.44 Colt Rifle?

[Highlander999]

The extractor will not pick up the rims of the smaller cases, and as warned, the rounds bunch up coming out of the magazine tube since they're too short to keep one another in their place.... 


Well, I got a '66 with the same hopes, that it would shoot my .44 Colt's.  Many folks told me it should.  But when I got it, it wouldn't.  Doesn't matter, I couldn't hit the broad side of a barn with it anyway.  I haven't yet shot .44 Spl in it yet, and guess I should.  I just hung it on the wall for now.  But it does exactly what is talked about above. 

My 1873 in .45 will hit a coffee cup at 100 yards, and this 66 won't hit one at 25.  I do need to see what the 44 Spls do in it.

Then, I may see about getting it retro-fitted for the 44 Colt.  Anyone know what the cost ought be for that type of work?

Thanks,

Steve

[Vance Beckett]

Well, I had a pard of mine take a look at the rifle this past weekend, and supplied him with dummy rounds in both .44 Special and .44 Colt.  After just a few minutes, he had both cycling through the weapon.   
One thing he pointed out was the tendency of the first round coming out of the magazine tube to be crooked, and requiring the shooter to straighten her up before getting started.  Once shown that little trick, I had no problems with the rounds cycling through the rifle.
He did point out, however, that such a problem might creep up during shooting, and that I need to put rounds down range to find out (I'm still working up Trail Boss .44 Specials -- it takes me a little while) for sure.  Any problems after that, he can take care of.  After seeing him his weekend, I feel a bit better.  I'll keep ya'll posted.

Highlander999 -- I'll let you know how mine does in the accuracy department later this week.  Sorry to hear about yours   Also, you might check with the 'smith mentioned earlier in this thread.  Of all the ones I contacted, he was the only one who seemed to know what he was talking about.

[Abilene]

Howdy Vance.
I just got around to signing up here at CASCity and this is my first post. 

Glad you are getting your problem straightened out.  Mostly the feeding issue is just a matter of making sure the OAL of the cartridges is long enough.  The bevel on the bottom front of the carrier can be increased somewhat if needed to accomadate shorter cartridges, though.

It also sounds like the extraction problems have been fixed, but if they crop up again, one fix is to replace the extractor with one for a .38 Spcl, which grabs the narrower diameter 44 Colt rim better.

I know of a lot of folks that have had no problems with the 44 Colts in their box-stock 44 Spcl '66 & '73 (providing the OAL isn't too short), and others have to be worked on.  Kind of like feeding 45 Schofield ammo in a 45 Colt Uberti.  Some do it fine, some don't.

Good luck!

[Highlander999]

Well, folks, keep me informed.

Thanks,

[Crooked Creek Kid]

Has anyone tried the Mav/Dutchman bullet in the 44 Colt case to see if the OAL will cycle in a "66?   Am thinking about a '66 in 44 Spec. to go along with my Open Tops in 44 Colt.

[Vance Beckett]

Just a quick note:  I was able to (finally) get in some shooting today with my Open-Tops and the '66...  It fed the .44 Specials (what it's chambered for) flawlessly.  I only put 50 rounds through it, then switched to the .44 Colts....  and they fed, fired, and ejected without a problem!  My worries are over for now, thankfully.  It looks like I'll be using a single round from now on, just as I'd hoped.    I just have to make sure to cycle the lever "with a purpose".

I was only shooting steel, so any accuracy observations are simply "the rifle never missed", but hopefully I'll be doing more thorough testing in the future with a rest and paper targets.

Anyhow, I'll keep ya'll posted!

Crooked Creek -- Sorry, pard, I'm using .430 200gr LRNFP in my loads.  No idea on the Mav/Dutchman bullets.   

[Crooked Creek Kid]

Thanks Vance,
I measured my 200 gr. 44 flatpoints from the meplat to the crimp groove and then measured the Mav/Dutchman and I think they should work.  Will save me some worry about getting a '66 in 44 spec.

[Ed Clintwood]

Hey Vance, or anybody else
Have you shot a match yet with the .44 Colt?  Just wondering how the '66 takes a steady diet of .44 Colt?

[Long Johns Wolf]

Howdy, this is a Cowboy from good old Germany,
Faced that same dilemma a couple of years back, when I had to have the proper time-correct LA rifle, to go with my Uberti Open Top & R+M Army Conversion in .44 Colt. Had an Uberti Henry M 1860 converted from .44-40 to .44 Colt (Black Hills Ammo  specs). Tube holds now 14 rounds + 1 in the chamber. Works and shoots flawlessly. The conversion was professionally executed by German master gun-smith Klaus Mumme in a little village near Ulm in Southern Germany. That was 3 years ago. In the meantime Klaus has converted 2 Euroarms M73 carbines with 19,5" barrels from .44-40 to .44 Colt for a friend of mine (who was also infected by that .44 Colt virus) and me. They hold 12 rounds in the tube + 1 in the chamber.One of these carbines now is my "official battle gun", never gave me any trouble. If you need the address of Klaus Mumme just drop me a line.
Incidentally I changed my match battery, rifle and SAA's, completely from .45 Colt to .44 Colt some 6 months ago and never regreted that move: The .44 Colt is more accurate, recoiles less. And the SAA balances just as well in .44 Colt as it does in .45 Colt. The SAA's are Ubertis actually chambered in .44 Special but I load them with .44 Colt.
Regards from Germany, Bootsie

[gotzguns]

have one of the few 44 spl. henrys that taylor brought in a few years ago. i think they imported less then 50. i also have a 1866 yellowboy rifle in 44 spl. both work fine  with 44colt and 44 russian.shot smokless and bp in them never any trouble. when i was looking for a 44spl. henry called taylor's and asked if they could make one up for me at the factory. they said no. finally found one here and bought it. i really like the rifles. shoot them all the time. i don't know why the made  so few and stopped production. with all the colt conversion, open tops and mod. 3 russians you would think they would be hot sellers. i mostly shoot 44 colt . makes great combo, my henry and my open top. use same load for both, 28 grains geox catridge grade b.p. and 210 grain rn fp 1to 20 lead bullet with s.p.g. gotzguns

[HANCOCK]

That's a great idea. Just yesterday I e-mailed Taylor's along these same lines. What inspired me to do that was after looking at all the new offerings they had listed, I noticed a "Transitional Henry" . Please go to their site and check it out if you have not done so already.
Don't you all agree that this new Henry would be the perfect candidate for them (Taylor's) or Uberti to be the first offered in 44 Colt?
Just take a look at all the conversion , and OT options that they now have in this chambering. They defineatly need to offer a rifle that would function reliably with them . It is the closest time frame, and also the closest to the original cartridges that they were made in.
Maybe as a group , we could make our voices heard , I'm sure they just laughed off my piddly little e-mail , but what might we do to seriously bring this idea to them . I really don't think that they could keep them on the shelf,the poor boat that brings them over would have to make several trips . They would get rich, and we would be happy.
Any suggestions???

This message was copied and pasted from another thread dealing with the same subject.

HANCOCK

HANCOCK

[rifle]

I'd try the rifle with the 44Colts(check the head space and all first). If the rifle can be modified by a gunsmith then I'd do it if I wanted it bad enough. The bolt face of the rifle can have a spacer soldered in for the head space and a "stop" can deal with the shorter 44 Colt cartridge. Of course if the 44 Colt can be loaded to the OAL of the 44 special a "stop" wouldn't be needed. Maybe it would just be easier to get a percussion cap pouch to put on the gun belt and use the two different cartridges? Maybe use one of those rifle cartridge webbed belts for the 44Spl loads? Bandolero maybe?

[Be-A-triss Bandit]

Howdy,
Will 44 Russian cases fit your pistols? Rim diameter that is.
I couldn't get the 44 Colts to feed in the rifle because of the Rim diameter, just bounced around and jammed.  So, I cheat.  I trim 44 Special cases back to 44 Colt length.  The Rim thickness actually fits my Cimmaron Open Tops better than Black Hills 44s!  Hornady 180 grain Cowboy 44 bullets can be seated out and crimped to 1.4+ inches without crowding the pistol cylinders and feed flawlessly in the rifle, too.  So do a local brand 200 grains using the crimp groove.
Very accurate by the way.  No problem with 5 inch knockdowns at 25 to 30 feet.
BB

[Sir Charles deMouton-Black]

The question of how to get .44 Colts to eject from an 1860 or 1866 was posed on the gusmithing topic in CAS TOPICS.  I didn't follow it, but check it out.

Page of GUNSMITHING, by Joss House.  No conclusion posted.