.44-77 PP bullets.

[Distant Thunder]

Kurt,

I dug up my .50-70 book and nowhere in it can I find where I ever wrote down the bore diameter. The rifle is just a little to far back in the safe to pull it out to just check the bore diameter and I don't have a good way to do that here at home.

It is a Badger barrel at 1 in 26 ROT. Most of my loads have been right around 80 grains and it shoots well with about any powder and wad I've ever used. And bullets from 450 grains up to 600 grains. It really like the Lyman 515141, but I have to seat it out a good bit.

The freebore is .5105" diameter and is .350" long. The groove diameter is .5103". I have actually been sizing my bullets to .509". At .510 they can give me trouble when chambering if there is any fouling left in the freebore, which seems to happen enough to be a problem. At .509 they chamber without any problem and accuracy remains good.

That rifle has always shot very well with both grease groove and now with paper patch, but it has always been primarily a hunting rifle.