.44/40 Handgun??

N

nc_deerhunter

New member
I had a few questions about a .44/40 handgun. My father is wanting to buy one of these but neiterh me or him have ever spoke with anyone who has owned and shot one of these handguns. I was just wanting to know if this was a good caliber to own? Thanks for any advice.
 
What kind of handgun? I have an old Gamegetter Over/Under handgun, .44/40 over .22 short. The .44/40 barrel is a smoothbore for birdshot. It's a neat little piece. My Grandfather bagged a pile of grouse and rabbits with it.
 
Do a search for "Skeeter Skelton" this was his long time favorite. It is a great OLD caliber. Many thought it far superior to the .45 Colt ( note: there is no such thing as a "45 long colt")
today I think you would need to buy an antique or a reproduction to get one. Most were single action in handguns.
Carl
 
Thanks to Cowboy Action Shooting, a lot of old west calibers are being made again. Cimmaron firearms makes a .44/40 single action pistol. I am sure there are some others too. You will just have to do a little searching.
http://www.cimarron-firearms.com

I am sure that this would be a good caliber for rabbit hunting and such. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif
 
.44/40 is available in many different single action designs, as well as lever guns. Read American Handgunner this month for a nice article by Mike Venturino. Todd
 
Thanks for all the advice and replies. He said the handgun was in great shape and he said it had a walnut stock and a few designs etched on the gun itself. The guy is wanting $450 dollars for it and from all the stuff im reading that everyone told me about it sounds like its worth it. Are they hard to find ammo for? I still havent talked to my dad about what kind it is and hopefully tomorrow ill find out when I speak to him and ill let everyone know what kind it is and if its worth $450. Thanks again for all the help
 
You will probably want to consider reloading. I imagine that it will be a little hard to find ammo for it, and it might be a little expensive. I could be wrong. The 44/40 is not a straight case either. You might want to do a little looking into it.
 
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You will probably want to consider reloading. I imagine that it will be a little hard to find ammo for it, and it might be a little expensive. I could be wrong. The 44/40 is not a straight case either. You might want to do a little looking into it.



The .44-40 round (also called .44WCF by Winchester) was designed as a RIFLE cartridge by Winchester for their 1873 Rifles/Carbines in 1873.

Shortly after Winchester introduced it, Colt started chambering their SAA in a version called their "Frontier" model also known as the Peacemaker. Thus the .44-40 was the first dual-use centerfire rifle/pistol cartridge, to be followed by the .38-40 and .32-20 that the '73 Rifles and Colt SAA Revolvers were chambered in a few years later

Originally it was designed to hold 40g of Blackpowder, which, because of the way that Blackpowder burns vs. Smokeless, can deliver extremely POWERFUL loads, even in relatively "weak" designs (like the Colt SAA "Six Shooter" and Win. '73 design rifles) Today's stronger designed cartridges, with a thicker base web, will only hold about 35g of Blackpowder.

When Winchester started making the John Browning designed Model 1892 Rifles/Carbines to replace the 1873 models, it was much stronger, and for a long time ammo makers made more powerful ammunition that was only to be fired in '92 Winchester and '94 Marlins made for Smokeless powder.

Typically, the .44-40 uses a 200g or 210g bullet instead of the 245g bullets a .44 Mag will shoot.

But power wise, it falls somewhere between a .44 Special and a .44 Magnum, leaning more towards the latter. It's actually more like a slightly bottlenecked .44 cal. version of the .45 Colt.

With the popularity in Cowboy Action Shooting these days you'll have NO PROBLEM finding either brass or loaded ammunition.

That said, most of this CAS ammo will be reduced loads and Lead bullets only. With today's liability issues, any factory ammo will be loaded only strong enough to shoot in a '73 Winchester or Colt SAA revolver.

So, for hunting ammo, you'll have to determine you barrel's diameter (original barrel size for .44-40 is .427" vs. .429" on newer "44s") then buy the proper bullets for the hunting you want to do.

You shouldn't have any problem finding new or used dies for loading these days as the .44-40's one of the top 4 calibers of choice for Cowboy Action Shooters.
 
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