Development of PP loads for the .44-77.

[Distant Thunder]

Don,

I have a bunch cast up at 1.3+ a lil'bit.

So the rifle was delivered about 4:30 this afternoon. I have spend the past few hours checking my brass to be sure it fits and for the most part it does. I've got about 50 that will need a minor adjustment to the rims and then they should fit well too.

Tomorrow I'll take the rifle over to my shop and mount the sights and scope. I'll put the wood back on and then it should be ready for fireforming the brass.

Some of the brass is +.020 on the length so I'll fire form the first time around with a small charge of smokeless powder and a filler like COW as Hiwall55 (Bill) suggested. Then trim to length, load and start shooting for development.

The barrel looks good and the chamber is just as I told Kirk I wanted it, their standard grease groove chamber and rim depth. It shouldn't take long to have a good working load with this chamber..

As for the Krieger barrel, I pushed two ppb through with my wiping stick. First was from the mold I made for an original style Sharps RN and it push through about perfect, tight but still an easy push. The second bullet was from BACO #431ADJ and that one was a bit easier but not enough so that the weight of the wiping stick alone would push it through. Both should work but I really like the fit of the Sharps bullet. The barrel felt very smooth and uniform.

The Sharps bullet was wrapped with Southworth 9# cockle finish paper and the BACO was wrapped with my Paper Mill 9# onionskin so that may make a difference. Both bullets were dry wrapped. These will be the two bullets I'll use for initial load development and that should start this weekend though there the forecast has some rain in it.

   
The BACO bullet on the left and my Sharps style bullet on the right.