 the .44-40 winchester, also known as .44 winchester, .44 wcf (winchester center fire), and .44 largo (in spanish speaking countries) was introduced in 1873 by the winchester repeating arms company. it was the first metallic centerfire cartridge manufactured by winchester, and was promoted as the standard chambering for the new winchester model 1873 rifle."two peas in a pod: winchester's .44 wcf & marlin/umc's .44-40" leverguns web site."the .44-40 winchester" guns and ammo magazine web site. as both a rifle and a handgun caliber, the cartridge soon became widely popular and ubiquitous, so much so that the winchester model 1873 rifle became known as "the gun that won the west". == history == remington and marlin soon released their own rifles and pistols which chambered the round, and colt also offered it as an alternative chambering in its popular single action army revolver in a model known as the colt frontier six-shooter. settlers, lawmen, and cowboys appreciated the convenience of being able to carry a single caliber of ammunition which they could fire in both pistol and rifle. in both law enforcement and hunting usage the .44-40 became the most popular cartridge in the united states and to this day has the reputation of killing more deer than any other save the .30-30 winchester.hawks, c. "early metallic cartridges" chuck hawks web site.".44-40 winchester" reloading bench web site. when the union metallic cartridge co. (u.m.c.) began selling the cartridge, it called its own version the .44-40 (shorthand for .44 caliber and the standa
1873_introductions Dual-purpose_handgun/rifle_cartridges Pistol_and_rifle_cartridges