This is the name of the cartridge that has killed more american game ,fourlegged or two legged than others combined, it was also used in the spanish ciwil war as the Tigrè carbine and its most famous use was at the city of Plevna under the Crimean war when the Russians attacked and the Turks opened fire on them at close rangewith their thousands of Yellow boys , the russians attacked twice and together had 30000 men wounded and killed. Hokahey!!

Interrestingly it was chambed\red in the Winchester 92 and 94 models where that strong mechanism was loaded with a high velocity cartridge and i have a 94 Cheyenne carbine again Hokahey

When i get the Duke feeling ,ill just  have to load some homeloaded 200 grainers , 10 plus one and launch them at unsuspecting watercans, Well it puts things in perspective when such a cartridge with new powder gets almost up to 44 magnum velocity!!.

If Custer had had 44-40 rifles, the history could have been different

Fella's;

Frank Barnes sez:  "This was the original cartridge for the famous Winchester Model 1873 lever action repeating rifle.  Shortly after its introduction, Colt was offering revolvers in .44-40 caliber.  At one time or another just about every American arms manufacturer has offered some kind of weapon chanbereed for this cartridge.  The Colt-Burgess lever action rifle of 1883 was made for the .44-40 and so was the 1885 Colt Lightning slide action rifle.  The Remington Model 14 1/2 slide action used it as did the Winchester 92 and Marlin 94, both lever action repeaters.  Most of the single shot rifles made in the United States had a .44-4- model at one time or another.  In Spain they manufactured a copy of the Winchester Model 92 in .44-40 for police and civil guard use.  No American-made rifles have chambered the round sinde 1937, but Colt revolvers retained it up to about 1942.  Several foriegn-made replicas of the Henry Carbine and the Winchester Model 66 and 73 are currently available in .44-40 caliber."

He further goes on to say:  "It is said that it has killed more game, large and small, and more people, good and bad, than any other commercial cartridge ever developed."

All of the above from Cartridges Of The World, 4th edition.

So, we have a time span of 1873 to 1937 for chambering in rifles and possibly 5 more years for Colt revolvers.  Or, 64 years for rifles & up to 69 years for handguns.  Notice that Mr. Barnes did not say that it's killed more etc., etc.  He said that:  "it is said".  This is a pretty good indication that Mr. Barnes himself was not totally convinced that the assertation is, or was at the time he wrote it, a fact.

We are now celebrating the 100th anniversary of the .30-06, a cartridge which was the U.S. military issue round of both WW1 and WW2.  To attempt to argue that the .30-06, although developed as a military round is not also a commercial round, is an exercise in futility that I'm not about to condone.

That's not to say that the .44-40 isn't one of the great ones, because it is.  Witness its dynamic resurgance in CAS & all the new firearms being issued or reissued in the caliber.  But let's face facts, the huge majority of its use these days is in range use for CAS events, not taking game of any stripe.

900F

welcome to the BSB, mr. rigby! always glad to meet someone from outside the USA.

please make yourself at home ehre, and feel free to post questions, answers, opinions etc as you please. if you need anything, just let one of us know~

Hate to disagree, but the Turks were arrmed partially with M1866 Winchesters, in .44 Henry. If anything in .44 WCF as there, it was in much smaller numbers than the  M1866.

I don't have anythingi n .44WCF, but do have an early M1892 in the .44 WCF's little brother, the .38 WCF.  I hunt with it occasionally.

Good post Mr. Rigby, hope to see more of them.  Welcome.

The 44-40 was a great cartridge.  Unfortunately it suffered having been an early one.  Factory ammo was always held to the pressure of the weakest action, and the brass frame levers were weak.

In a M92 with reasonable handloads, it is still a very good medium game cartridge (and a smooth rifle action).

Since CB sneaked the '06 in there on a 44-40 thread.  I also think that the 30-40 is a cartridge that is still regularly killing big game...MORE than a 100 years after it's introduction.  Not to mention the 7x57 and the 8x57.  Come to think of it over the last 5 years I've kill a deer with each of the 30-40, 7x57 and the 8x57.  Need to take the Mosant for a walk.

BEAR 

I post much at Accurate reloading as mr rigby, and i saw that since i have a great joy of the wild west, i even wrote a paper in junior hugh school about it and got one of very few A i have ever gotten.

Plus we had a great author named Kjell Hallbing who wrote much about a character named Morgan Kane.

Just to write a little about him, he was Arizona Ranger, scout for custer,but due to a little arguing they had ,he wasnt allowed on the great battlefield of Little Bighorn.

Bison hunter and part of the defense at Adobe walls he was also present at.

US Marshal, Alaska Marshal, Rough Rider , Pinkerton Special Agent and Roosevelts bodyguard aswell under the Cuban campaign . There was speaking about a movie of him made in US,but unfortunately it flopped,one good actor for Kane would have been Clint Walker,

Now for weapons he used, the Colt 1873, Colt DA in 44 and 45,several custom weapons, and on the rifle side  a Winchester 66,73 and a 95 in .405 with a Vollemer Jena scope in a sidemount for .

And a Krag in 30-40 with  a scope on for longer ranges .

Hallbing did not just write about Kane but also about Owen Metzgar, one kid who became a indian fighter and intelligence operator for the US goverment about 1830.

And my favorite was about a African PH who was going after a herd of elephant together with several others in Zambia in the 70`s, complete with PETA and crop raiders and the one telephant they go after a Tondo female. rifles used there is a  375 H&H Mauser and a Rigby and H&H S/S double in .470 , Winchester 458 african plus a FN O/U Double in 9,3x74R

He read through the encyclopedia about the Mexican Revoulution ca 20 times and he was on several tours to the states. His storys are well written and he used other alisaes as Louis Masterson ,which he wrote under Morgan Kane .and yes they re on English pick them up and you will read about one who combined Louis Lamour and Hemingway with his own writing.