Author Topic: .44 cal shot (Read 765 times)

JollyWhiteGiant · « **on:** May 22, 2005, 10:32:04 AM »

y grandfather picked up an old single shot Iver Johnson in .44 cal shot. The chamber is qutie deep, nearly 3". He was told that a .410 shell would work just fine in it but he tried to chamber one and it goes in till it goes to about halfway up the brass part of the shell and then sticks. Anyone know what catridge this is chambered for and if I cna get some or make some for him to shoot it?

marlinman93 · « **Reply #1 on:** May 24, 2005, 06:04:22 PM »

Your grandfather's gun is most likely chambered for the old .44 XL Shot(extra long) It was a somewhat popular brass cased round, and definitely much shorter than the .410 ga. shell!
The good news is you can make shot cartridges from .44 magnum cases. They will be short, but that wont hurt the function of the shotshells. Speer makes .44 shot capsules, and you'll need to buy some #7 1/2, #8, or #9 bird shot to fill the capsules, then you can seat them over a light charge of pistol powder such as Unique or Bullseye. Speer lists a load of @6.0 grains of Unique with the shot capsules. This will be under 1,000 fps.
BEFORE! shooting any loads in this Iver Johnson, you should have it inspected by a gunsith, to be certain it is in good shooting condition first!

JollyWhiteGiant · « **Reply #2 on:** May 30, 2005, 03:07:13 PM »

The chamber is quite long, if not longer than a 2 3/4" shell then not much shorter than it.

Would the already loaded .44 shot shells from speer work?

marlinman93 · « **Reply #3 on:** May 31, 2005, 02:04:59 PM »

There's no way I can say what might work, without measurements of the chamber. You'll need to make a chamber casting with Cerrosafe, and then meausre the dimensions of the casting. Cerrosafe can be purchased from Brownells, and has a melting point of under 200 degrees. Once you have made a casting, you can post the measurements, and then I can look up the exact chamber dimensions, so a correc tcase can be specified.
If you need any further help, don't hesitate to ask!

davem270win · « **Reply #4 on:** July 22, 2005, 08:44:21 AM »

I have a later made version of this gun that is chambered for .410, and shoots fine.
I also have a buddy who has an earlier one that is chambered for 44 WCF shot (I've cast the chamber). We decided it wasn't worth the trouble to try and load for it.