Original 1873 Winchester Cartridge performance

w44wcf · May 25, 2012, 11:26:54 AM

For awhile now I've had an interest in stepping back in time to see how the original 44 WCF (44-40) cartridge performed. So.....last week I took one of my W.R.A. CO. .44 W.C.F. headstamped cartridges and shot it into some 1 gallon water jugs. I did have to replace the original mercuric primer (dead) with a fresh Winchester small rifle primer. Velocity 1,300 f.p.s.

Pretty good performance I'd say..........

w44wcf

IRON JACK · May 27, 2012, 08:45:09 PM

Thanks for that report w44wcf.

I'd like to take my new 73 44wcf deer hunting this fall and it looks like they can still get the job done.

Jack

Rowdy Fulcher · May 27, 2012, 09:42:10 PM

Iron Jack
Are you planning on Hunting with black or smokeless ? And yes the 44wcf WILL get the job done . Maybe we need to have a Big Buck contest what ya think ? This would be for bragging rights only .

IRON JACK · May 29, 2012, 12:11:00 PM

Rowdy, it will be bp and a 200 gr lee bullet

A contest would be fun as I'm pretty good with photoshop

Rowdy Fulcher · May 29, 2012, 03:53:08 PM

Iron Jack
Looks like we have at least 2 Hunters signed up .

MJN77 · May 29, 2012, 04:03:18 PM

QuoteLooks like we have at least 2 Hunters signed up

3. I've hunted with my 1873 .44-40 for the last few years. I havn't used BP for hunting yet (will this year) but the Winchester 200gr softpoints sure make a deer uncomfortable. For a few seconds at least.

Rowdy Fulcher · May 29, 2012, 05:08:42 PM

MJN77
Welcome aboard , we now have another HAPPY Hunter .

Rowdy Fulcher · May 31, 2012, 04:01:46 PM

W44wcf
The powder in the original round , how clean did it burn ?

Lefty Dude · May 31, 2012, 06:01:45 PM

No such thing as clean Black powder.

w44wcf · June 12, 2012, 08:42:36 AM

Quote from: Rowdy Fulcher on May 31, 2012, 04:01:46 PM
W44wcf
The powder in the original round , how clean did it burn ?

Rowdy,
I only fired one WRA CO 44 WCF cartridge on this occasion along with other b.p. cartridges so didn't check it. I will say though that several years ago I dissected a number of original WRA CO 44 WCF cartridges, replaced the primers and reassembled the cartridges. The black powder had a polished appearance and produced minimal fouling.

The factory bullets held only about 1/2 gr of lube but the vintage cartridges continued to print good groups for many rounds because of the high quality of the powder. Swiss is the closest powder to what WInchester used back then......

w44wcf