44 Spl to 44Russian conversion

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44 Spl to 44Russian conversion

Post by Eza » 02 Oct 2022, 9:57 pm

Thinking of reusing powder charge and all components of factoryHornady 44 Special) but shortening to 44 Russian length to use in my S & W Russian. Any thoughts on resulting smaller case but same original powder charge
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Re: 44 Spl to 44Russian conversion

Post by No1Mk3 » 04 Oct 2022, 12:59 pm

Really bad idea, but if you have great medical insurance go ahead, look forward to reading about it in the press. Shortening a nominally 15.500 psi cartridge by 4.4mm will increase the pressure by a fair bit, then you want to put it in a 14.5000 psi revolver? Good luck with that.
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Re: 44 Spl to 44Russian conversion

Post by bladeracer » 04 Oct 2022, 1:35 pm

Eza wrote:Thinking of reusing powder charge and all components of factoryHornady 44 Special) but shortening to 44 Russian length to use in my S & W Russian. Any thoughts on resulting smaller case but same original powder charge


Basically you're seating the bullet to that depth in a .44Mag. How strong is the action you want to fire it in?
Last edited by bladeracer on 04 Oct 2022, 6:15 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: 44 Spl to 44Russian conversion

Post by Eza » 04 Oct 2022, 5:13 pm

Thanks for your responses - I think I’ll stick with black powder as per recommended loading tables.
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Re: 44 Spl to 44Russian conversion

Post by yoshie » 06 Oct 2022, 5:33 pm

You could disassemble the cartridges and re-use the bullets, and cases ( after modifying them) but 44 Russian is a much lower pressure cartridge and you would have to select an appropriate power and load for 44 Russian. I use 44 Magnum cases in my 44 Russian, shortened with hard case lead bullet. You'll need to do your home work on picking a power and load, are you shooting an original or reproduction?
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Re: 44 Spl to 44Russian conversion

Post by Eza » 08 Oct 2022, 1:14 pm

I’m shooting a repro by Uberti with a 7.5 “ barrel.
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Re: 44 Spl to 44Russian conversion

Post by yoshie » 11 Oct 2022, 7:28 am

Eza wrote:I’m shooting a repro by Uberti with a 7.5 “ barrel.
Thanks

So you'll be able to use a modern smokeless power like Trailboss. ADI list 240 g lead round nose starting load at 3 gr and Max load 3.5g. I use a lee auto disk to charge my cases and my load is about 3.2g of TB. I cast my own bullets. Unless you know what your powder is you won't be able to reuse it safely. You'll be able to pull the bullets and reuse them, shorten the cases and reuse them also. The gun will more than likely be able to take it, it is also available in 45 Long Colt, but for the sake of a few dollars in gun powder I wouldn't risk it. Reusing unknown powders isn't a smart reloading practice
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Re: 44 Spl to 44Russian conversion

Post by bladeracer » 11 Oct 2022, 4:37 pm

yoshie wrote:
Eza wrote:I’m shooting a repro by Uberti with a 7.5 “ barrel.
Thanks

So you'll be able to use a modern smokeless power like Trailboss. ADI list 240 g lead round nose starting load at 3 gr and Max load 3.5g. I use a lee auto disk to charge my cases and my load is about 3.2g of TB. I cast my own bullets. Unless you know what your powder is you won't be able to reuse it safely. You'll be able to pull the bullets and reuse them, shorten the cases and reuse them also. The gun will more than likely be able to take it, it is also available in 45 Long Colt, but for the sake of a few dollars in gun powder I wouldn't risk it. Reusing unknown powders isn't a smart reloading practice


Might not be an option nowadays with zero pistol powder or Trailboss available.
I would just cut the cases, reduce the charge, reseat the bullet and run them.
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Re: 44 Spl to 44Russian conversion

Post by yoshie » 12 Oct 2022, 8:50 am

bladeracer wrote:
yoshie wrote:
Eza wrote:I’m shooting a repro by Uberti with a 7.5 “ barrel.
Thanks

So you'll be able to use a modern smokeless power like Trailboss. ADI list 240 g lead round nose starting load at 3 gr and Max load 3.5g. I use a lee auto disk to charge my cases and my load is about 3.2g of TB. I cast my own bullets. Unless you know what your powder is you won't be able to reuse it safely. You'll be able to pull the bullets and reuse them, shorten the cases and reuse them also. The gun will more than likely be able to take it, it is also available in 45 Long Colt, but for the sake of a few dollars in gun powder I wouldn't risk it. Reusing unknown powders isn't a smart reloading practice


Might not be an option nowadays with zero pistol powder or Trailboss available.
I would just cut the cases, reduce the charge, reseat the bullet and run them.


Yeah maybe, 45 colt and 44 special list loads of around 4-5 grains and pressures of around 11,000 - 13,000 PSI, 44 Russian 3.5 grains is about 10,000 psi. The reduced case capacity really bumps up the pressure, you would want to reduced the powder charge by at least 70% maybe more. Without knowing which powder it is, it's pretty difficult to say. If he used the same charge in a smaller case I think the pressure could be quite high 16,000 to 18,000 psi?
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Re: 44 Spl to 44Russian conversion

Post by bladeracer » 12 Oct 2022, 9:07 am

yoshie wrote:Yeah maybe, 45 colt and 44 special list loads of around 4-5 grains and pressures of around 11,000 - 13,000 PSI, 44 Russian 3.5 grains is about 10,000 psi. The reduced case capacity really bumps up the pressure, you would want to reduced the powder charge by at least 70% maybe more. Without knowing which powder it is, it's pretty difficult to say. If he used the same charge in a smaller case I think the pressure could be quite high 16,000 to 18,000 psi?


Yes, definitely do not reduce capacity that much with the same charge.
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