.44 Mag Cowboy Brass?

[RainDodger]

I volunteer at a local state range and as such, I have access to a whole lot of once-fired brass. The other day a shooter was about to toss a couple boxes of fired .44 mag brass into the brass-recycle-bin. I intercepted it and found that it's all .44 Mag brass, but small primer. I've never seen that. I don't find any loading data or reference to it either. I think I'd be worried that the brass is intended only for lower power cowboy loads... can anyone enlighten me regarding this brass?

Thanks guys.

 

[Englishmn]

What head stamp or post a picture?

Found this thread.

https://www.thehighroad.org/index.php?threads/hornady-44mag-factory-small-pistol-primer.797778/

 

[45 long]

I've never seen any 44 magnum cowboy loads. most that want a reduced load go with 44 Special

 

[GeoDudeFlorida]

I volunteer at a local state range and as such, I have access to a whole lot of once-fired brass. The other day a shooter was about to toss a couple boxes of fired .44 mag brass into the brass-recycle-bin. I intercepted it and found that it's all .44 Mag brass, but small primer. I've never seen that. I don't find any loading data or reference to it either. I think I'd be worried that the brass is intended only for lower power cowboy loads... can anyone enlighten me regarding this brass?

Thanks guys.

I’m less likely to assume lower pressure/lighter loads vs higher pressure hunting loads. The smaller primer will not expand the pockets as much and with a small rifle or small pistol magnum primer will deliver plenty of flash to get the powder going.

 

[RainDodger]

Thanks for the thread link. What I have here are HSM "Cowboy Action Cartridges"... https://hsmammunition.com/cowboy-action/ . They list 2 different .44 Mag loads, one at 975 fps and one at 1150 fps. I haven't seen any reference to lower pressures, the use of small primers, or whether the cases are reloadable. I'll look further into it.

 

[AJC1]

Thanks for the thread link. What I have here are HSM "Cowboy Action Cartridges"... https://hsmammunition.com/cowboy-action/ . They list 2 different .44 Mag loads, one at 975 fps and one at 1150 fps. I haven't seen any reference to lower pressures, the use of small primers, or whether the cases are reloadable. I'll look further into it.

I don't think hsm makes brass so I'd be curious on the head stamp.

 

[Varminterror]

It would have been 20yrs ago, and a lot has changed, but I used to buy 44mag Cowboy Action loads at a local shop, which was the ammo I used for my first few matches shooting CAS/SASS. It was a blue box with lines or lettering around surface, but the brand escapes me. I recall it was stamped “Cowboy 44 magnum” or some such. I do not recall those being small primer brass though - but again, a LOT can and does change in 20yrs.

 

[Riomouse911]

I also bought .44 Mag and .45 Colt cowboy loads for SASS back in the 1990’s. These are a couple of brands I would buy to get brass for reloading.



Yes, even in California .45 Colt ammo used to be 16 bucks a box!



All was large pistol primed, no SPP with these.

Stay safe.

 

[RainDodger]

The head stamp on the small primer HSM brass says "44" at the 12 o'clock, "Mag" at the 6o'clock, and there's a small "S" at both the 9 o'clock and 3 o'clock. Sorry, can't do pics today.

 

[N555]

I thought cowboi acton 44mag was just 44spl.
If anyone has 44mag SP brass to get rid if I'll take it. They would be perfect for developing AL410 loads, which is a single base powder. I would use caution reloading 44mag with ball powder unless you are using H110 and pretty much filling the case.
I have been reloading 44mag since 2004 or 2005, ain't never seen a small primer 44 anything brass.

 

[mdi]

I would think the 44 Magnum Cowboy loads were intended for shooters not wanting to shoot 44 Specials in their 44 Magnums, revolvers or lever guns...

 

[Jimfern]

I think we've all been exposed to small primer 45 ACP, so maybe it's not too much of a stretch to load 44 MAG with small (magnum?) primers.

 

[N555]

I love shooting 44spl.
I get 100% of what I want from 44spl cases when I'm looking to load 44s to milder velocities. I find the smaller 44spl case to be more consistent than say a 1/3 full 44mag case. With some mild 44mag loads, that aren't "magnum" at all when 44spl cased it can cut my SD just about in half.
Use an appropriate charge of single base powder and a jacketed bullet, no carbon ring unless you fire off a lot of shots with no cleaning.

 

[RainDodger]

I sent a question about the small primer .44 Mag brass to the HSM company that loads the Cowboy Action cartridges... here's their answer: "Yes, this brass is reloadable. It is standard 44Mag brass but with Small Primer pockets, we utilize Small Pistol Magnum Primers in these rounds. When the world was void of large pistol primers we reached out to Starline brass to help come to a solution. The internal testing found that small primers worked just as efficiently as large. If you have any questions please let me know."

 

[CoalTrain49]

I think Starline will do a run for custom brass if the order is big enough. Looks like that happened.

Hence the 45 Cowboy Special brass.

The Cowboy .45 Special is a case that is optimized for use with light loads in .45 Colt caliber revolvers for Cowboy Action Shooting.

38 Short Colt isn't available either except for small commercial loaders and people like me. I'm aware of a company loading 38 Short Colt but it's only available by order. I'm not willing to divulge who that is but it's out there. I load my own.

 

[mcb]

38 Short Colt (the modern version) is pretty easy to get. Starline sells brass, Remington and Magtech (Magtech calls their's 38 Special Short which is a more apt description) sell commercially loaded 38 Short Colt ammo.

To the OP, if I found a heap of small primer 44 Mag brass I would load it like normal and just use Magnum Pistol or Small Rifle primers (assuming my revolver's fire-control was not tunes super light) for anything like H110/W296 or similar. For plinking loads I would just use regular small pistol primers.

 

[mdi]

To the OP, if I found a heap of small primer 44 Mag brass I would load it like normal and just use Magnum Pistol or Small Rifle primers (assuming my revolver's fire-control was not tunes super light) for anything like H110/W296 or similar. For plinking loads I would just use regular small pistol primers

Yep, my thinking too. When there was a lot of complaints about the then new 45 ACP small primed brass, I did a test of my own with about 100 of each using the same load. Not enough difference to make a difference. I figger the same would be true with small primed 44 Magnums...

 

[AJC1]

I sent a question about the small primer .44 Mag brass to the HSM company that loads the Cowboy Action cartridges... here's their answer: "Yes, this brass is reloadable. It is standard 44Mag brass but with Small Primer pockets, we utilize Small Pistol Magnum Primers in these rounds. When the world was void of large pistol primers we reached out to Starline brass to help come to a solution. The internal testing found that small primers worked just as efficiently as large. If you have any questions please let me know."

God bless them now have them do it with 30-30...

 

[Soonerpesek]

God bless them now have them do it with 30-30...

They prolly would if we could get 2-3 hundred thousand order together....................I'm in for a 1,000........................

 

[Seedy Character]

I shoot a lot of Cowboy Action. .44M & .45 Colt.
Have used HSM Cowboy Rounds. Heard they were doing some SPP, but never came across any.
Other than the hassle of segregating, I would load and use as normal. I tested some .45 ACP SPP. Couldn't tell a difference in performance. Keeping the 2 segregated is a PITA.

Everything using 1 primer would be preferred, but not practical.

 

[Crunchy Frog]

Supposedly the reason for SPP .45 ACP ammo was for the use of lead free primers that were available only in small size. Lots of hand wringing but I’ll take all I can find.

The origin story of the .44 Magnum SPP cases seems about right. Starline to the rescue.

At one point in the primer drought it seemed like small pistol was scarce but large pistol was more available. I’m sure it varies.

 

[AJC1]

Supposedly the reason for SPP .45 ACP ammo was for the use of lead free primers that were available only in small size. Lots of hand wringing but I’ll take all I can find.

The origin story of the .44 Magnum SPP cases seems about right. Starline to the rescue.

At one point in the primer drought it seemed like small pistol was scarce but large pistol was more available. I’m sure it varies.

What matters most is what small companies, can get. They have the power to change things with buying power that we cant.... if you order 200,000 cases I'll bet starline makes what you want... I'm Also good for 1k srp 30-30 only 198 000 to go.