My 44 Colt duplication load

[Tuolumne Lawman]

Original .44 Colt used a .450" to .451". diameter 205 to 225 grain heeled bullet to fit the .454" bore size of the 1860 conversions.  Original rounds had about 25 to 29 grains of FFG powder.  The case diameter was approximately the same as the .44 Special/Russian cases.

I am duplicating it for my Conversions in .45 Colt.  I use a 200 grain hollow base .45 ACP RN bullet in a .45 Schofield case.  With the .452" RN bullet it should very closely duplicate the .44 Colt.  I load 25-26 grains volume of 777, or 6.0 grains of Trail Boss.  Both give the 750-800 fps that the original .44 Colt gave.  It looks darn close, too.  I do not have any lever guns in .45 anymore, so the RN bullets are fine.  I feel they are closer to the original than a Black Hills .44 Colt, with its .429" bullet.

Outside cartridges are original .44 Colt/Martin cartridges.  The middle is one of my faux .44 Colt (Schofield) cartridges.

[Black River Smith]

Very nice and I totally agree with your efforts.

BRS

[Lefty Dude]

Yes indeed, excellent !!!!

I also load a 200 gr. round nose in Schofield cases for my 1860 Belgium Cenature conversion. I use the Lee conical mold, drops them at approx. .450" . My 1860 has a very tight bore. .4485".

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[Tuolumne Lawman]

Do your Cenature conversions have 5 shot 45 cylinders like Kirst Konverter or do the somehow have a 6 shot.

[Tuolumne Lawman]

US Cartridge Company produced a compromise load which used a blunter 235gr bullet - midway between the Colt's 210gr and the Remington's 248gr bullets. Commercial production of the .44 Colt ended in 1939.

[Tuolumne Lawman]

Great pictures and clearer information than I have seen in the past:  I got the pictures and info from R/Guns on Reddit

https://www.reddit.com/r/guns/comments/sfpd8/cartridge_of_the_moment_first_installment/

[Lefty Dude]

Do your Cenature conversions have 5 shot 45 cylinders like Kirst Konverter or do the somehow have a 6 shot.

5 shot, it is like Kirst. Only it s a Thuer, made by the master.

[nativeshootist]

so essentially its the same as the .44 henry load, seeing how many of these old west cartridges run almost the same.

[Tuolumne Lawman]

Most of the cartridges before the .45 Colt had 25 to 30 grains of powder and bullets between 200 and 246 grains: 44 American, .44 Russian , 44 Henry flat, 44 Martin, and even the 45 Schofield.  In fact the 45 Schofield had a 230 grain .452 bullet over 29 grains of powder and the US Cartridge company 44 Colt/Remington had a 225 grain .451 bullet over 28 grains of powder.  

[FriscoCounty]

Heck, even the .45 Colt was a 30gr cartridge in practice.  The Franklin Arsenal load was initially 250gr bullet over 30gr of BP.  It was replaced by the first of the Schofield/Colt comprise cartridges in 1875 which was 203gr over 28gr of BP.  The full power 255gr/40gr cartridge was only used by the military during the field trials. 

[Tuolumne Lawman]

I once had two dozen ballon head 45 Colt cases.  I loaded them with 40 grains of FFG, Magnum primer, and a 255 grain, .454" bullet.  I fired them from Henry Nettleton inspected 1873 SAA. It was like shooting a 44 magnum!  I have also fired 45 Schofield with a 230 and 30 grains of FFG.  Much better.  The Schofield, incidentally, duplicated the 45 ACP to the T.

When you consider a 235 grain .451 bullet, with 28-30 grains of BP has no practical difference to the 255 Colt they issued downloaded to 30 grains.  Therefore, the .44 Colt Richards or Remington is virtually as good ballistically as the .45 Colt.