My 1894 44-40 c1895

[45BearGun]

Updates on my Dad's old 1894 in 44-40

some of the discussions started in these threads

My incredibly astounding luck !!

Marlin 1894 44-40

[45BearGun]

I've slugged the bore at .440", talk about oversized!

30wcf sent me some oversized bullets to try

I slugged it again with .436 and.435 bullets, what a difference 1 thou makes

IMG_8600.JPG
.436............................... .435

the .436 bullet was quite difficult to drive down the barrel and if you look close has some lead 'pushed-up' on the leading edge of where it touched the bore.

I'm going to try some of the .435 and some with the PSB and see what happens

I guess I'm going to have to order a custom mold to get these oversized bullets.

thanks 30wcf for the help

[45BearGun]

some pics of the original ammo for the 44-40.

roundball blackpowder, I don't know the age

2012-06-29 12.12.44.jpg2012-06-29 12.13.25.jpg

[30wcf]

Bob,
Glad to see that you rec'd the bullets ok. Hindsight being 20-20, I should have sent you some .440" and .452" diameter round balls. They work better than bullets for determining the groove diameter.

One thing you could try is to see if a case with the .436/.437" diameter bullet will chamber ok in your rifle. If not. try the .434/.435 bullet. Once chambered, using the primer only, fire the rifle. The bullet should go into the barrel a few inches and be pretty well centered so that its is not shaving more on one side than the other.

You can then push the bullet the rest of the way through the barrel after removing the bolt with a wooden dowel or cleaning rod centered in the barrel. Or you can push the bullet back out into the chamber, then insert it into the muzzle and push it through from that end.

Nice vintage box of game getter ammo. I'm thinking 1920's vintage or so.........

w30wcf

[45BearGun]

I had this gun out to the range the other day to shoot some Winchester and Hornady Cowboy 44-40 loads.

Partly to see how the gun shoots with .429 bullets out of the .436 bore, and partly because I needed some brass.

It makes the popgun sound that dhansen was describing with his old 44-40 and the best I could do was a bout a 20" group at 25 yards (no typo, twenty inches) with some keyholing.

On the bright side, the gun functions well and when I start playing around with some custom cast bullets the groups can only get better....right ?

[Levergunz]

Bob,
Neat box of old ammo.I remember seeing CIL ammo availible in the states when I was a kid.I think I have some CIL 22 Hornet brass around here somewhere and maybe some 22LR.Must be out of business as I never hear of them anymore.

[45BearGun]

CIL is still around, they make paint and chemical products. They split, after WW2, into CIL and DuPont

They made ammunition for a while under the names "Dominion" and "Imperial", but I think they quit making ammo in the late 80's

[30wcf]

Bob,
THank you for the range report. Does a cartridge with a .436" bullet chamber ok?

I am thinking that replications of the original 44-40 black powder cartridges with soft lead bullets would shoot aok since the b.p. would bump up the bullet to fit the oversized barrel. My '73 using that ammunition shot pretty well considering the lead bullet was almost .010" small than the barrel.


w30wcf

[dhansen]

45BearGun, I also took the 1894 out for the weekend, I was finally able to eliminate the cork-gun sound with a load of 18.3 grains of 2400 and a .432" diameter Mav Dutchman from Big Lub bullets. (my first loading attempt with .432" did not chamber well, but did not give up and found the crimp was causing my problems) The five shot group at 50 yards was a vertical string with each hole touching the next. The sound of the rifle was a solid crack and you could tell the rifle liked the load. It was difficult to get the .432 to seat and crimp well. If the crimp was not perfect the round was harder to chamber. The .430" diameter Red River bullets were far easier to load and also shot nice, but not as great as the .432" bullets. I've been working with just the 2400 for the last week with loads from 16.5 to 18.5 and I worry about the load being too hot for the old Marlin. I do not have any problem with extraction of the fired brass, no signs of stress on the cases. I've run about 150 rounds without any pressure signs, but by the time the signs show up the damage may already be done. Some thoughts have been to reduce the load to 12.5 gr of 2400 and try some 240 grain lead RN bullets designed for the .44 mag. I enjoy reading your posts and updates on your 44-40. I have ordered a Lee Factory crimp die to see if it helps with my .432 rounds. I also will keep working on the .430" rounds. I have been thinking about a bench rest or vise to help with evaluation if the loads. So far its been free hand at the shooting range from a bench. I did try the .430" rounds out to 100 yards, hitting a 10" plate was easy. The front sight covers most of the target at 100 yard. Easier to shoot at white, orange or yellow targets. I'm thinking of using this rifle for part of deer hunting this season.

David

[45BearGun]

Hi David,

Sounds like you've had some success!

At this point, I'd be thrilled with a 10" group at 100 yds

I haven't had any time to do any experimenting with the 44-40, I'm leaving for 2 weeks holidays in the States this Sunday and have quite a bit of work to get the camper ready. I forgot to tarp it this past winter and the ice apparently opened up the roof seams and the last thunderstorm cause quite a bit of water damage.

I'm hoping to pick up some needed parts while I'm in the States, but it looks like I'm not going to have much luck, apparently everything is on back-order.

I've read here somewhere that a good way to watch for high pressures is the measure the case bases, just ahead of the extractor groove, before shooting them and again after they've been fired. Any significant change (I think I read more than .002-.003") will show high pressures. I have no idea if this is an accurate method.