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slumlord44
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Winchester .44-40 Brass probem
Nov 25th, 2014 at 10:41pm
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Picked up an original Stevens 44 1/2 barrel in .44-40. Had problem with new unprimed Winchester brass sticking in the chamber. Polished the camber and it seemed fine. Played with it and stuck again. Rotated the cartridge in the chamber and it would fit fine, rotate it  in the chamber and it sticks. Seems like the rim is slightly off center on the cartridge. New bag of unfired brass. Tried 3 and same problem. Anyone ever had this problem and should I contact Winchester?  Seats fine and extracts fine only if the cartridge is indexed one way in the barrel. Seems like a cartridge problem rather than a barrel problem to me.
  
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firearmdoc
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Re: Winchester .44-40 Brass probem
Reply #1 - Nov 26th, 2014 at 6:27am
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Have you tried a different brand of brass to see if you still have the same problem? I am assuming that you have sized the new brass before trying it in the chamber. If you need some different brass to try, pm me your address and I will send some fired, full length sized brass to you at no charge.

Jesse
  
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slumlord44
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Re: Winchester .44-40 Brass probem
Reply #2 - Nov 26th, 2014 at 10:04am
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It has not been resized or fired. That's the only brass I have. Will take you up on that if I can't figure it out.
  
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svartkruttgris#369
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Re: Winchester .44-40 Brass probem
Reply #3 - Nov 26th, 2014 at 10:24am
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My most recent new Winchester 32-20 brass had many cases with rims that stick or are no-gos in chambers and shellholder, needing those rims to be filed slightly. Have also had this problem with rims in lesser % of other new Winchester brass.

Grisen
  
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John Boy
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Re: Winchester .44-40 Brass probem
Reply #4 - Nov 26th, 2014 at 1:04pm
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With a permanent black magic marker, create bands at the shoulder - middle of the cartridge and at the web. Chamber and see where the scuff mark(s) are.  Then measure the OD at the scuff mark and where there is no scuff mark.
  
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boats
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Re: Winchester .44-40 Brass probem
Reply #5 - Nov 26th, 2014 at 1:24pm
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2nd John Boy put black marker on the case to see whats going on

Boats
  
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slumlord44
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Re: Winchester .44-40 Brass probem
Reply #6 - Dec 5th, 2014 at 7:58pm
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I took a closer look again on this issue. I bought some Cowboy Action loads with Starline brass at local gun show. Had similar problems with it. Did some measuring with a digital caliper and had a buddy look at also look at it. Finally decided that the gun had been dropped on the breach end and the breach end recess for the rim recess had been damaged. Took a modified rotary file and opened up the recess for the rim for the cartridge and got the brass to seat properly no matter where it was indexed. Re installed the barrel to the frame and took it out in the back yard today and fired 3 of the cowboy loads and it fired and extracted fine. Pleasant to shoot with the heavy barrel. Shot where I pointed it. Need to shoot it on paper when on a day when it quits raining here and warms up. I think the .44-40 will be fun to shoot. Need to order some bullets. I like the gun in .38-55 but it kicks more even with light loads. Guess I got lucky when the barrel indexed properly and had no headspace issue. One other issue with this. The rim thickness is .050 with the Winchester brass and .o57 with the Starline brass. Will this be an issue?
  
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Chev. William
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Re: Winchester .44-40 Brass probem
Reply #7 - Dec 23rd, 2014 at 11:27pm
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From what I have seen most cartridges have a .010" range of tolerance for the Head Space, with about .006" being the preferred maximum.  If your rifle Action / Barrel combination passes the "Go" gauge and does not pass the "No Go" gauge AND you can chamber samples of both rim thicknesses, you should be 'good to go' and within safe limits.

If your barrel has a Rim Rebate cut in it, like it sounds form your posts, then you can measure the depth of the rebate with the Depth prob of a Dial Caliper.  This will give you an indication of the rim thickness the Chamber was cut for but the Head Space is a combined measurement from the Breech face to the front of the Rim Rebate with Action closed and locked.

Best Regards,
Chev. William
« Last Edit: Jan 1st, 2015 at 10:27pm by Chev. William »  
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Leo1885
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Re: Winchester .44-40 Brass probem
Reply #8 - Dec 24th, 2014 at 4:16pm
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I use Starline brass in my Win. 92 without any problems.
  
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Larry D
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Re: Winchester .44-40 Brass probem
Reply #9 - Jan 1st, 2015 at 9:39pm
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I had the same problem with my martini. I dident cut the rim diameter large enough on my 222r and was hanging up on the od of the rim!

Larry
  
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