2520,
  Well, was just curious if you'd used BP in your WCF. We got to talking about that cal. at the match today, The consensus seemed to be that it should be a decent cartridge if chambered in something other than a lever action.

  It'll be awfully tempting to to barrel the Low Wall action I'm getting from Ken in it. As I mentioned I could put on my current barrel in .25SS, which has a 1-10" twist, and I found out today that I could get a barrel with the original 1-14" twist.

  Appreciate you letting us know what loads seem to work the best in your 44. Will be good starting points if I decide to go that way.

  Those 44's aren't very strong are they!? I've lost count of how many links and pins I've made for them, but never had a quarrel with how they shot.

PETE

FWIW......
I've used the Green Mountain light octagon contour barrels in 25 cal to rebarrel a low wall and a small Martini. These little octagon barrels are the same contour/taper as the Winchester lever action rifles, and were intended for the Cowboy Action crowd for the most part. They are 1:14 twist and have proven to be accurate in my so far limited testing.

These barrels as they come from GM have a small tulip or flare at the breech, left over from the machining process. I found that this tulip really went well with the appearance of the low wall rifle, and so I left it. It turned out to be very reminiscent of some of Steven Dodd Hughes' single shots, although not quite as pronounced. The octagon taper was very slightly smaller than the original Winchester #1 size and the original forearm fit like a glove after I inletted slightly for the tulip. I also turned the bbl to a half-round contour with a wedding-band transition, for a somewhat different look.

Unfortunately the little Martini's narrow frame didn't look right with the tulip, so it ended up being straight octagon all the way.

The low wall rifle had originally been chambered in 25-20 SS and then later reamed to 25-20 WCF, without being set back. Needless to say, the fired cases presented a VERY unusual appearance! I chambered the new GM bbl in 25-20 WCF and had John King mark the barrel with the Winchester logo and caliber designation. It shot into 1.25 MOA with jacketed bullets in very limited testing before I returned it to my friend the owner.

The Martini became a 256 Win Mag, and it also shot into 1.25 MOA in limited testing with jacketed bullets. I personally believe both barrels will do better, with better bullets and a better shooter.

I've been told that 25 SS cases can be swaged from 222 Rem brass, after a relief groove has been cut just ahead of the rim recess. The resulting rim would be a little thin but this method would certainly work.

My experience with Bertram brass in 50-70 and 50-110 was that not all cases would fit into the shell holders and also a number of cases had obvious folds in the walls, places where the swaging or drawing process had actually created an inclusion in the brass instead of smoothly reforming it. Kinda dangerous, to say the least.
Good luck, Joe

I think all of us experiencing longitudinal splits are looking at an artifact of the brass extrusion process.  I do not know anything about the process except that drawing and extrusion are said to be different processes.

We have noticed how our old (1935 era?) .25-20 SS and .28-30 Stevens (much older) cartridge cases seem to last and last, at least as long as we stick to mild loads.  Those old cases were drawn, which as I understand it is a different process.  What I have read about extrusion indicates that it was not used on a production basis until the 1940s.  Can anyone add anything about the extrusion process?

Does anyone use larger cartridges from Bell or Bertram?  Any problems there?   

I have not experienced any longitudinal splits in my new .25-20 Repeater cases with R-P headstamps or with any of my .32-20 brass.  I assume those are drawn cases, simply because the big companies acquired their machinery for making such cases a very long time ago.

I have not yet purchased any RMC brass.  Comments here by other say it is turned from rod stock by CNC machines.  Does this brass have thin walls like a basic brass that we later form with our dies?  Or is there just a cylindrical hole bored into the center of the rod stock and the outside of the rid turned to the OD specs for the cartridge case?