My 44-40 Black Powder Journey

[nativeshootist]

have you crafted the soft point jacketed ones in the 1895 catalog? i think it was that one.

[mtmarfield]

   Greetings, w44WCF!

   I have a question. John Taffin's book, "Action Shooting Cowboy Style" lists what appears to
be a very hot BP .44WCF load: 36.5gr GOEX fffg under a Lyman/Ideal #42798, for a velocity
of 1566 fps ( ! ). According to the book, this was out of a Rossi 1892 SRC.
   This load is the BP equivalent of the old ".44 W.H.V." smokeless load! I would never consider
dropping this in a Brass-Framed Henry or 1866, but would a Modern 1873 Replica handle this
as well as a Win. 1892 / Marlin 1894 / Rem. 14-1/2, or other strong action? What are your
feelings on this? Not for CAS, but hunting?

          Thanks Much!

                       M.T.Marfield
   

[nativeshootist]

in the post he says he used 40gr of swiss with the same bullet and never received that much....

[Major 2]

Great Info , John ,  w44wf  I've made it now a sticky 

[w44wcf]

Greetings, M.T.Marfield!

I had read that same article and noted the much higher than normal velocity with b.p.  Based on my experience that was certainly a typo. The 5  should have been a 3 (1,366 f.p.s.) and maybe a bit less.  36 grs. of Swiss FFFG gives about that velocity and that is in a 24" barrel.  And.......Swiss is more powerful than Goex.

Certainly the load is plenty safe in the rifles you mentioned but it is overstated by at least 200 f.p.s........

w44wcf 

[w44wcf]

have you crafted the soft point jacketed ones in the 1895 catalog? i think it was that one.

I have worked with some jacketed bullets in the .44-40 but nowhere near to the extent as I have with cast & b.p..

w44wcf

[w44wcf]

Great Info , John ,  w44wf  I've made it now a sticky  

Major,
Thank you for the kind words and for making it a sticky.  

w44wcf

[Rowdy Fulcher]

44wcf
The 1300+ is what I was getting with my Vintage Hunting loads . I have soft lead bullets and they shoot GREAT with the old E BP .
Hope I can get on another nice Buck this Fall .

[mtmarfield]

   Greetings, w44WCF!

   Thanks for the follow-up. I presumed that the BP had been compressed in a solid head
case, with magnum priming, giving wild velocities...

                 M.T.Marfield

[Major 2]

Major,
Thank you for the kind words and for making it a sticky.  

w44wcf

Not at all.... good & educational information is always welcome 

[Bibbyman]

Looks like all the pictures have been lost in the Photo-trash-bucket.  Would you consider going back and replacing the pictures? 

[greyhawk]

Looks like all the pictures have been lost in the Photo-trash-bucket.  Would you consider going back and replacing the pictures? 

load info here was good I believe

my chrono says
40 grains under 200grain lead = 1355
39 grains  .......................... = 1340
36.5 grains ........................ = 1288

This is homemade powder (gives about 40FPS over GOEX) and the 39 & 40 grains are heavy compression   36 grains is a comfy load in a modern 44/40 case

225 grain lead gets 1170 fps
WANO PPP I got 100 FPS less

All charges here are scale weight NOT volume measure.

[ndnchf]

I was so sorry to hear of John Kort's passing. He was a fine man and helped many of us out with his research and love of the 44wcf. Rest in peace pard.

[Coal Creek Griff]

I'm so sorry that the original photos are now gone (grrr, Photobucket).  I knew I should have printed this off when Jack first posted it.

CC Griff

[Bryan Austin]

It would appear that all of John's photos have been made public again.

[Coal Creek Griff]

THANK YOU for bringing that to our attention!

CC Griff

[Oregon Bill]

And in John's honor I broke in an Accurate 430-215C mold yesterday.

[Bryan Austin]

NICE Bill!!!

[Coal Creek Griff]

And in John's honor I broke in an Accurate 430-215C mold yesterday.

Beautiful, aren't they? Like a chest of jewels! I think that John would be pleased to know how much we appreciate his bullet design.

CC Griff