WB
The .44-40 and .38-40 are close to .45 Colt size
Saturday, October 13, 2018, 07:10

In fact the Hollywood movie "blanks" are 3-in-1 and based upon the .38-40 case. I know you can fire them in .38-40,.44-40, and .45 Colt. A friend who loads the .38-40 and a 200 gr. custom bullet uses re-formed .44-40 cases in an attempt to strengthen the necks. He's shooting a custom 5-shot and getting 1700 fps! Not me brother. The .38-40 necks can easily be ruined in the re-sizing by bumping and crumpling them with the die. John Taffin has a fantastic article on the net you can easily find.

The smaller .44 Magnum based .401 can manage 1600+ fps easily in a revolver and 2000 fps in a Contender with a 180/200 gr. 10mm bullet. That's plenty for me. I settled on a 230 gr. cast FPGC at around 1400 for my serious hunting load and the 200 gr. cast at a more subdued 1500 fps as well. I seldom hunt with totally maxed out loads, Murphy has kicked me too many times. I do like to find the top load then back off slightly and feel totally confident. Filling a .38-40 case with slow magnum powder like 296/H110 can be done in a hefty gun but in an antique would be disastrous! Think if you died suddenly and one of your heirs mixed them up. I think about things like that.


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