The Left Infiltrating Public School

[HappyHappy]

Rifle and pistol calibres are bewildering.
for instance a .44-40 is really .425 diameter and 40 gr of black powder.
.44 mag (remember "dirty Harry"?) is .429 projectile diameter but a tad smaller in powder capacity
than .44-40... The pressures are MUCH higher than in a .44-40 and that accounts for a huge gain in power.
Except for specialty loaders both the .38-40 and the .44-40 are available only in smokeless powder loads today.
They are loaded to pressures low enough for any SAFE firearm chambered in those calibers.

.38-40 have rifle groove diameters that vary from .378 to .400
with a soft lead bullet it is not that important as the bullet will swage
to the rifling diameter easily.

More confusion, a .38 special is really a .357 diameter and can be safely fired in a .357 magnum pistol.
A .357 mag round must NEVER be fired in a .38 no matter if it fits!

The list of commercial trade names that incorrectly define the actual bullet is long.

Some minor variations, .30-06 and .308 Winchester use the same bullet diameter (.308).
.220 swift is a .224 diameter bullet.
.222Rem, .223Rem, .225Win and .220Swift all use the same bullet diameter, that is .224
But the above catdriges are NOT interchangable!

If you have a .45-70 and a colt .45 you might already know that the bullet diameter for the
.45-70 is .457-.458, but the pistol is .454
A .45ACP is .451, but all are .45's.....

Oh, one thing, If you own a .38-40 and can not find ammo or brass cases to re-load, .44-40 is readily available
and running an empty .44-40 case through a .38-40 die makes it a .38-40. It's perfectly safe.

HH

[Wullie]

You are absolutely correct.

That 38-40 was actually a 41 Long Colt with a 38-40 cylinder in it because 41 Long Colt ammo is WAY too pricey to shoot these days. I had a 44-40 S&W No 3 DA and it didn't kick or make as much noise as that 38-40.

I used to stoke up my 45 Long Colts with black powder. I'd load it with 5 smokeless loads and 1 black powder load and hand it to a buddy and tell him to shoot something until it ran out of gas. Most of the time, the Black powder load was the last one to go off and the looks on their faces was fucking priceless!! IT had a least a third more recoil and the smoke and flame was just icing on the cake.

Elmer Kieth related stories of when he was a kid, about the old ex cavalry men shooting holes in an outhouse that 600yds distant with their old 45 Colts. I'd bet they were holding MIGHTY damned high to do that, but they knew their guns well enough to pull it off.

I used to shoot a 45-120 Sharps straight side and then I got brave and picked up a 50-140 to play with. It needed wheels with full house loads.

All my Colt single actions and my Sharps rifles went "down the road" along with several 1911's of various Marks and makes over the years. I've got a Uberti Single Action in 45LC and it's better than any new Colt I've messed with.

Back in the late 60's, pretty much all the boys carried knives in our pockets and guns in our cars/trucks. I can recall a LOT of fist fights, but never any knife or gunfights at my school.

[HappyHappy]

I own an Uberti in .44-40 with a Marlin lever gun (Model 92 replica) also in .44-40.
Both are very strong and can handle loads approaching .44 mag pressures.
The Uberti is an excellent hog leg, I love shooting it!

It's kind of neat to mimic the guys in the old days by hunting with a rifle and hand gun of the same calibre.

HH

[Wullie]

I had a really sweet Mod 92 SRC in 32-20. Not much of a cartridge, but the gun was really nice.

Some COCKSUCKER stole it and some other really nice old stuff including a "Black Diamond" grade Mod 97 12ga when I was in Nam in '71. Both of the aforementioned guns belonged to my great uncle at one time.

Back in the day, it made sense to carry a rifle and a pistol that shot the same cartridge. Still does today and if times get any tougher, even more so.

[fatman]

God bless this day i can smell the freedom

[callmeslick]

For the sake of the snakes? THAT is hilarious.

actually, pretty common in Penn's valley. Most regulars carry sidearms, as rattlesnakes can seemingly come out of nowhere down there. That said, the thing mainly gets used for target practice in a meadow and has only once dispatched a rattlesnake. I don't know where you're at, Wullie, but Penn's valley(north central PA) is definitely diamondback country.

[Wullie]

For the sake of the snakes? THAT is hilarious.

actually, pretty common in Penn's valley. Most regulars carry sidearms, as rattlesnakes can seemingly come out of nowhere down there. That said, the thing mainly gets used for target practice in a meadow and has only once dispatched a rattlesnake. I don't know where you're at, Wullie, but Penn's valley(north central PA) is definitely diamondback country.

Timber rattlers maybe.

As of now, I'm in Ft Worth. I spent a large part of my life in West Texas, where pretty much everything sticks, bites, stings, or scratches. As a kid, I spent hours trooping through the boonies hunting arrow heads and artifacts. Later, I worked cattle and rode horses in the same country. I've also worked cattle in Northern Mew Mexico, Colorado, and Wyoming.

When I was driving trucks out to the left coast every week, you had to be damn careful if you stopped out in NM or AZ and took a nap along the side of the road. The big snakes would tune in on those nice warm truck tires and cuddle up to 'em at night to stay warmer. So if you weren't watching your business, when you got up to piss and check your tires, more often than not there would be a rattler next to one of the sets of tires. That can make you piss on yourself if you're expecting it.

I've never been attacked by a rattlesnake. Probably seen a thousand and heard a thousand more that I didn't see. Pretty much every damn one of them was trying to be someplace else when I spooked them, or they were coiled up and singing their song, so I could go someplace else. Over the years I've probably killed 30 or so. Mainly because the SOB's were in my way and wouldn't go elsewhere. The snake I blew up in my old shop had all afternoon to scoot. He chose to stay and die.

Fucking copperheads bother me a hundred times worse than rattlers.

So if you want to take your pistol and strap it on and play Wyatt Earp, no big deal to me. Plink away and have fun.

If you're REALLY worried about snakes, I'd advise carrying a shotgun.

[callmeslick]

Wullie

nah, I'll pass on the shotgun. The gun probably serves as much purpose for folks alerting others to help them, as it does slay the population of snakes. The canyon of the creek is out of any sat-phone service, so for those that get bit(a few every season), getting help out is sometimes an issue. You're right, very right, about the copperheads. I seem to encounter them often enough, and more often in areas with people regularly in them.
A short aside about killing rattlers. Back in the early 1900's, North Central PA residents started killing off the Eastern Diamondbacks, and with considerable success. Then, they started noticing that grain stores, and other edible stashes were getting eaten up by mice and rats. You can't just tinker with Mother Nature.