44-77 Sharps paper patched load

[Eric Johanen]

Kurt, that is my concern. I had this rifle built with Orville's paper patch chamber. With the small amount of brass expansion I 'm trying to come up with card wads that will seat into the tight neck's. With the Jamison brass, the .439 bullet is a nice fit and the standard .458 cards might be really hard to seat. Not sure what wad diameter I should use in this rifle. I hope the lubed felt wad might seal the bore and prevent gas cutting.

[Kurt]

Eric. The lube wad will help to stop gas to an extend. I don't put to much faith in the felt. Felt has to much effect Cushing the bullet bump up with alloys around 1/16 Tin/Lead, they just don't fill the grooves fully if the bullet is at or slightly under bore diameter. I have used felt and also stopped using it. I got to much vertical using it.
My .44 that I had chamber reamers made for, the .44-75 Ballard and the .44-100 Rem straight have a very tight .400" long in the case necks. The cases are double tapered. I suspect that they might be tighter then what Orville uses, I don't know for sure, mine will just except a .4415" patched bullet with a snug fit and I use a .446" polly wad under the bullet and a .012" over the powder with a 1/8" very soft lube wad between the thin over the powder and the .024" plastic under the bullet.
What you have to balance out with a PP bullet loose to the bore and that is getting the alloy balanced so it expands fully before it leaves the end of the case mouth. This takes some study to get this correct. To hard and to loose to the bore and a case neck chamber wall to large results with large verticals or worse gas cutting. large verticals are usually do to bullets not sealing the bore fast enough or variances in bullet release from the case necks. Poor wad stacks and bullet fit are death for accuracy if you want to hold better then 2 MOA accuracy.
If you cant hold a 3-4" group baring wind drift @ 200 yds with no more then a 1" vertical something is wrong. I don't pay to much attention to horizontal groups that is mostly wind.
Your .tight chambered .44-77 should work out for you in fine business.

Kurt

[Eric Johanen]

Thank's Kurt. I'm planning on bullets cast from a very soft alloy. Since this is a hunting rifle and will be used for steel matches I am using almost pure lead with just a very little bit of tin to help fill out in the mold. The bullet has a .200 meplat for hunting and when up to temperature drops really nice bullets. Planning on orange juice carton cards with a lubed felt in between.. I can open the punch to enlarge the diameter of the cards until I get something that might seal if the bullet bumps up fast enough. Some experimentation will be necessary. I can also use wads from plastic milk jugs or a combination of these. Should be a good test working up a accurate load for this chamber.. A .446 wad may seat without too much fuss and would probably work very well.

[Kurt]

With that soft bullet and profile your planning on using things should come together really well for you.

[Eric Johanen]

Hope so. I'll be posting my results with this rifle. I've wanted a 44-77 for a very long time. Deciding on the chamber was the hold up. Now I've made my choice and will see what it takes to get it shooting. Not expecting match accuracy but would be sure nice to get 2 MOA out of it. Open barrel sights and only one load is the plan.

[Don McDowell]

Eric when you get the rifle and some fire formed cases let me know what the inside diameter of those cases are, if they come out what I think they will, I'll send you a handful of bullets to try.

[Eric Johanen]

Thank's Don. Will do! Cast another 100 bullets today and have 60 already wrapped and ready to load. Pot is now filled with soft alloy for a run of .50 caliber slicks for my 50-70 Military rifle. (I do like the 74 Military rifle!!)

[Don McDowell]

Wait till you get that 44, that poor ol 50 liable to cry itself to sleep every night cuz it feels forgotten.

[rdnck]

I agree with Don. Once you shoot that 44 side by side with the 50-70 and see how much flatter it shoots and how much harder it hits, you are gonna park that 50. You are in for a really good ride with the 44-77. Shoot straight, rdnck.

[Don McDowell]

I often wonder why the 44-77 died, and the only thing I can think of is it doesn't lend itself well to smokeless,, But those 1.1 inch bullets will scream along at 1400 fps, and it's no wonder the cartridge was so popular in it's day.