[Bob Wright]

I have only one specimen of this round in my collection, and I suspect it is a reload, as the bullet appears to be cast, not swaged. The unmarked case is clearly by E. Remington, and dimensions clearly put it as the .44 Remington.

Only one gun was chambered for this round, the Remington 1875 Army revolver. Don't be misled by the name, the gun was never used by the U.S. Army. I think it was submitted, but the Army already had Colt and Smith & Wesson revolvers in service by then, and certainly they weren't interested in introducing another cartridge into the supply chain.

White & Munhall, in their work, state that the .44 Colt cartridge could be used interchangeably in this revolver. But in their work "Remington Handguns" Charles and Carol Karr state that though the two rounds were similar, they were not readily interchangeable. Some .44 Colt rounds would fit some Remington revolvers, but full interchangeability was not possible.

.44 Colt rounds produced by Frankford Arsenal have box labels reading "For Colt and Remington Revolvers." This has misled some, as they predate the .44 Remington ammunition by some four years. This ammunition was intended for use in the 1858 Remington revolvers converted to metallic cartridges and still in the hands of the troops, as were the Colt cartridge conversions. Until these guns were phased out, Frankford Arsenal was making the .44 S&W (American), the .44 Colt, and the .50 Remington. All were officially replacedby the .45 Colt in 1873.

The .44 Remington cartridge was short lived, and I believe only E. Remington made the round. The last Model 1875 revolvers were chambered in .44 Winchester and .45 Colt.

Bob Wright

[Prime1975]

Remington also produced the model 14 1/2 pump in .44 Rem. What is interesting is that the stamp says for.44 Rem or 44-40. Are the rounds really that close in size or was Remington refering to a different round when they produced the rifle.

[Prime1975]

Pic to go with my post.

[c3shooter]

The cartridge from the original post was discontinued prior to 1895. Your pump action Remmy started manufacture in 1912. It was made in 44-40, properly called the 44 Winchester Center Fire, but Remington did not like putting WINCHESTER on their rifles, hence the name. Common practice among all the makers. I have a .38 COLT Special cartridge- because Colt did not want to mark their guns .38 Smith & Wesson Special. The original 44 Remington used a heavier bullet than the 44-40. It is shown on pg 202 of Suydam's US Cartridges and Their Handguns- and is a round I do not have in my collection.

[30-30remchester]

I will have my wife take a photo of a factory 44 Remington from my collection and post it here tomarrow.

[sls4ak]

I have vintage colt revolver that my great grand mother used in a Wild West show. It says that it is chambered for the 44 rem. I really don't know much about this gun just that it was passed down to me and I have pictures of my great grand mother using it around 1925.

[Bob Wright]

As a matter of interest, here are Colt versions of the .38 S&W and .38 Special, note the Colt versions have flat point bullets:



Bob Wright

[30-30remchester]

As promised, earlier and forgotten about, here is a photograph of an original 44 Remington CF. As you can tell this is a non headstamped cartridge. This is a very rare cartridge, as stated, only chambered for one gun. Any other gun Remington with 44 REM stamped on it is actually a 4440 cartridge. As you can see from the photograph this cartridge had a heal type bullet similar to a 22 LR cartridge. The bullet diameter is the same as the case deameter. Sorry it took so long to get this to you.

[Bob Wright]

30-30 remchester:

Thanks for the photo. My specimen is exactly (well, sort of) like your photo, except the bullet of mine appears to be cast instead of swaged.

For what its worth: Many collectors have stated that the .44 Remington aand .44 Colt were interchangable. However, in a book, Remington Handguns the writers state that is not the case. They state that only .44 Colt rounds made to the smallest of the dimensional tolerance will fit only in Remington revolvers made to the largest dimensional tolerance will work. I think I stated that correctly.

The confusion comes from Frankford produced .44 Colt ammunition that states on the package "For use in Colt and Remington Revolvers," the Remington revolvers being converted cap-and-ball Army revolvers.

Bob Wright