Battle Of The Bulge: Loading the 45 Colt!

[44-40 Willy]

It was an older Interarms, pre-safety. Instead of using the SAAMI spec of .428 groove diameter, they went with a .431. In other words, they used a 44 Mag barrel instead of a true 44-40 barrel. Ruger did the same with the Vaquero in 44-40. Marlin went with a SAAMI spec barrel and it's more accurate than either the Rossi or Vaquero.

In the 44-40, if you use SAAMI spec for the chamber but a 44 Mag barrel, then you'll end up having to use bullets that are way undersized for the barrel in order to chamber them. Factory 44-40 ammo is for SAAMI spec'd barrels. That why the 44-40 is getting a reputation for inaccuracy. Some gun manufacturers are building it in to their 44-40 guns to save a few bucks by using an oversized barrel.

[Ranch Dog]

Thanks for the heads up!

[Arktikos]

I don't as of yet own a Rossi although someday I will rectify that. I do own 2 45 Colts, one is a Marlin and the other a Ruger Blackhawk. I must say that my 1894 marlin bulges the brass just as you described, off to one side about 1/4" up from the base. This is fairly common on Marlins and have heard that the offset bulge has to do with the extractor. I can't say that is for certain but it makes sense to me..

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[pricedo]

Fortunately my only other dedicated 45LC rifle is a 18" barrel revolving carbine & in a revolver the wall of the cartridge is totally surrounded by steel by virtue of the inherently symmetric design of the revolver cylinder & chambers.
I had a brand new Rossi R92 levergun in 45LC all freshly tuned up & slicker'n an eel in a greased fryin pan till last week when my cousin who is getting into the Cowboy Action sport spotted it & as soon as he saw how smooth it was made me an offer I couldn't turn down.
I already had the revolving carbine & the Rossi M92 45LC/454Casull so I caved and sold him the R92.
He said he wasn't experiencing "case bulge" but of course he's using lightly loaded Cowboy Action rounds.
He said he'd be loading up some heavier stuff for hunting in the fall and would be gauging the base diameter of the fired cases at that time for evidence of the problem.

[dagger dog]

I don't as of yet own a Rossi although someday I will rectify that. I do own 2 45 Colts, one is a Marlin and the other a Ruger Blackhawk. I must say that my 1894 marlin bulges the brass just as you described, off to one side about 1/4" up from the base. This is fairly common on Marlins and have heard that the offset bulge has to do with the extractor. I can't say that is for certain but it makes sense to me..

Sent from my Milestone X2 using Tapatalk 2

I really need to get more range time with the 92, and do some more inspection, I could be mistaken about the position of the bulge on the case.

Pricedo,
The load was shooting was 6 grs of TrailBoss pushing a 260 gr bullet, it clocks @ 750 fps out of a 4 5/8th inch Blackhawk so I don't think it's a over pressure problem.
My Rossi is a Braztech.

[Ranch Dog]

The cases will bulge further at any portion of the chamber that is unsupported. This is very common and more defined in semi-automatic handguns with their ramp. Dies specifically designed to remove the bulge are available for semi-auto cartridges.

Here is the cost of using 45 Colt brass in a Marlin or Rossi at high pressure (35.0K PSI).



Winchester brass, 6th reload. This is from the round that I shot the last hog with. When I ejected it in the dark, I knew it had split as they sound different. So with the remained of my Winchester brass, I will chunk them with the fifth shot. Considering a 10% loss going out into the grass that is still only 7 cents a shot for the brass.

[pricedo]

The cases will bulge further at any portion of the chamber that is unsupported. This is very common and more defined in semi-automatic handguns with their ramp. Dies specifically designed to remove the bulge are available for semi-auto cartridges.

Here is the cost of using 45 Colt brass in a Marlin or Rossi at high pressure (35.0K PSI).



Winchester brass, 6th reload. This is from the round that I shot the last hog with. When I ejected it in the dark, I knew it had split as they sound different. So with the remained of my Winchester brass, I will chunk them with the fifth shot. Considering a 10% loss going out into the grass that is still only 7 cents a shot for the brass.

Unfortunately the excess displacement & subsequent resizing causes metal fatigue and weakening in the affected cylinder cross section (very apparent in the picture) and a situation close to "incipient case head separation" would occur (but for different reasons) if the appropriate reloading constraints weren't followed as RD suggests.