Author Topic: Mag brass trimmed to special length?  (Read 779 times)

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Offline coyotejoe

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Mag brass trimmed to special length?
« on: November 10, 2008, 05:02:56 AM »
I just ordered a Charter Arms .44 bulldog revolver and find that Midway has zero .44 special brass. I do have about 100 .44 mag cases and no longer own a .44 mag revolver so I am thinking of trimming them to .44 special length. I could knock them out pretty easy with the Lee case trimmer in my drill press. I'm wondering if there would be a problem of reduced case capacity of the trimmed mag brass vs special brass?
I will be loading light since the bulldog is not a sturdy revolver and will watch the chronograph and pressure indications.
The story of David & Goliath only demonstrates the superiority of ballistic projectiles over hand weapons, poor old Goliath never had a chance.

Offline thxmrgarand

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Re: Mag brass trimmed to special length?
« Reply #1 on: November 10, 2008, 05:20:11 AM »
Dave Scovill mentions this on Page 8 of the November 2008 issue of Handloader.  If I understood him correctly, there is no difference between .44 spl brass and shortened .44 mag brass as he found some .44 spl marked .44 mag.

Offline Lloyd Smale

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Re: Mag brass trimmed to special length?
« Reply #2 on: November 11, 2008, 02:29:41 AM »
works fine.
blue lives matter

Offline coyotejoe

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Re: Mag brass trimmed to special length?
« Reply #3 on: November 11, 2008, 03:54:48 AM »
 Thanks guys, I shall proceed. ;D
The story of David & Goliath only demonstrates the superiority of ballistic projectiles over hand weapons, poor old Goliath never had a chance.

Offline Slufoot

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Re: Mag brass trimmed to special length?
« Reply #4 on: November 12, 2008, 01:50:31 PM »
I have done this in the past with no problems.

Offline JOE MACK

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Re: Mag brass trimmed to special length?
« Reply #5 on: November 19, 2008, 01:20:43 PM »
I've got about four hundred .41Magnum cases cut down for my .41Specials. Can't imagine why it wouldn't work for the .429 magnum.  ;)
JOE MACK aka Brian aka .41FAN

HAVE MORE FUN AND GET THE JOB DONE WITH A .41

Offline Hank08

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Re: Mag brass trimmed to special length?
« Reply #6 on: November 20, 2008, 04:52:33 AM »
Once I bought several hundred .44 Russian brass.  They were almost all cut down .44 mag brass.  Worked fine.  CJ, I've got one of the older 3" Bulldogs, great little carry gun.
H08

Offline dbriannelson

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Re: Mag brass trimmed to special length?
« Reply #7 on: November 22, 2008, 10:15:40 AM »
The only confusion is the headstamp if you ever need to sort them out that way.

BTW, I backordered a bunch of W-W .44 Special brass from Midway and had to wait for a long time.   But ... I got mine!

-Don
Semper Fi.  (1803/0210)

Offline coyotejoe

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Re: Mag brass trimmed to special length?
« Reply #8 on: November 23, 2008, 04:23:17 AM »
This has now become a non-issue for me since I ordered .44 special brass from "Graf & Sons", but thanks for the replies. I also found I have a couple of boxes of .44 Colt ammo which also works, I just have to shoot up the blackpowder handloads to get empty brass. Black powder from the bulldog is pretty impressive.
The story of David & Goliath only demonstrates the superiority of ballistic projectiles over hand weapons, poor old Goliath never had a chance.