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.38-40 Winchester

American pistol cartridge

Field	Value
name	.38-40 Winchester
image	40sw 38-40 44spl 45acp.jpg	image_size = 300px
caption	[.40 S&W](40-s-w), .38-40 Winchester [.44 Special](44-special), and [.45 ACP](45-acp) cartridges
origin	United States
type	Rifle, revolver
designer	Winchester Repeating Arms Company
production_date	1874–1937 (original production)
1993–present (current production)
parent	[.44-40 Winchester](44-40-winchester)
case_type	Rimmed, bottleneck
bullet	.4005
land	.3941
neck	.4167
shoulder	.4543
base	.4695
rim_dia	.525
rim_thick	.065
case_length	1.305
length	1.59
max_cup	14,000
bw1	180
btype1	SP
vel1	1160
en1	538
balsrc	Cartridges of the World, 11th ed
<ref name	"cotw"
last	Barnes
first	Frank C.
editor	Skinner, Stan
title	Cartridges of the World
edition	11th
orig-year	1965
year	2006
publisher	Gun Digest Books
location	Iola, WI, USA
isbn	0-89689-297-2
page	92}}

1993–present (current production) | orig-year = 1965

The .38-40 Winchester (10.17x33mmR) is actually a .40 caliber (10 mm) intermediate cartridge shooting .401 in (10.2 mm) caliber bullets. The cartridge was introduced by Winchester in 1874 and is derived from their .44-40 Winchester. This cartridge was introduced for rifles, but in its reintroduction for cowboy action shooting it has seen some popularity as a revolver cartridge. It is not particularly well suited to hunting larger game, but it was popular when it was introduced, along with the previous .44-40 Winchester, for deer hunting. It can be used successfully on smaller game animals, and for self-defense. Current loadings are intended for revolvers.

Design and history

It is unclear why this cartridge was introduced, as it is very similar to the .44-40 from which it was derived. It has approximately 110 ft.lbf less muzzle energy, and has a muzzle velocity about 110 ft/s less than the .44-40. The bullet differs by only .026 inches in bullet diameter and 20 gr in standard bullet weight from the original .44-40. The goal may have been to reduce recoil while maintaining a similar bullet sectional density.{{cite book | last = Waters | first = Ken

The renewed interest in this caliber can be explained by the increasing popularity of cowboy action shooting and metallic silhouette shooting. Several single-action revolvers have recently been chambered for this cartridge, including the Ruger Vaquero. Most modern reloading data for this cartridge is found in the handgun section of reloading manuals.

Performance

Though introduced as an "all-around" cartridge, traditional sources suggest the .38–40 performs inadequately on deer.

Dimensions

Synonyms

.38-40
.38-40 WCF
.38 CFW
.38 WCF

References

Association, N. R. (n.d.). The .38-40 winchester center fire: History & performance9. An Official Journal Of The NRA. Retrieved May 3, 2023, from https://www.americanrifleman.org/content/the-38-40-winchester-center-fire-history-performance/
Max chamber pressure - saami specs. Return to the index to LASC. (n.d.). Retrieved May 1, 2023, from http://www.lasc.us/SAAMIMaxPressure.htm
"Ten-X Cowboy Ammo 38-40 WCF 180 Grain Lead Round Nose Flat Point Box".
link. (2009-06-21 , Midway 38–40 Winchester Super-X.)

Info: Wikipedia Source

This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page.

pistol-and-rifle-cartridges rimmed-cartridges dual-purpose-handgun/rifle-cartridges winchester-repeating-arms-company-cartridges

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