44-40 brass drying up???

[Dakota Widowmaker]

All the 44-40 brass seems to be disappearing all of a sudden.

Winchester does not appear to be making any more... Which really sucks, as I use Winchester 44-40 brass exclusively for my Henry for BP.

Anyone know the reason???

I still have about 200 shells left to load and about 300 I need to finish depriming and resizing.
(I like to have 500rds of cowboy ammo ready before the season starts up again here in the "cold states")

[Driftwood Johnson]

Howdy

Would you care to elaborate? I'm about to order some Winchester 44-40.

[Ransom Gaer]

I just looked at Winchesters website and 44-40 cases are listed under their rifle cases.  So they should be available.

Ransom Gaer

[Adirondack Jack]

I assume from your posts you mean there is a lack of availability at present.  I would assume this is due to the small volume of .44-40 in use compared to say, .45 ACP, and the makers produce a run of it only now and again.  Due to the innumerable cartridges these outfits make, They do not have dedicated lines running all the time for each cartridge.  It is impossible to schedule these  things so they don't have some times when they run out of one caliber or another.  Even .45 Colt got real  scarce last spring (I submit that industry-wide it is far more popular, so I include the example).  When one supplier runs out, the others are pressured by demand, throwing their inventory to the market, and they may be a while from making any also.  So we can see a cascade effect where the market dries up for a few weeks or months.

[Hell-Er High Water]

Have you checked eBay?

At present there are several lots of Winchester 44-40 available there.

I don't how these prices compare with Winchester 44-40 from other sources as I don't shoot 44-40 but at least there are several hundred available there.

HHW

[Fox Creek Kid]

Belly up to the bar. 

http://www.starlinebrass.com

[Sod Buster]

I've always had better luck with either the Starline or Remington Peters .44-40 brass.  I've had too many problems with Winchester.

[Be-A-triss Bandit]

Midway shows Starline and Winchester in stock.  Magtech is low.

[Dakota Widowmaker]

Nope, Winchester has ended their 44-40 production for the year. They only do seasonal runs every other fall/spring. (so, its like 18 months in between)

I use Winchester 44-40 brass exclusively for BP, as it tends to seal a bit nicer in my Henry than Starline.

[I use nickel starline cases for Trailboss smokeless powder loads.]

I am a simpleton
Brass = black
Nickel = nitro

[Montana Slim]

Try Cabela's, they indicate "in-stock"

Slim

[litl rooster]

 DW do you use a factory crimp die? I haven't used Winchester brass on my .44-40 loads. The *___* has been holding a nice crimp use the crimp die.  I have a few Hornadays and a few Magtech the latter seems flimsy and soft.

  I haven't looked for Winchester brass on line or in catalogs, I do see it in some of the "Toy Stores", should I be speculating and buying it as futures stock?  I was told it was hard to find Winchester Small pistol primers a week or so back. Walked into store and on the shelve they had several thousand of them............

[fourfingersofdeath]

Cowboy ammo seems to be drying up here. I have been using Magtec cowboy ammo while I have been moving with work and my loading gear is still in boxes. All that seems to be available is PMC and Winchester. The Magtec is ok and is $AU29 against the others at $AU52-3! ($US22.59, $US42.50).

I have found a shop I deal with in Sydney that has 10 boxes of 44/40s and 45s, I better get down there.