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44-40 Shot is .44 Cal. Mfg. by CCI compatible

segerseger Member Posts: 58 ✭✭
edited September 2017 in Ask the Experts
Considering buying a .44-40 smooth bore Stevens . Is the .44 Mag. Shot sold by CCI OK to shoot in that gun ?

Comments

  • Ricci WrightRicci Wright Member Posts: 8,260 ✭✭
    edited November -1
    I don't know for.sure but I doubt it will fit the chamber.
  • MIKE WISKEYMIKE WISKEY Member, Moderator Posts: 9,961 ******
    edited November -1
    as above..... no
  • 11b6r11b6r Member Posts: 16,588 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    2 very different cartridges. No.
  • navc130navc130 Member Posts: 1,193 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    Is it a shotgun or a handgun? The gun may not be safe to shoot .44 Mag shotshells. I do not know the chamber pressure of those. The easiest solution is to handload 44-40 shotshells. Rechambering or bushing the chamber may work (based on the safety factor) but besides the .014 larger base diameter of the 44-40 case there are differences in the rim diameter and thickness which could affect chambering and closing the action. Interesting project, shooting the old ones.
  • chicoppeechicoppee Member Posts: 312 ✭✭
    edited November -1
    Is the caliber actually 44-40 or is it a tip down model 101 in 44 Shot cartridge ?

    I never heard of any Stevens in 44-40 shot !

    Hard to find 44 shot ammo today.
  • beantownshootahbeantownshootah Member Posts: 12,776 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    CCI .44 "magnum" shotshell ammo is actually .44 special/.44 magnum.

    To be safe for .44 special the CCI shells have to be loaded to black-powder type pressure of about 15,500 PSI and they may not be loaded quite that hot (don't know). For sure these are NOT loaded to full 36,000PSI .44 magnum pressure.

    SAAMI spec for .44/40 is 13,000 PSI, but that's really intended for 19th century guns of questionable strength. Any modern gun should be more than strong enough to handle .44 special pressures.

    I think a turn of the century Stevens in otherwise good condition is probably strong enough to handle the slightly higher pressure of .44 special. . .but you'd be chancing it.

    Nominal caliber of .44 special is .429". Nominal caliber of .44-40 is .427. Close enough, I think that you shouldn't get dangerous overpressure from a plastic cupped shotshell which are intrinically soft and designed to be fired from a variety of .44 caliber cartridges. People do use .44 caliber Speer shotshells in 44/40 guns, see here http://jefenry.com/main/The44-Shot.php:

    The real problem here, I think is cartridge dimension/shape. 44 special is a straight wall, .44/40 has a slight taper and is a bit fatter at the base. I think you could get a 44 special to fit into a .44/40, but it may not extract well, and (more important) fired in a .44/40 a .44 special will expand at the base and you might rupture the case.

    In short, this probably will "work" in a pinch, and you *probably* won't blow apart the gun, but unless its an emergency I really don't see a good reason to try it. If you want a small caliber shotgun, get a .410.

    As already mentioned, if gun is otherwise irresistable and you want to do this, its not that hard to load up your own shot loads, if you're so inclined.
  • charliemeyer007charliemeyer007 Member Posts: 6,579 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    The old Ideal tool pre-Lyman had a unit for load the 44 XL shot that used the wood or paper shot cups. I think Anne Oakley used a lot of them shooting plates.

    The bottle neck case doesn't lend itself to shot. If I want to shoot it I would take actual 44-40 brass that fits the chamber properly and then fill them with molten lead. Drill them inside to .429 or so and use the Speer shot capsules or make paper ones. Solid thick wall brass cases could also be turned on a lathe. You could also load them with gas checks and shot. Powder, gas check cup down, gas check cup up, shot, gas check cup down, crimp.

    My favorite shot capsules were the one from TC but they are hard to find these days. I use the 44 HotShot #6 shot, ones bushed out with a 410 one piece plastic wad to run in my 45-350 Rem mag Ackley rifle. The combination of the quick twist parabolic rifling and plastic slipping on plastic doesn't impart spin on the shot. This turns it into a 2200 fps shotgun that prints like a dream. My best afternoon 9 grouse with 7 shots - 2 pair of doubles on the ground by kneeling down to line them up - the rest were on the wing. Very easy with the back peep sight taken out and just using the front one.
  • segerseger Member Posts: 58 ✭✭
    edited November -1
    Thanks for the replys the gun is actually an Iver Johnson Cmapion in .40 cal. Imprinted on the barrel it says the lug is forged on the barrel if that make any difference .
  • gruntledgruntled Member Posts: 8,218 ✭✭
    edited November -1
    quote:Originally posted by charliemeyer007
    The old Ideal tool pre-Lyman had a unit for load the 44 XL shot that used the wood or paper shot cups. I think Anne Oakley used a lot of them shooting plates.

    The bottle neck case doesn't lend itself to shot. If I want to shoot it I would take actual 44-40 brass that fits the chamber properly and then fill them with molten lead. Drill them inside to .429 or so and use the Speer shot capsules or make paper ones. Solid thick wall brass cases could also be turned on a lathe. You could also load them with gas checks and shot. Powder, gas check cup down, gas check cup up, shot, gas check cup down, crimp.

    My favorite shot capsules were the one from TC but they are hard to find these days. I use the 44 HotShot #6 shot, ones bushed out with a 410 one piece plastic wad to run in my 45-350 Rem mag Ackley rifle. The combination of the quick twist parabolic rifling and plastic slipping on plastic doesn't impart spin on the shot. This turns it into a 2200 fps shotgun that prints like a dream. My best afternoon 9 grouse with 7 shots - 2 pair of doubles on the ground by kneeling down to line them up - the rest were on the wing. Very easy with the back peep sight taken out and just using the front one.


    You are over engineering this. powder, tissue paper wad, shot, then over shot gas check. Works fine for a 2 1/2" .410 equivalent load in a 45/70. On skeet, station 1: can't miss, 2: very good, 3,4,5: useless, 6: very good, 7,8: can't miss. Doubles would be a bit hard with my Trapdoor carbine. I don't know what my Great-grandfather used it for but I have quite a few hollow wooden sabot 45/70 shotshells my Grandfather gave me with the gun. I pulled one & the shot had turned to a powder.
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