True, the .45 so called "Long Colt" is easier to reload but blowback into the action causing powder fouling when using black powder is a real problem. The original 44-40 bottle neck black powder round doesn't have that problem.
That’s useful information, I love this site, you never know what you’re going to learn.
I was leaning towards the .45, but that clinches the .44-40. I guess the old time engineers actually knew what they were doing.
What do you think of Uberti Vs Winchester in the 1873. Seems like the Winchester is much more expensive. They both have a really good reputation.
Taylors is also a consideration but I think they are custom made by Uberti for Taylors.
Chris Kyle wrote a book called American Gun in which he had a chapter about the Winchester. Highly recommend the book.
“True, the .45 so called “Long Colt” is easier to reload but blowback into the action causing powder fouling when using black powder is a real problem. The original 44-40 bottle neck black powder round doesn’t have that problem.’
“... True, the .45 so called “Long Colt” is easier to reload but blowback into the action causing powder fouling when using black powder is a real problem. The original 44-40 bottle neck black powder round doesn’t have that problem.”
The 45 Colt revolver cartridge as originally configured had almost no rim: unimportant for functioning, as it was chambered only in rod-ejector revolvers.
Its spare rim and straight walls made for poor functioning in repeating rifles like Winchester’s M1873. The 44-40, 38-40, and 32-20 all sport generous rims, tapered walls, and very slight bottlenecks: created more reliable extraction especially when rifle chambers got dirty (a quick occurrence in rifles firing cartridges charged with black powder).
When the US War Dept adopted Colt’s New Service revolver as the M1909, the 45 Colt round had to have its rim enlarged, to allow the ejector star to catch. It was found the rims of the new case interfered with each other in the smaller diameter cylinder of the M1873 Single Action Army revolver (still in armory storage after being declared obsolete in 1892): reduced the arm to a three-shooter, as only every other chamber could be loaded.
Reloading 44-40, 38-40, and 32-20 is an exercise in frustration. Paper-thin necks, spare shoulders, and wall taper demand the lightest touch. Even then, many cases crumple at one stage or another.