44 Bulldog gun... OK... not 44 Bull Dog cartridge... what the heck caliber ???

my revolvers range from 454 Casull Alaskan, 357 Maximum Dan Wesson... on down to my NAA Mini in 22 lr, & a H&R solid frame in 22 short, with lots of inbetween...

the big bores & the Magnums are definately fun to shoot... but I also find I enjoy shooting the small frame 32 S&W's... enough so, that I have almost 1000 cases for the 32 S&W... I find that Mrs. Magnum like shooting these lower power, lower noise guns, more than the magnums, so if I'm looking for her to join me on the range... we're shooting the antiques...

I try to find time for some long range revolver work... using like my custom fast twist 8 shot 22 Hornet revolver, or my S&W 610 now chambered in 10 mm magnum...

right now, the revolvers I'm shooting most, are my Montados in 45 Colt, as I've been using them in CAS, which I've been trying to shoot every other week

so... I can't really answer which I enjoy more... I guess I enjoy them all :D
 
so... I can't really answer which I enjoy more... I guess I enjoy them all
Click to expand...

I do too. I guess I collect more than I shoot nowadays, but with a good laptop, gunbroker, gunsamerica, and numerous classifieds, a C&R license and a little money, it ends up being easier than taking the time to shoot sadly. I don't have the opportunity to shoot at my house due to it being residential.

I do enjoy your threads because often its a gun I don't know much about and its usually a special situation IE the gunsmithing and altering of calibers. Its not like everyone does that stuff, so I find it all interesting. I love when my older guns are original but thats at the sacrifice of not being able to shoot them. Keep on keeping on MWM.
 
While it may be a long shot, the dimensions you describe almost match that of 11x17.8R which was the chambering of the French Chamelot-Delvigne revolver. As far as I can tell, this cartridge had a bullet diameter of .425" and a case length of .71".
 
I own quite a few British, Belgian and U.S. bulldog pistols in .44 calibre and I think it is most likely to be the .442 Webley round. Old catalogues suggest this.
 
well here are a few more pics, with my 1st handloads

handloads consist of shortened 44 special cases, decapped with my 44 special dies ( head stamps have been knurled out ) BTW, the rims did not need to be thinned to go round in the gun... did up 2 test loads using both 2 & 3 grains of Trailboss case mouths belled with a custom die made by my buddy, Hunters Supply 160 grain FP's measuring .430, seated with my 44 special die, & then taper crimped with another custom die made by my buddy...

I'll be trying them out this weekend, but the bullet is sized correctly for the bore, so I expect at least belly gun accuracy

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Loads

MWM: I am really interested in how your test goes. For my own loads - .44 Webley/.44 Bulldog. I used FFFg Goex as opposed to a smokeless load.
I have a box of the cartridges loaded with smokeless and the heeled bullet - made up for me by GAD Custom Cartridges. I found that my own BP loads using a .440 LRB worked better.
Pic:
44BulldogsJPG.jpg


These are lighter bullets than you have loaded and a larger diameter. The two on the right are mine, made from .44 Spl. cases. The far right is the "Bulldog" sized round; less powder, less recoil. The heeled bullet is shown and the full length Webley round from GAD.
The gun is a Belgian copy of the Webley British Bulldog. I believe that you have seen this pic before but...
45BritishBulldog-1.jpg



Pete
 
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I "should" repair my Chrony ( last time I had it out... about a year ago I was shooting my 38 S&W snubbie... before I adjusted the front sight height... & shot the Chrony, cutting the wire in 1/2 )

I'd be currious what kind of velocities I'll get with the Bulldog...

my pressures should be plenty low, my cowboy loads for my 45 Colt use 5 grains of Trailboss with a 250 grain bullet, so even the 3 grain loads with a 160 grain bullet should be quite light... of course I'll start with the 5 - 2 grain loads 1st, before trying the 5-3 grain loads
 
There were actually three different .44 cartridges used in (and made for) those .44 Bulldog revolvers. The shortest, called the .44 Bulldog, was equivalent to the British .442. The next was called .44 Webley; like the .44 Bulldog, it used a heel type bullet. The longest case length was the .44 Webley Inside Lubricated. All those used the same base and rim diameter, differing only in case length, and all can be made from .44 Special/.44 Magnum cases, but the rim might have to be thinned from the front for proper operation in some Bulldog revolvers.

Jim
 
DARK... I have black powder... just haven't been able to force myself to start loading for it yet...

on stuff like my CAS guns, sometimes ( I'm an extremely busy guy ) I might not get time to clean my guns for maybe a 1/2 week after I shoot them...

for guns like this Bulldog, I can better control when I shoot, & thus clean... but just haven't ever tried loading cartridges with black powder ... yet
 
I have seen a couple of revolvers with blown cylinders from loading cartridges with light loads of unique. One was a black powder Mk2(or 1, I can't remember) Webley and the other a large black powder bulldog marked Westley Richards( a well known maker of shotguns) in .450 calibre.
I think I still have the remains of the Webley, if I have, I'll post a picture. These pistols blew apart. The bulldog blew the cylinder and split the topstrap. The Webley bulged the top strap, blew off the catch for the action and spectacularly blew out a chamber
I am no expert on reloading, but after talking to the person who blew up the Webley, I suspect his light load of Unique may have detonated instead of burning, possibly because he did not use a fiiler to keep the powder up against the primer hole. I would stick to black powder only.
 
Trailboss is made to load in cartridges like this, & I've had really good luck with my 32 S&W's & my 38 S&W's with light loads of Trailboss

BTW... I did fire the gun this weekend, but ran into troubles with the thickness of the rims, actually more with the primers when shooting the gun... so I'll take it back to "my guy" & see if we need to thin those rims some, or if it would be easier / better in the long run, to do something like recess the chambers some, to use a standard thickness 44 special case shortened, for future use ???

I talked to my machinist buddy / loading mentor... he feels my loads were too mild, & the primer dents were bulging out around the dent ( not enough pressure to set back the case & flatten them back, as would happen with a normal cartridge pressure ) I'll try the 3 grain loads & see if theres an improvement... 1st

otherwise he suggested trying to drill out the flash hole one drill bit size to see if I can reduce the primer pocket pressure ( if the cartridges won't set back enough with my light loads ) before we looked at thinning the rims, or partially recessing the chambers
 
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Note: as far as I know there are only two cartridges in the Webley/Bulldog family. The .44 Webley/.442 Webley/.442 RIC/ 10.5X17R/.442 Revolver are all the same cartridge. The .44 Bulldog is a shorter version manufactured in the USA by Winchester and Peters.
Pete
 
shot the next cylinder full with 3 grains of Trailboss this weekend... suprisingly the gun shot closer to point of aim, & ran all 5 cartridges... started getting a little tight by the 5th, still the primers, but much better than the 2 grain loads... will try bumping up the charge by 1/4 grain or so at a time, & see if I can get it to run smoother with a bit more powder... ( 3 grains worked much better than 2 grains )... if a 1/4 grain doesn't get me smooth operation, I'll probably try the bigger primer hole next... but this last set was quite promising
 
I have one of these that looks unfired.............all i know it thats is a 44 something..........

Id love to shoot it but i dont reload. I always hoped to find the right ammo......

So far, 8 years and no luck...
 
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