.44 American Bulldog cartridge

Dean Cascio

Iconoclas or any ammo expert
Does anyone know of a link on the web for the old .44 American Bulldog cartridge?
I was told that it was based on the old .44 Webbly but 1/16 of an inch shorter and slightly less powder? kind of like the .38 Special/.357 Mag but in reverse, the .44 American Bulldog was designed for old time Suicide Special pocket pistols?
Any info would help.
Dean

dtknowles

No, I don't have a link but what info do you need or are you looking to buy ammo. My copy of cartridges of the world indicates that your discription is close but it indicates the bullet diameter is slightly larger than .44 Webley and yes the case is shorter.

.44 Webley bullet dia. .436 case length .69

.44 Bulldog bullet dia. .440 case length .57

I think that useable ammo could be made from altered .44special/Mag. cases but sizing dies might need to be custom. The cases could need to be fireformed in your gun to open up the diameter for the larger diameter bullets or an appropriately sized expander die could to that job.

This all might be over kill, its a snubbly revolver we are talking about and a low pressure black powder cartridge, if shortend .44 cases with lead .429 bullets are used with whatever amount of Black Powder would fit (uncompressed) in the modified case, I don't expect that the looseness of case or bullet in the chamber or bore will be a problem. The .44 Special/Mag. rim is slighly larger and that may be a problem but turning down the rims is not a big deal either. What is the condition/manufacturer of the pistol, do we really want to risk shooting it.

Tim

Dean Cascio

The bottom revolver is the gun in question.

The only info I have is.
The revolver is a solid frame 5 shot. It has a loading gate on the right side of the frame from the shooters point of view. It is chambered for the 44 American Bulldog cartridge. There is no ejector. The gun is a double action.

The topstrap is marked as follows
First line "44 American Bulldog"
Second line "The American"
The back of the cylinder is marked "664"

The markings on the gun would indicate it is an H&R since they marked the caliber on their 19th Century revolvers. European?

The gun seems tight enough to shoot. I've shot other Suicide Specials before that were in worse shape. Still have all of my fingers LOL.

My copy of Cartridges Of The World(Great Book)seems to have fallen somewhere out of this world. Thats why I posted my question.
Thanks for the help.
Dean

dtknowles

Do you have a couple .44 cases laying around and have you tried them in the cylinder? I would be temped to shorten some cases, see if the rims don't interfere and if they do chuck the cases in a drill and hold a file to the rim to trim them too. Then load them with a moderate charge of Black Powder/Pryodex/etc. and a lead round ball. The cases should expand some on the first firing and if they are not difficult to extract I would skip the resizing and neck expanding. Do the decapping, charging and on to a seating/crimping die. I would slug the cylinder throats and the bore and use a round ball at least a large as the smaller of the two and not more than a few thousanths over. I expect that before the cases have expanded to chamber diameter they will shave lead from the round balls but after they are fired and expanded the next load should not. This ammo would be inexpensive, fun, smoken, and make nice round .44 holes. It would be about a low pressure as you can get and have the bullet leave the barrel. If you start with a very small powder charge make sure that the ball leaves the barrel as you don't want to fire with a ball stuck in the barrel. Black powder cleaning soon after firing to avoid rusting.

Tim