44-77 Sharps paper patched load

[Caprock]

You must have a big chamber. Even with RMC brass .011 thick I could only manage a .446 in a similar bored rifle (~.451). Have paper patched since.

I don't know what to tell you. Have you slugged the barrel or pin gauged it ?

As I recall, we ended up shooting .450" grease groove bullets in the 44 S Original Rolling Block Sporting Rifle.

BTW, I once accidently chambered a 44-90 case with a 1x20 .447 bullet in a 45-90 and it hit about six inches low at 200 yards. That 45-90 has a .4575 groove and a .450 bore.

[Fogman01]

I am going to pass on the rifle. I'll keep looking... good suggestion on a sporter or a No 1 that is not as high priced as a Creedmoor. Sounds like it's too good to be true about how nice and shiny the bore is. I think it might have been altered resulting in a big bore.

[Eric Johanen]

    Merrill, WI. Gong match was very good yesterday. Conditions were great with just a bit of wind to contend with. I tried something different and shot sitting with cross sticks. Need practice with this as I was not completely comfortable. I shot on the largest target at each range to get zero's. Shot the 440 gr. Brook's bullet with 74.0 grains of OE 2 fg and the grease column. Lowest notch on the staff at 200 yards resulted in pretty good hits.(1 through 4 on the target). 6 O'clock hold apple on post. Moving to 300 yards, set my slider on 300 and was shooting way over the target. Moving down on successive shots I got good hits with the slider bottomed out. (5 through 8). I brought up too much front sight on shot #7. For 400 yards I set my slider back to 300 yard mark and it shot over by quite a bit. Worked down to just a whisker under the foot of the 200 yard mark and started hitting. ( 9 and 10 ). Shot a few more with nice hits. Then I shot 2 rounds using the same load with the Brook's 480 gr. bullets Kurt was kind enough to send me. ( 11 and 12 ). Wind picked up a bit and these landed slightly right of center. I held a favor right, about the width of the sight blade and into the target about 1/3'rd of the target height. Called it a day and am pleased with the results. Very doable with the Lawrence rear and Hartford front sights. The bronze blade on the front was very easy to see. No glare and it showed up as gold in the sunlight. Nice! I did not try the 500 yard target and will get to that one on the next match in September. Tried with no fouling control and it was just too low humidity for that to work. Blow tube was not much better and left a hard crust on the muzzle. Wiping with 1 damp and 1 dry patch worked very well and I used it for the rest of the shots. The 44-77 shoots pretty darn flat and spotters noted that it got down range pretty darn quick. Needed very little elevation adjustment from 200 to 400 yards. A bit surprising! This will no doubt be a great shooter. Oh, and did I say how nice these sights are to see and work with!

[Eric Johanen]

Slight mistake.....400 yard setting was just a whisker over the top of the 2 marking on the Lawrence sight. Makes it staff up bottom notch for 200. Slider bottomed out for 300 and just over the 200 yard marking for 400 yards.

[Eric Johanen]

And a point of clarification...With the Lawrence long staff rear, I have the 3/64'th shim under the sight. This accounts for the relationship in yardage with the markings on the sight leaf. Pleased with this set up. Not wanting to lower the front too much and now having the POI on the top of the front at 100 yards with the staff down for me is the perfect hunting set up. Flipped up, notch at the bottom for hits on the front at 200 is for me ideal. I should have elevation for further than I can see with this set up.

[desert deuce]

How can you possibly wait two months to go shooting again?

[J.B.]

How can you possibly wait two months to go shooting again?

.. Unfortunately it gets like that sometimes Zack. I've just come back from two weekends of shooting in Montana and it will likely be two months before I get a chance to follow up also. Twwwwoooo months...is tooooooooo long


Gavin.

[Eric Johanen]

Father Deuce, I have not sinned! In the 2 week period between outings I have wrestled with the chemo, had a handgun session, outing with the M1, 2 sporting clays outings and a session with the new C. Sharps 45-70 getting 200 yard zero established for the Wisconsin Rapids steel match this weekend. Empty brass and hulls are abounding in my dugout. Fortunately, many bullets are cast and patched ready for the reload. Right about now I'm wishing for a endless summer to get everything done.

[Eric Johanen]

Went back and check dates. I see what you noticed, the layoff was due to surgery and recovery. Also the weather just sucked. Long intervals with no trigger pulling do tend to make me a bit twitchy.

[Eric Johanen]

Just finishing loading for the last gong match of our season in Merrill this weekend. I'll be running my 44-77 Shiloh with the open barrel sights and loaded with 74 grains of 2 fg KIK with the Brook's 440 grain Medford style bullet. I'll shoot prone and see if I can get the 500 yard zero on those critter's. Have pretty good zero for 200, 300 and 400 yards. I'll try blow tubing again and if that does not work, wiping. Only change I made in the load is a very slight more amount of compression to help with patch interference with the fouled bore. I'm also bringing a few more of the Brook's 480 grain RN bullets that Kurt was kind enough to send me for another test outing. Should be great fun! I'll post results next week.