Open-Tops in 44-40 caliber

[Bad Ramon]

                 Howdy Pards...............I am new to this forum and enjoy reading about the great open-tops and the conversions. So, to cut to the quick and get this off my chest: Is it or is it not possible to have an open-top in 44-40 caliber? I have 5 guns in this caliber and a whole lot of brass and am not going to change...............thanks..........

[Fox Creek Kid]

No you can't. See my reply in Darkside Forum.

[Hoof Hearted]

The arbor impedes the available space too much...........the short of it
This is why SAA was the first Colt made in Winchester calibers.

HH

[Flint]

If the 44-40 can't be chambered due to rim diameter (.525), then the 45 Schofield (.522) wouldn't be possible either.

The 45 Schofield and 45 Colt cylinder stop notches are shallower than the 44 notches, which in turn are shallower than the 38 caliber notches.

As Seth remarked, the metal would get mighty thin if you rechambered a 44 cylinder.  I believe you would need a 44 Russian chamber to get the 44-40 chamber reamed without the 44 Colt, and most certainly a 44 Special, chamber cut appearing in the 44-40 shoulder.  Rechambering a 38 would definitely break through to the bolt notches.

Now if we could get our hands on an unchambered 45 cylinder....

[1860]

Flint and Seth nailed it, if they can make a 45 then the 44-40 is certainly doable because the case dementions are similar.  Things get pretty thin with the larger calibers and maybe they are worried about presures or maybe it's costs.  I have to think that anyone shooting BP would get one or two of them, I'd be first in line and if it was a Richards, I'd be waiting at the factory door.

60

[Hoof Hearted]

The arbor impedes the available space too much...........the short of it
This is why SAA was the first Colt made in Winchester calibers.

HH

My mistake....
I was in Colt mode when I should have been in Uberti mode.
But I'm still partially right because short of manufacturing a new cylinder or crossing yer fingers that uberti will do it. Ya still can't have one (unless you make one out of a SAA).

HH

[Fox Creek Kid]

Well, I know this: when asked why they would not manufacture the New Vaquero in 44-40 Ruger said that it was because not only of the ultra close proximity of the case heads in the cylinder but also because of the wide variation in case head diameters among different manufacturers of 44-40 brass.

Flint, you're right about the .45 S&W case head. I had forgotten about that. FWIW, I had a friend who received one of the first '72 Uberti Open Tops in .45 S&W & he sent it back and got a .44 Colt as we determined that with the bolt notches the cylinder walls had to be paper thin. FWIW he shoots smokeless. If I were to have someone ream the .44 chambers on an Open Top to 44-40 I would only shoot BP loads & even then not rip roarin' 38 gr. FFFg "warthog" loads. Just my 2 cents & worth what you were charged.

[Bad Ramon]

                     Thanks so much for all of your replies. I think I am finally starting to see the "light". I took a good look at my 44-40 Vaquero and the thin metal at the rear of the chambers. So, to please my curiosity I got out my calipers and measured: 1.727 dia. on the Vaqueros cylinder, 1.610 at the front of the cylinder on my 60' Army. Maybe that guy is right, stay with .44 Russian for the open-tops....................Thing is, if I get the open-tops I wanted to shoot my rifle in the same caliber. Maybe I could convert my 66' Yellow Boy carbine to .44 russian................

[Flint]

You can get the rifles and Opentops in 44Special, the 44Special Opentop will shoot 44 Colt and 44 Russian as well, as long as you keep the carbon ring cleaned out after shooting the shorter rounds, and the rifles carrier/lifter could be modified for 44 Russian, the 44 Colt will feed OK depending on the bullet used.

My concern is that some shooters have modified the rifle's carrier and merely fed 44 Russian into a 44-40 chamber, which seems dangerous to me considering the base dimensions compared to the chamber's diameter, the thought of the blowback around the case and the close proximity of your face to the bolt.

I shoot mostly 44 Russian on my Opentops, and 44-40 in the rifles (Henry, 66 and 73) and have no problem as the brass is easy to separate by sight.