Howdy Again
The toggle link rifles, such as the 1860 Henry, the Winchester Model 1866, and the Winchester Model 1873 and their modern replicas do not have a cartridge stop on the carrier. The carriers in a toggle link rifle rise straight up and down like an elevator. The carrier rides in a squared off opening in the frame called the mortise. The mortise extends completely through the frame. The cartridge on the carrier is presented straight in line to the chamber, much like a torpedo on a submarine being shoved into a torpedo tube. The Over All Length of the cartridge on the carrier determines how much of the next cartridge in the magazine will be able to protrude onto the carrier. This is a photo of the carrier on my Uberti replica Winchester Model 1873. The carrier is in its lower position. Notice the rim of the next cartridge in the magazine is being pressed by the magazine spring against the bullet of the round on the carrier. This rifle happens to be chambered for 44-40, but the same will be true of a toggle link rifle chambered for 45 Colt, 357 Magnum, or any other cartridge one cares to name. As I said, there is no cartridge stop on the carrier. When the carrier rides down to accept a new cartridge out of the magazine, the magazine spring thrusts a round into the carrier, not much different than with a tilting carrier such as on a Marlin or the later Winchester models. The round stops against the rear face of the mortise in the frame. So the rear face of the mortise in the frame functions as a cartridge stop. The key here is, if the round on the carrier is too short, too much of the next round in the magazine will protrude into the space of the carrier and prevent the carrier from rising, jamming the rifle. There is a bevel on the lower surface of the hollow in the carrier which will shove the round protruding out of the magazine back into the magazine so the carrier can rise all the way, but if too much of the next round protrudes out of the magazine the bevel will not pick it up and the carrier will jam as it tries to rise. So all that is my way of saying that the Over All Length of the cartridge is critical in making a Toggle Link rifle feed and function. As can be seen in this photo, the round on the carrier is about 1 rim thickness (about .060) shorter than the entire length of the carrier. Much shorter and the carrier will jam as it tries to rise.
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Here is a what the carrier on my Henry looks like when fully raised to feed a round into the chamber.
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Here is the underside of the frame, showing the carrier in its mortise in the frame. This is the normal position of the carrier, flush with the bottom of the frame.
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A view down into the Henry carrier, similar to the view of the 1873 carrier above. Again, this rifle is also chambered for 44-40, and the cartridge on the carrier is backed up against the rear face of the mortise. A little bit less than the thickness of the next round in the chamber is protruding out of the magazine.
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So. Any round shorter than a standard 45 Colt or 44-40 (they both have a very similar OAL) will cause the carrier to jam as it tries to rise to feed a fresh round into the chamber. I know that 45 Colt and 44-40 Uberti Henry rifles have the same frame and carrier, the barrel and its chambering are different. I do not know how Uberti has addressed this with toggle link rifles chambered for 44 Special, as can be seen in one of my photos above, 44 Special is considerably shorter than 45 colt or 44-40. Perhaps the bevel on the carrier has been lengthened to shove a cartridge protruding further out of the magazine back in so the carrier can rise. I really do not know as I have never handled a toggle link rifle chambered for 44 Special. I do strongly suspect that a 44 Special Henry will use the same frame as a 44-40 or 45 Colt Henry, I suspect the carrier may be slightly different. I do know that modern toggle link rifles chambered for 357 Magnum have a much narrower opening in the carrier to allow for the much narrower cartridge.
There is a limit of how much the bevel on the carrier of a Toggle Link rifle can be extended. I don't know exactly how much, but there is a limit, so extremely short cartridges simply will not feed properly in one of these rifles.
That is why Happy Trails came up with his modified carrier for extremely short cartridges such as 45 Cowboy Special. That carrier has the added spring loaded, pivoted cartridge stop to prevent a round from being shoved back onto the carrier. Other than that it is a standard carrier. There is probably a no mans land between what can be accomplished with a longer bevel and a spring loaded cartridge stop. There has to be enough real estate in the carrier to allow for the spring loaded cartridge stop.
https://www.thesmithshop.com/cbs45.html
I can tell you this. With any rifle with a tubular magazine it is not recoil that sets bullets back in the cartridge case. If recoil was able to move a bullet, the bullet would jump forward, not back. With any rifle with a tubular magazine it is the slamming action of the column of cartridges being violently shoved back by the magazine spring and follower that tends to telescope bullets into a case. I can also tell you that with the 44-40 cartridge, because of its very, very thin brass at the case mouth, at best the crimp has a very tenuous hold on a bullet. I make up dummy 44-00 rounds without powder or primer, to check the feed and function of my rifles all the time. I can tell you for a fact that if I run these rounds through a rifle with a tubular magazine much more than twice, the bullets will be set back into the case from the slamming action of the magazine spring and follower. My 44-40 rounds are filled with Black Powder, so in essence there is a Black Powder 'plug' preventing the bullets from telescoping into the case. If my rounds were loaded with Smokeless, I might have a problem with that. Most guys who shoot 44-40 in one of these rifles may not have a problem, it has been a long time since I loaded any Smokeless 44-40 rounds, when I first started in CAS I was shooting Smokeless in a Winchester Model 1892 and I don't recall any problem. 45 Colt by its nature makes a much firmer crimp than 44-40 or 38-40, because the brass is much thicker at the case mouth and can mechanically dig into a lead bullet.
I have no idea if a round with a tapered crimp, such as most semi-automatic rounds have, would suffer set back in a tubular magazine or not.
Anyway, it is all pie in the sky. Yes, there is some interest in shorter cartridges in toggle link rifles in CAS, but not a whole lot.
