Winchester 1873 44/40 loads, 4198

Nordicwargod

I thought about putting this in the "competition and reloading" forum but "ask the experts" is where I saw this discussed.
My friend has a Winchester 1873 in 44/40 which he inherited 20+ years ago. He has shot it with factory loads but wants to reload for it. I had read Bert and others talk about black powder replacement loads using IMR 4198 in place of black powder.
Does anyone have a link to that thread or the info I am looking for.
I have found lots of data for 44/40, but none with 4198.

Edit: Yeah, I have seen loads of Unique and Trailboss along with Greendot and Accurate #7. Its just that I have three pounds of IMR 4198 and those others mentioned are very hard if not impossible to get right now. Thought this might work out. I guess I'll save the 4198 for light 223 loads!

charliemeyer007

You will find data if you google "44-40 with 4198"

I would use the proper sized cast bullet with Unique if it were mine.

rufe-snow

You have to be very careful when using smokeless powder loads in original 19th Century firearms. Specially in a 73 Winchester which doesn't have the strongest mechanism, and is likely to have substantial value. Both monetary and as a family heirloom .

Might consider some of the blackpowder substitutes on the market nowadays. Pyrodex is probably the best known, and has been the longest used.

tsr1965

Nordicwargod,

That IMR 4198 works well, withthe larger rifle chamberings, but I would suggest to use a fairly new powder, that was designed expressly for the "Cowboy Action Shooting" arena. It works well in both pistol(And the 44-40 was designed as a pistol cartridge), and rifle cartridges. It keeps the pressures low, and steady. It is also from IMR Powder company. It is called Trail Boss. I use it for loads in my first generation Colt SAA's, my 1886 45-70's, an my vintage 1873, and 1892 Winchester's.

Here is a lint to theHodgdon site for some data.

http://data.hodgdon.com/cartridge_load.asp

Best

EDIT 1

That IMR 4198 works great for low pressure loads in the 45-70 as well, with a 405 grain hard cast bullet.

perry shooter

+ 1 on trail boss powder it was designed for older Firearms.