Period 41 caliber rifle performance?

[Elric]

What period 41 caliber rounds existed for rifles? Somewhere in the .408 - .412 -ish diameters? I was looking at some .414 Supermag stuff, and it seems a T/C with a 14"-18" barrel and a 20-265 grain bullet could equal the period round performance.

 

[oscarflytyer]

Winchester 1895 in 405 Winchester! Have one!

 

[Bret4207]

You mean like 38-40, 40-65, 401 Power Mag?

 

[RicinYakima]

40/50 Sharps bottleneck and straight: 265 grains at 1250 fps.

40/50 Manard.

40/70 Sharps: 300 grains at 1400 fps

Those are ones I have or have shot. The 40’s were very popular after the bison were gone and before jacketed bullets.

 

[Elric]

The .414 SuperMag

9 inch revolver hit 1,400 + with 250 gr.

A 40-41 caliber in a rifle / carbine.

.401 Win

240 gr @ 1,600 in the 1910 blowback.

 

[RBHarter]

In between times there was a 400 Whelen and a couple of Cats on the 284 Win case also . None of those went commercial production so that probably doesn't count . There's probably one for a full straight 30-30 and a tiny , like the Whelen , shoulder on a 308 too .

I went to an event and shot a 445 . I think left alone at 44 mag that would have been a great pistol . That was the first and by chance last time I shot a pistol that I could actually feel the recoil increase with each shot . 5 was all it held and plenty enough for me .

 

[Missionary]

Those old BP cartridges could push a 280 or 300 300 grain cast to about 1350 fps.
Our Marlin 336 20 inch barreled 414 Supermag can move that same cast slug to 1650 easily.

 

[oscarflytyer]

40/70 Sharps: 300 grains at 1400 fps

This is what I intend to shoot cast bullets in the 405 Win. 40-70 equivalent. Should be a creampuff with this.

 

[RicinYakima]

This is what I intend to shoot cast bullets in the 405 Win. 40-70 equivalent. Should be a creampuff with this.

The one I shot was a 9 1/2 pound Sharps and was nice off the bench and offhand.

 

[L Ross]

The one I shot was a 9 1/2 pound Sharps and was nice off the bench and offhand.

Still have a C.Sharps .40-70 SS, beautiful rifle. Got headed down the wrong path with it right away and sadly I have never recovered. I got it with intentions of hunting and plinking with it. Instead I got to hanging around with guys shooting buffalo silhouette matches. Even that would have been fine but, as matches evolve and shooters and equipment gets better the targets got set father and farther away, they also got heavier. BPCR silhouette also affected the way shooters looked at the .40 caliber rifles. Cartridges that were along the lines of "Express" loads i.e. the .40-65 Winchester, got bastardized with faster twists and heavy bullets to play target games with. Suddenly fine old hunting calibers designed to kill medium size game were tasked with knocking down 30 lb. steel targets 500 yards away and even with 410 grain bullets were outgunned, (), by the big .45's and even 50's.

So I ended up getting a .45 to play games with and the .40 has languished. This post has caused me to think about that fine old cartridge and the need to return to its roots. I need a replica of its 330 grain paper patched bullet either in PP or a greaser, shoot it, enjoy it for what it is, and to heck with the competitive games.

I did take two deer and a buffalo with the .40-70 and a 410 grain Saeco flat nose. Too many guns, too little time and I want to go fishin'.

 

[Missionary]

A 414 SM in a rifle barrel will easily do your desired 1400 fps with any weight slug up 320 grains. That is all the heavier I tried as we have other larger case caliber 40 rifles. Actually 280-285 powder coated soft cast makes a dandy corn cruncher thwaper.
Any medium burn powder will get you that velocity. Longer barrels even the slower rifle powders do well.

 

[RicinYakima]

Still have a C.Sharps .40-70 SS, beautiful rifle. Got headed down the wrong path with it right away and sadly I have never recovered. I got it with intentions of hunting and plinking with it. Instead I got to hanging around with guys shooting buffalo silhouette matches. Even that would have been fine but, as matches evolve and shooters and equipment gets better the targets got set father and farther away, they also got heavier. BPCR silhouette also affected the way shooters looked at the .40 caliber rifles. Cartridges that were along the lines of "Express" loads i.e. the .40-65 Winchester, got bastardized with faster twists and heavy bullets to play target games with. Suddenly fine old hunting calibers designed to kill medium size game were tasked with knocking down 30 lb. steel targets 500 yards away and even with 410 grain bullets were outgunned, (), by the big .45's and even 50's.

So I ended up getting a .45 to play games with and the .40 has languished. This post has caused me to think about that fine old cartridge and the need to return to its roots. I need a replica of its 330 grain paper patched bullet either in PP or a greaser, shoot it, enjoy it for what it is, and to heck with the competitive games.

I did take two deer and a buffalo with the .40-70 and a 410 grain Saeco flat nose. Too many guns, too little time and I want to go fishin'.

You are 100% correct; the gamers changed everything for the .40’s. I kept the 40/50 Sharps Straight just for a hunting rifle as it kills anything I would hunt anymore.

 

[Missionary]

We have a Ballard in 40-63 that I would not hesitate to use it to thwap any corn cruncher type critter in our 48. A 40-1 260 grain FNPB pushed by 60 grains 2F should put the zippty-do-da on whatever is on the receiving end. Did just fine for years before I was around.
Maybe I would think twice about some 2000 pound Ol Shaggy...

 

[RicinYakima]

40/70 SS was the hunting cartridge after the Buffalo were gone from hoof and mouth. The only thing I wouldn’t hunt would be the big bears. It was the commercial meat hunters choice till 1900.

 

[CZ93X62]

Gamers drove me away from IPSC. That lot REALLY doesn't like having their asses handed to them by Joe Hicks From The Sticks using his duty webgear. I have zero respect for "Combat Shooters" that objected to the '175 Factor' cutoff between Major caliber and Minor caliber. Yeah, ancient history, I know--but people still discuss Thermopylae, too.

 

[Missionary]

You are correcto-mundo there CZ.
For a good while I was one of the few shooting a .357 Dan Wesson with a 10 inch barrel and 180 grain GC in East ILL-nois Steel Critter game. Used a heavy mud flap for my leg guard. Binos for my spotting scope. Did not prop my head up with my none shooting arm... All wrong to them.
But I was out shooting most of them.
I am kinda stuck on Guadalcanal for battles.....

 

[todd]

my bucket list gun is a 400 petrov-whelen.

The .400 Whelen Story Pt.1

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