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44-40 Peters shotshell

333_OKH
i have a 44-40 Peters cartridge that is long and tapered at the end with s plug material inside. When shaken it sounds like a shotshell. Anyone know what it is? Maybe when it was made?

333
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3 comments

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  • Dean Cascio
    Those 44-40 shotshells pre-date the .410. A lot of old single shot shotguns (H&R,IJ,ect) were chambered for them. Boys rifle type actions. Most of the single shots were marked with just a .44 stamp. A .410 2 1/2 will fit most of the time but it would be dangerous to shoot one, because of the different pressure loads. Most were loaded with blackpowder or the old shotgun powder known as brown powder. by 1910 they were no longer popular because they were starting to be taken over by the .410.

    33OKH
    Where did you get this collection of shotshells from? I see from your postings you have quite a few. The collector must have really been a fan of shotshells.
    Dean
    quote:Originally posted by 333_OKH
    i have a 44-40 Peters cartridge that is long and tapered at the end with s plug material inside. When shaken it sounds like a shotshell. Anyone know what it is? Maybe when it was made?

    333


    If they don't trust us with guns, how can we trust them with the government?
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  • 333_OKH
    My father and i put it together when I was much younger. It recently came out of storage and i am trying to ID those cartridges that I do not know about.

    Dan
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  • Iconoclast
    A large number of the BP rifle and pistol cartridges had shot loadings. The Army actually had an official "forager" round in .45-70 for a while in the late 1800s.

    Since you use the term "long" in describing the case, I presume it is longer than the normal .44 WCF? Between that and the Peters headstamp, I'm reasonably sure what you have is a .44 "Game Getter" loading for the Marbles .44 smoothbore of the same name. These were quite popular until they were transformed into an evil device by the NFA of 1934. This a very common (in collector terms) loading - there are various paper sabot types, extended casing types (such as you have here), round ball loadings and other specialized designs. The casing is dimensionally the same as a .44 WCF up to the point where the case mouth would be on a standard round. After that, the makers were creative and most of the shot loads are substantially longer than the standard bulleted .44-40.

    I'd suggest you invest in a copy of Cartridges of the World. It will answer most of the questions you have posed and is the best basic reference on ammunition.

    "There is nothing lower than the human race - except the french." (Mark Twain)
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