Are the .44-77 BN and the .44-90 BN viable contenders in modern Creedmoor

[Distant Thunder]

There are people, including Kurt, that have been shooting 16-twist .44s. Now from what I have heard the straight cased .44s do well in anything from 18 to 16-twist. Not so much, it seems, with the bottleneck .44s. That's what I don't understand.

My .44-77 has shot very well out to 600 yards. It shoots as well at 220 yards as my .45-70 18-twist Hepburn does. I have won a lot of Creedmoor matches shooting my Hepburn, so 18-twist .45 can get it done. I'm not so sure that faster is better for these rifles and there is certainly more than twist rate, after a point, that is needed to win at 1000 yards. You have to have enough spin to be well stabilized out to the 1000-yard target, spinning any faster probably has tradeoffs.

A 17-twist .44 will stabilize about the same length bullet as an 18-twist .45 will, approximately 1.450" depending somewhat on velocity. That is the reason I went with a 17-twist in my .44 and I felt that a 16-twist would be too much in a 12-pound rifle if I was trying to shoot bullets over about 520 grains. A 16-twist .44 could, in theory, stabilize a bullet 1.570" long, that would be a bit heavy for my old shoulder!

Bottom line is, I don't think it's the twist rate if it's at least 1 in 18 that keeps these two cartridges out of the running. Certainly, there are fewer .44s on the line at any matches I've ever been to and that would make the percentages in favor of the .45s, but the .44s should be able to compete and pull out a win now and then.

Either way I plan to continue to work with my .44-77 and keep trying to win. If I was afraid of a challenge, I sure wouldn't have been shooting BPTR for the past 25 years.