The other 44 Henry Cartridge ...... 44 FLAT W&C

[w44wcf]

The 44 FLAT W&C  (Winchester & Colt) was a downloaded version of the standard 44 Flat cartridge.  

The powder charge was 23 grs. vs the 28 grs. of the standard cartridge for a reduction of almost 20%. Velocity would have been somewhere in the vicinity of 980 f.p.s. vs the 1,125 f.p.s. of the standard cartridge.

It debuted about the mid 1870's, intially intended for the Colt revolver but also found use as sort of a mid-range+  loading in the Henry and 1866 Winchester Rifles.

It remained in Winchester's lineup until shortly after 1910, after which it was discontinued.    



It is interesting to note that the same 23 gr. load was used in the factory loaded .44 Russian which came onto the scene several years before the W&C 44 Flat.  Since the .44 Russian is a pistol cartridge and the W&C Flat was also intended for use in a pistol, I wonder if that was the inspiration for using the same powder charge in the W&C variation(?). I'm thinking it was.

Interesting  history......    

w44wcf

[Fox Creek Kid]

I thought the "flat" version came out earlier than the mid-1870s. 

[w44wcf]

Fox Creek Kid,
The standard 44 Henry Flat came out in about the mid 1860's. The W&C variation came along 10 or so years later.

w44wcf  

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