44/40 or 45 Colt?

[Peter M. Eick]

General opinions, which one is easier to load on a progressive or are they about the same?

I am thinking about picking up a Henry 1860 in one of these two calibers but I would prefer one more suitable to reloading on my progressive Pro2000.

Any opinions?

 

[rcmodel]

The .45 Colt cases are a little more durable if you ding the mouth on a die or something. All the WCF calibers use very thin brass and are easily damaged when running them through a reloading press.

On the otherhand, the .44-40 will probably feed & extract better in a repro Henry due to the slightly bottleneck case design and slightly bigger rim to case body size.


rcmodel

 

[ADKWOODSMAN]

I'll second rcmodel.

 

[ReloaderFred]

The .45 Colt brass is quite a bit heavier than the .44-40 brass, and less likely to be deformed. It will also last longer.

Another thing to consider is the availibility of suitable bullets. It's much easier to find bullets for the .45 Colt than it is for the .44-40, which are pretty much limited to 200 grain, if you can find the right diameter.

I know a whole bunch of .45 Colt shooters in our Cowboy Action group, but only know one who shoots the .44-40. If it were me, I would opt for the .45 Colt, and use Round Nose Flat Point lead bullets for the Henry. You can get them from 165 grains up to 250 grains.

Hope this helps.

Fred