For those are having problems sizing the 38-40 and 44-40

[Blackhawk Convertable]

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[Ale-8(1)]

I read somewhere lately that die manufacturers have recognized this situation and are now producing proper dies for the .38-40's. I have no personal experience with this, however.

Has anyone seen this problem on the Buckeye .38-40/10mm Buckeye convertibles? I recently acquired one, but have not yet begun to reload for it.

 

[mhblaw]

I have three revolvers in 38-40; a Buckeye, a USFA single action and a Bowen custom. Redding dies would size OK for the Buckeye and the USFA, but had to take a few thousandths off the bottom of sizer to adequately size for the Bowen. Now slicker than snot.

 

[Boxhead]

Hornady dies work fine in my Buckeye as well as my Harton custom.

 

[Olsherm]

I just remembered that I ordered the "cowboy die sets" from RCBS for 44/40 and 38/40. That may have helped my problem also as they are supposed to be made more for the lead bullets used in those calibers. olsherm

 

[Blackhawk Convertable]

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[Iron Mike Golf]

There's an on-topic article by Mike Venturino (38 WCF) in the Feb 2010 issue of Handloader magazine.

http://www.riflemagazine.com/magazine/PDF/hl264partial1.pdf

 

[Blackhawk Convertable]

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[9.3X62AL]

New member stopping by the "Bullet ReStuffing Section", as my wife refers to my hobby. Among that refill regimen are included the 25-20, 32-20, and 44-40 calibers. There is CONSIDERABLE "poetry" going on within dies and chambers in terms of shoulder placement, that is a fact. My dies and firearms see eye-to-eye among each other in 32-20 and 44-40, but my Marlin 1988-series 1894 in 25-20 is chambered "long" in terms of shoulder location, and you really must use care to not push the shoulders back on those cases. The 25-20's shoulder is more abrupt and pronounced, and I ruined a lot of 50 cases early in my ownership of this little levergun. Incipient, partial, and a couple complete case separations occurred before I got religion on this trait.

 

[Blackhawk Convertable]

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[Blackhawk Convertable]

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[contender]

A good post worth revisiting.
I had purposely avoided the 32-20, the 38-40, the 44-40 calibers & all for decades due to the issues of thin case necks, problems reloading etc. Yet, this past fall, I got a pair of Buckeye convertibles. As soon as deer season is over & I get the rest of my stuff lined up, I'll be loading for both the 32-20 & the 38-40.

 

[Blackhawk Convertable]

BTT

 

[veeman]

I use old Lyman 44-40 dies, no issues in any of my 6 44-40 guns.

 

[Blackhawk Convertable]

The problem is mainly with the Ruger revolvers...

 

[sliclee]

There is a difference between 38/40 dies such as RCBS. They make two 2 die sets. One for rifle, jacked bullets only;
the other set is for lead bullets, a different size bullet. The lead bullet should be .401 BH 15-17.
I shoot on average 11 to 13 thousand lead bullets a year just in that caliber, CAS.
The hand guns I use have different size cylinders, Ruger Vaquero, Colt SAA, BOTH DIFFERENT, dies must be adjusted for
both, my rifles I use are Winchester 1892, original, only use once in a while, Uberti 1873, Lightining rifle pump different,
Miroko Brownings 2 different rifles, all used in competition, each had to be adjusted to resize fit all.
If you have the right die set there is still a problem if you are using a progressive. I use a dedicated Dillon 650 to make 38/40 ammo, I use 2 two toolheads, one to decap and resize only, I have about 3400 in use at one time, meaning, I resize,decap
all at one time, put in tumbler, then a large box ready to load all 3400 as needed. The second tool head has the other dies.
Watch the shell plate if you do all functions together the shell plate presses down against base of machine stopping it from resizing the entire case. Stop listening to music pay attention to reloading. good luck, Lee

The Ruger vaquero in 38/40, all of them had a cylinder problem, the end of the cylinder was too small, it had to be
reamed a tad. I have 5 vaqueros in 38/40, 4 nickel Colts SAA in 38/40

 

[Blackhawk Convertable]

Been a year. Let's educate some more...

 

[loaded round]

I managed to buy a LNIB 44-40 OM Vaquero at a gun auction about 10 years ago. I wanted to shoot this revolver, but didn't intend to put large amounts of rounds down range. So instead of buying my usual Redding dies, I invested in a set of Lee 44-40 dies. Having now shot maybe 200-250 rounds in my Vaquero and have never had a reloading problem with my Winchester once fired cases. FYI, I also fitted a Blackhawk 44 Mag cylinder to my Vaquero to shoot 44 Spl loads. According to Ruger back then, the 44-40 and the 44 Mag had the same barrel diameter.

 

[jefats]

I use Hornady dies and have no issues.

Same here.

 

[Blackhawk Convertable]

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