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44-40 to 44 mag.
playthings
Member Posts: 168 ✭✭
I have some 44-40 ammunition left from an old Colt Bisley that I no longer own. Can I shoot this in a S&W model 29 44 magnum?
Thanks in advance for your input.
Comments
No-
No is correct to be safe.
Sit a 44 mag beside a 44/40 and you will see why.
These are 2 different cartridges and won't interchange, the 44-40 has a neck diameter of .443 and the 44 magnum is .457, the 44-40 takes a smaller bullet of .427 versus the .429 of the 44 magnum. The 44-40 has a slight bottle neck shoulder while the 44 magnum has a straight wall case. The 44-40 case has a slight taper going back to the rim being wider than the 44 magnum would get stuck going into the cylinder, or be very tight. If you lit one off you would expand the case, crack it and may damage the cylinder of the 44 magnum. I have nothing to test my assumptions, except physics, as I am going by measured diagrams,
The 44-40 should not chamber in a .44 Mag chamber. As stated above the cartridge case is ,014 larger at the base. The cartridge stops about 1/8 to 3/16 inch when put in a .44 Mag chamber.
Thorhammer has nailed it here: a .44-40 WCF round WILL NOT EVEN FIT into a .44 Rem Mag chamber.
I have a Ruger convertable Blackhawk with .44 Magnum & .44-40 cylinders. I shudder to think what would happen if the reverse of what the question was about: The .44 Magnum in the .44-40 cylinder!