.44 WCF Velocity in the 20" Carbine

[Niederlander]

Gentlemen, What velocity are you getting from your 20" carbines with pull power loads.  I don't have a chronograph.  I'd also be interested in what you're getting from your pistols with the same ammunition.  I'm looking for the same information on the .38 WCF.  Thanks!

[KWK]

I don't have a 44 carbine, but I'll note Hodgdon's lab data was recorded in a 20" barrel. They got  up to 1117 fps with the 200 gr lead bullet.

[Coal Creek Griff]

"Full-power" may be a little subjective with the .44 WCF.  The original standard was for BP in balloon-head cases, then "full-power" has bounced around a little bit in the smokeless era depending on the rifle used and whether you also want to use the same ammo in revolvers. 

Having said that, here is the data that I have.  I wasn't using a carbine, but it is a 20-inch barreled Uberti short rifle, so the results should be close.  My revolver is a 4 3/4-inch Pietta.  I've played around with several loads, including Reloder 7, which worked fine in the rifle, but I didn't even shoot in my revolver since I didn't feel that it would work well in the shorter barrel.  From the rifle, my top velocity was 1264 FPS.  My standard smokeless load uses Unique.  I've loaded some that gave me 1219 FPS from my rifle and 1033 from the revolver, but I've backed off slightly from that load just because I don't need to put any undue stress on the guns.  My standard load now gives me 1163 FPS from the rifle and 1029 from the revolver.  Note that the velocity difference between these two charge weights when everything else is the same is virtually the same from the revolver, although more significant from the rifle.  Those were tested on different days, but it may be a factor of how well the powder burns in the shorter barrel.

Hopefully that helps.

Griff