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The .44-40 Winchester, also known as .44 Winchester, .44 WCF (Winchester Center Fire), and .44 Largo (in Spanish-speaking countries) was introduced in 1873 by the Winchester Repeating Arms Company. It was the first metallic
centerfire Two rounds of .357 Magnum, a centerfire cartridge; notice the circular primer in the center A centerfire cartridge is a firearm metallic cartridge whose primer is located at the center of the base of its casing (i.e. "case head"). Unlike ri ...
cartridge manufactured by Winchester, and was promoted as the standard chambering for the new Winchester Model 1873 rifle.The 44-40 (44WCF) for beginners (like me)
Leverguns Web site.
As both a rifle and a handgun caliber, the cartridge soon became widely popular, so much so that the Winchester Model 1873 rifle became known as "The gun that won the West."


History

When Winchester released the new cartridge, many other firearm companies chambered their guns in the new round. Remington and Marlin released their own rifles and pistols which chambered the round, Colt offered an alternative chambering in its popular
Single Action Army The Colt Single Action Army (also known as the SAA, Model P, Peacemaker, or M1873) is a Trigger (firearms)#Single-action, single-action revolver handgun. It was designed in 1872 for the U.S. government service revolver trials of 1872 by Colt's P ...
revolver A revolver (also called a wheel gun) is a repeating handgun that has at least one barrel and uses a revolving cylinder containing multiple chambers (each holding a single cartridge) for firing. Because most revolver models hold up to six ro ...
in a model known as the Colt Frontier Six-Shooter, and Smith & Wesson began releasing their Smith & Wesson New Model 3 chambered in .44-40. Settlers, lawmen, and cowboys appreciated the convenience of being able to carry a single caliber of ammunition which they could fire in both pistol and rifle. In both law enforcement and hunting usage, the .44-40 became the most popular cartridge in the United States, and to this day has the reputation of killing more deer than any other save the .30-30 Winchester. The cartridge was originally sold as .44 Winchester. When the Union Metallic Cartridge Co. (UMC) began selling their own version of the cartridge, it adopted the name .44-40 (shorthand for .44 caliber and the standard load at the time of of
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), as it did not want to offer free advertising for one of its competitors. Over time, the name stuck, and eventually Winchester adopted the .44-40 designation for the round after World War II. Winchester uses the designation "44-40 Winchester" on packaging.


Technical background

The initial standard load for the cartridge was of black powder propelling a round-nose, flat-point bullet at roughly . Winchester catalogues listed velocities of by 1875. In 1886, UMC also began offering a slightly heavier, , bullet at , also with 40 gr of black powder. Winchester soon began to carry the 217-gr loading, as well, but in 1905, UMC discontinued the heavier load. In 1895, Winchester introduced a cartridge bulk loaded with of
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No. 2
smokeless powder Finnish smokeless powderSmokeless powder is a type of propellant used in firearms and artillery that produces less smoke and less fouling when fired compared to gunpowder ("black powder"). The combustion products are mainly gaseous, compared to ...
and a bullet for , and in 1896, UMC followed suit with a 217-gr bullet at . Soon, both companies were offering the cartridge with lead "metal patched" (i.e. copper-jacketed with lead points), and
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versions. Taking advantage of the stronger-action designs of the Winchester model 1892 and the Marlin 1894 lever-action rifles, in 1903, Winchester began offering a higher-performance version of the loading called the Winchester High Velocity (WHV), with a velocity of using a 200-gr copper-jacketed bullet from a barrel length, UMC and Peters Cartridge Company soon introduced equivalents. Over the years, a number of different bullet weights and styles have been offered, including 122, 140, 160, 165, 166, 180, and 217 gr in lead,
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- and hollow-point, full metal case, blanks, and shot shells. The most common current loading is a 200-gr bullet at 1190 ft/s. By 1942, more modern cartridges had all but eclipsed the .44-40, but it regained some popularity in the 1950s and 1960s when Colt began once again to manufacture the Single Action Army and Frontier.Taffin J.
Taffin Tests The .44-40 Winchester
Sixguns Web site
More recently, the .44-40 has had a resurgence due to the popularity of metallic silhouette and cowboy action shooting, which inspired the introduction of a low-velocity gallery load, the heaviest factory bullet ever available for the cartridge.


See also

*
List of handgun cartridges List of handgun cartridges, approximately in order of increasing caliber. Table of handgun cartridges {, class="wikitable sortable" style="text-align:left" , - ! Cartridge name , , Bulletdiameter , , Caselength , , Cartridgelength , , Type ...
*
List of rifle cartridges List of rifle cartridges, by primer type, calibre and name. File:Cartridge Sample 2.jpg, 350px, From left to right: 1 .17 HM2,2 .17 HMR, 2.5 .17 wsm, 3 .22LR, 4 .22 WMR, 5 .17/23 SMc, 6 5mm/35 SMc, 7 .22 Hornet, 8 .223 Remington, 9 .223 ...
* Table of handgun and rifle cartridges


References


Bibliography

* Julian S. Hatcher, ''Hatcher's Notebook'', Harrisburg, Pa., Military Service Pub. Co., 1947 iling 2596page 436 - {{DEFAULTSORT:44-40 Winchester Pistol and rifle cartridges Weapons and ammunition introduced in 1873 Dual-purpose handgun/rifle cartridges Rimmed cartridges Winchester Repeating Arms Company cartridges