.44-40 Chronograph Results

[Dave Markowitz]

Today I went to the range with my brother, who has a Shooting Crony Beta Master chronograph. I was able to measure the velocity of three .44-40 loads. Measurements for each load was for a 10 shot string.

All shots were from my Cimarron Firearms Uberti 1873 Sporting Rifle in .44-40 WCF with a 24.25" barrel. Brass was Starline and primers in the handloads were Federal No.150 large pistol primers.

First up were 10 rounds with a ~215 grain cast bullet from my Accurate Molds 43-215C mold on top of 2.2cc (~35 grains) of Swiss 3Fg black powder.

Average velocity: 1329.4 FPS
Standard deviation: 11.6 FPS
Extreme Spread: 42 FPS
Muzzle energy: 843 foot-pounds

These grouped into about 2" at 50 yards.

Second were 10 shots loaded with a Lyman 200 grain cast bullet on top of 8.6 grains of Alliant Unique smokeless powder. The Lyman bullets were from a box I bought years ago. They are pretty good bullets but no longer available.

Average velocity: 1307.2 FPS
Standard deviation: 21.462 FPS
Extreme spread: 82.98 FPS
Muzzle energy: 758 foot-pounds

These printed a somewhat larger group, about 2.5" to 3". They gave noticeably better accuracy than rounds loaded with only 8 grains of Unique. I was not surprised at the much larger SD since I've read that .44-40s loaded with Unique can have wide variations, unless you tilt the muzzle of the rifle for each shot to get the powder back near the primer. In contrast to the largely empty case when loaded with Unique, the black powder loads have 100% loading density, and are in fact compressed loads.

That said, the rounds with Unique performed better than I expected.

Finally, I chronographed 10 Black Hills .44 WCF 200 grain cowboy action shooting loads. As expected, these were a lot slower than the first two loads.

Average velocity: 1123.1 FPS
Standard deviation: 15.358 FPS
Extreme spread: 41.78 FPS
Muzzle energy: 560 foot-pounds

Even though these were more consistent than the handloads with Unique, if you go by SD, they don't shoot nearly as accurately. Just like when I've shot them before groups were about twice as large as the full power rounds. It's also possible that the rifle doesn't like the Black Hills bullet.

I have three more loads that I want to chronograph, all using bullets cast in the 43-215 mold:

(1) 23.5 grains of Alliant Reloder 7.
(2) 2.2cc of Goex 3Fg black powder.
(3) 2.2cc of Goex Olde Eynsford black powder.

I'm expecting the Reloder 7 loads to at least equal but probably exceed the velocity of the Swiss BP loads, the Olde Eynsford to perform similarly to Swiss, and the Goex to tail behind but hopefully shoot accurately.

 

[dpsurveyor]

Dave
I don't know if it works in the smaller cases like 45 colts and 44-40's but in 45-70's if you want to even out the SD to almost zero simply place a single paper disk of newspaper down in the case first before any black powder. Make sure the primer is covered with the paper disk. Then load normally. I don't know what happens to make the SD even out but it does. I have loaded 45-70's this way for years while competing and you can chrony every load and they will all be nearly exactly the same fps (zero SD) with any brand of black powder you want to use. Different brands yield different fps but each cartridge loaded with the same brand and amount of the same powder will have the same fps. It sounds like a plugged nipple to a muzzleloader but in a cartridge it works ! Give it a try - it works and won't hurt you or the gun.

 

[Dave Markowitz]

Interesting. I may try that.

 

[Jimster]

Thanks for posting that. I've just started reloading this great cartridge and I like reading about it. They feed so smoothly!

 

[Driftwood Johnson]

Howdy

Thanks for posting the data.

I ran my Black Powder 44-40 loads over a chronograph a bunch of years ago, but I have never believed the data.

2.2CC of Goex FFg under a 200 grain bullet out of my Uberti 1873/w 24" barrel came to an average of only 1015 fps.

I have always wanted to run that test again. Now that chronographs are so cheap I should buy one.

 

[Dave Markowitz]

I wouldn't doubt that 2Fg loads run slower than 3Fg, but 1015 FPS is pretty bad from a 24" rifle barrel. I'll have to load some up and try them.

I've been loading 3Fg because it should burn more cleanly and give better velocity.

 

[Driftwood Johnson]

Generally speaking, all else remaining the same, you will see an increase in velocity of between 60 -100 fps going from FFg to FFFg.

Like I said, I have never trusted that data.

One of the tricks to shooting Black Powder over a chronograph is to make sure the smoke does not interfere with the readings. Some guys put a piece of cardboard in front of the first screen to keep the smoke away from the machine.