove diameter. From what I read, old 44-40 barrels can be all over the place, but I figured S&W probably wouldn't make a one off special barrel for one commemorative gun.
A loclal gun shop has one of these 544s for a good price, and I thought it would make a great .44 spl conversion. Otherwise Ihave no interest in messing with 44-40.

Over the decades, MANY Model 544 owners fitted 44 Special or 4 Magnum cylinders to their revolvers
I have never slugged my barrel, but the guys I talked to all said these were standard 44 bores

Personally, I would not push the revolver to Magnum performance

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"Acta non verba"

I don't have one but from what I have been told , S&W used 44 magnum barrels . As I understand , the groove diameter is .429 , the cylinder throats are .428 . I would love to have a S&W 544 , I enjoy reloading / shooting the 44-40 cartridge . Someone else will have to come in and explain what's involved for the conversion . I hope this helps , Regards Paul

A 44-40 bullet diameter is .427”, a 44 Special/magnum is .429”. I would guess you should not fire a 44 Special/magnum thru a 44-40 barrel. Someone with more info should come along shortly.

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Pine_Worker
Ex-LEO, NRA Life

Unless you got the necessary parts laying around,
It’s probably going to be easier and cheaper just to buy a 44 Special.

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NRA LIFE MEMBER

Awesome, thanks,
The one im looking at has the box and looks unfired,but has standard N frame target stocks that cover up half of the Texas logo on the sideplate.I'm hoping to use that as a bargaining chip.
Now just need to find a 24 cylinder��

But wouldn't have a 5 inch barrel, which is the main reason I'd do it.

Or modify a 27/28.

Yes, it is the same as 44 Special/44 Magnum barrels. I had one for a few years and found it to shoot Nosler and Sierra 200 grain .4295" JHPs excellently. I would never consider the cost of another cylinder when 44/40 is very similar in power to 44 Special.

I agree it would make a great 44 spl or a convertible.

However to be honest I don't know. I, like you, would be terribly surprised if they resized their rifling for one special run of .44-40 guns and from .429" to .427" for a .002" change! Especially a commemorative where 90% would be collected and not shot.

Bores from the same model and brand can vary that much. And even if it's a .427" bore, as long as the cyl throats aren't smaller than that, you're ok. The problem would be using a .427 throated cyl with a .429 bore". That was ruger's problem with their 44-40 Vaquero. They took a lot back to fix the cyl throats! And you're not likely to end up with a 44 spl cyl with .427 throats.


Do you reload? If so, no problem. You'll find the most accurate bullet by trying different sized bullets.

Finding a 44 spl cyl might be the bigger problem. If so, you can always run a 44 spl reamer in the 44-40 cyl to open up the neck or neck and throat. Yeah the fired cases will stretch a bit more at the base, but you can use a carbide resizer on 44 cases. If you don't reload, no problem.

You can even face off a 44 mag cyl to shorten it at the front. The little bit of extra bullet jump shooting the shorter 44 spl cases was never a problem for accuracy in any of my 44 Mags.

I think it would make a great 44 gun with it's 5" barrel.

If the price is right I'd grab it, or even if it's just a fair and reasonable price.
Hope this helps,

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Jim
S&WCA #819

I bought a 544 a few years back and for some reason I have a 500 count box of hard cast .427 diameter bullets under my reloading bench. May have ordered them before checking around and learning the barrel was .429. I doubt there's any issue sending .429 lead down the barrel. I didn't buy mine to be a substitute 44 Magnum.

I bought mine because it's a 5" N frame in 44 caliber and being C&R eligible it can get into CA without being on the state's "roster" of OK'd handguns.

Reloading for the 44.40 isn't quite the PITA it's made out to be.

A Model 24, 27 or 28 cylinder is too short. You will have way too much barrel cylinder gap. The cylinder is only slightly shorter than a Model 29 cylinder, as in a few hundredths of an inch. If you want a .44 Special, options are to re-chamber a .41 Magnum cylinder or to slightly shorten a 29 cylinder and shoot specials.

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S&WCA 1729

Thanks for that insight, that 44-40 cylinder looked like it filled the frame pretty well. A 44 mag cylinder will probably be easier to find anyway. If I have to go punching out a different caliber cylinder, that's a little more involved than I want to get.

I loaded .44-40 routinely for CAS and it is not as much trouble as it is made out to be. A set of dies would be a lot less expensive than a new cylinder.

I too load 44-40 and he's right , it's not the trouble others make it out to be . If I was to ever buy a S&W 544 I would definitely shoot it as manufactured " 44-40 " . I would not , under any circumstances ever buy one that has been converted . If I wanted a 44 spl , I would just buy one . Regards Paul

Here's my 44-40 data from a few years ago.


Marlin 1894S, 20" MG barrel; S&W 544, 5" barrel:

44-40 200 grain Nosler JHP, Starline cases, CCI 300 caps, and

-18.0 grains 2400 (it shoots very well in the 1894S)
Rifle - 1389 fps, ev 1351-1453
Revolver - 1139 fps, ev 1128-1158

- 8.5 grains Unique, a great revolver load
Rifle - 1095 fps, ev 1050-1145
Revolver - 897 fps, ev 841-971

-16.0 grains AA#9
Rifle - 1183 fps, ev 1120-1301
Revolver - 833 fps, ev 807-857.

I finished up my search for the upper end of Longshot 44-40 data; at 12.0 grains, extreme spreads grew quickly. There was still no primer flattening nor unusual case expansion, but if I want a magnum, I'll buy one.

The 'sweet spot' for consistent velocities with this caliber/powder/bullet combination lies between 10.5 and 11.5 grains, with the very lowest extreme spread (ES) at 11.0 grains, which provides 976 fps mean velocity in the Smith and 1344 fps in the Marlin. I think I'll edge upward at 0.1 grain increments to find the best accuracy between 10.5 and 11.5 grains.

The weather was 70 degrees with about 10-15 mph winds. The data is also for 5-shot groups.

Charge Weight    S&W      Mean Velocity       Extreme Spread      Marlin       Mean Vel      Extreme Spread

11.0 grains                      976 fps                   63 fps                             1344 fps         48 fps
11.5 grains                     1018 fps                  72 fps                              1414 fps       121 fps
12.0 grains                     1101 fps                 298 fps                             1499 fps        290 fps

I've found 'the' load. It's 11.2 grains of Longshot behind the 200 grain Nosler. It gives me 1005 fps mean velocity with the Smith, 1421 fps with the Marlin; ES is 68 fps revolver, 81 fps rifle, and the groups reflect the consistency. I tried 10.8 to 11.8 grains in .2 grain increments; 11.2 was the 2nd best for ES, but far and away the most accurate. Groups were round, symmetric with no stringing; at 25 yards I chewed the center out of my homemade targets with 20 rounds from the Smith after sight adjustment, and the nearly same at 75 yards with the Marlin, which also required sight adjustment (no fun with the Williams 5D, by the way). Second best was 11.4 grains with slightly larger groups and an extra 23 fps revolver and 34 fps rifle, but I'll stick with best groups and caution