.44 Colt
As for the .44 Colt, this was an entirely new experience. The 208-gr. heel-base bullet design then offered by Rapine was a dead ringer for ones found in original factory loads. A charge of 27 grains of Goex FFg black powder fits perfectly under that bullet. Such a load from the .44 doesn’t shoot near as accurately as the .38, especially from the 31/2″ barrel.
But we’re not done yet. As cowboy action shooting reached its peak popularity in the 1990s the Italian firms, especially Uberti, began offering Conversion look-alikes. This means they appeared just as or very near the original Colt but were chambered for non-traditional cartridges. For example some were made as .38 Specials, some as .44 Specials and some others as .45 S&W “Schofields.” I’ve had the opportunity to try some of the Conversion look-alikes and they shot nicely. Hand- loading with them, of course can be done with the standard size and shape .38, .44 and .45 bullets used by other revolvers of this caliber.
And we’re still not done! The .44 Colt disappeared as a factory loading just prior to World War II. However, the .38 Long Colt was still produced by Winchester for many decades and wasn’t discontinued until late in the 1990s. I managed to buy several boxes when their end was announced and found them to shoot excellently in my .38 Conversion. A pulled 150-gr. bullet from one showed a deep hollowbase.
With cowboy action competition being so popular some other smaller factory ammunition companies took notice of the older cartridges. Black Hills Ammunition even added .38 Long Colt and .44 Colt. These factory loads will work fine in the modern Uberti Conversion look-alikes but their bullets are solids and merely keyhole when fired through the oversize barrels of Conversions built as were the originals. And of course no smokeless powder loads should be put into any of those originals.
Colt’s idea of Conversions was a sound one. They were a way for Colt to recoup expenses involved in making thousands of parts for cap and ball handguns. Perhaps as importantly, they filled a time gap from the end of the cap-and-ball era until the Colt factory was able to perfect their new “Strap Pistol” — which we all know as the Single Action Army Peacemaker.
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