'73 Winchester

[Michael 'Deadwood' Clemons]

In a clone,,say,,a Cimerron/Uberti '73 Winchester...do ya'll think the action is strong 'nuff to use the 'occasional' round thur it for a short range deer rifle? Iv heard yes's and no's about this. If it THAT weak,,do I wanna even try to save up for one to do shooting with in the mild rounds?
I could see not 'zooping' rounds up to MAX,,but mid-range factorys,,,for just the occasional shot when hunting,,will it handle that?
And, if it IS strong enough,,,,with mid-velocity rounds,,,,,what would you consider max ranger for a round ,,prob .45LC,,,,in the '73 Long Range 30" barrel,,,for deer?
Thanks,
Preacher

[Silver Creek Slim]

Although you referred to the .45 Colt, Winchester 1873's on .44-40 helped harvest many deer before (and after for that matter) the Winchester 1894 was produced with more "powerful" loads. The factory CAS .45 Colt and .44-40 loads are very similar ballistically. If the range is kept within 100 yards and the "boiler room" is hit, a deer should be harvested. I do not advise shooting a load that would be above the SAAMI max of 14,000 for .45 Colt.
BTW, I took my Henry .44-40 with BP loads out hunting in November, but I didn't get a chance to fire it at a deer.

Slim

[Michael 'Deadwood' Clemons]

Thanks Slim,,,
in  either round, in the 850fps range,,,,what would be the 'logical sence' range on whitetail? Here in the east,,most of our shots are 40 to 80 yards. 100 yards max range perhaps?
At the 800fps or so,,would there be an advantage to loading with a jacked soft point to have a few 'deer rounds'? or would it be just as well to stay with lead?
This would not be a full time deer gun,,but,,,id have,,i mean HAVE to try it out on whitetail one time.

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[Delmonico]

Use a lead bullet with a flat nose, they kill well with out expanding.  Most jacketed bullets are meant to kill well only if the expand and at that velocity it is going to be a chancie thing.   Also I im a firm belivier in that the old gun writers saw about a bullet not exiting kills better is a bunch of BS.  Bullets kill by the damage they do to blood vessels and nerves, sometimes hydrostatic shock will kill quickly but when it doesn't it is simple, exit wounds bleed and bleed well, entrance wounds most often don't.  Are you really that good of a tracke?

[Four-Eyed Buck]

The old 44-40 got a lot of meat for the table in it's original time. A soft lead RNFP should do the trick if you do your part. Kept at the BP speed for the original loadings, should be no problem...................Buck

[Silver Creek Slim]

Thanks, Del and Buck.

Slim