Drop tubing methods for the .44-77.

[Distant Thunder]

In developing loads for my 2-D EPP in my .44-77 I quickly found that the case will hold an amount of 1 1/2 Swiss that is at the upper end of what I feel is needed in a .44 or .45 caliber rifle for Creedmoor matches. I have had my best results with between 82 and 88 grains in my .45-70 and .45-90 and I am comfortable with the level of recoil when using a 500 to 530 grains bullet. Velocity is usually in the 1300 to 1370 fps range and that has worked well for me.

With a shallow seated 2-D PPB in my .44-77 as much as 90 grains could be used and maybe even a bit more.

I usually slow pour the weighed powder into my 14" drop tube taking about 3-4 seconds and then seat a .060 LDPE wad compressing the powder some where around .060" to .150" depending on the lot of Swiss and whatever cartridge I am loading. Seeing that the .44-77 was going to hold plenty of powder I thought I'd change things up a bit and just dump 86 grains into the funnel on to of my drop tube and allow gravity to do the rest. This seems to be working well for me.

I did a little research and found that a number of good shooter do something very similar with good results. They say that they haven't seen any significant difference between dumping and slow pouring. I like to keep thing simple and the simpler the better for me. Jump dumping the powder is quicker and gave very uniform powder height.

Just to see if it will matter whether I pour or dump I decided to load enough rounds using both methods to be able to shoot one relay at 600 yards with each during the up coming Wisconsin Rapids mid range match on the 22 of August.

I loaded more that enough to shoot the match with 86 grains of 1 1/2 just dumping the powder into the funnel. I also loaded enough to shoot one relay at 600 yards using 88 grains of the same powder slowly poured into the funnel taking about 3-4 seconds to finish pouring. This last load has only about .030" compression. The cartridge overall length remains 3.605" for both loads and all other details are the same for both.

With a limit of 3 sighters I'll have to pretty much stay with whatever load I start the relay with and I hope to see if there is any real difference between dumping and slow pouring.