44-77 Sharps paper patched load

[Eric Johanen]

From the mold set for 438-440 grains flat base the bullets are 1.285 inches long. Patched they are .439. They are very soft and should expand well in the case. Hope for a good seal. The problem with the 50-70 Military Rifle is that it just shoots so well. BACO .511-500 grain flat nose is very good to 200 yards with 70 grains of KIK 2fg and a card/lube wad column. It really puts the smak on white tail deer! I do try to take a different Sharps out for every range date and the fun meter goes off the charts! Accurate 512/465S and BACO 494/500 paper patch also fly well. Hitting your target at 500 yards with the barrel sights is just about too much. Nothing like that ring off the target when you put them center! These two rifles and their cartridges will have me covered for the early Buffalo Hunt era.

[Don McDowell]

If your rifle will shoot that length bullet well, they should hold up better at long range than bullets over that length. At least that's what I've found with my rifles. That's the great thing about the adjustable moulds, you can custom tailor the length to your rifles liking.

[Kurt]

Eric I have a swage die identical to what you show in the photo. It's close to a Metford and it shoots pretty good. You might try different lengths and you will find that when the ogive starts to get longer then the shank the accuracy starts to fall off fast.
Don also sold me a KAL that has that profile and it is a terrible mould for casting parting line fins and it gets used for a core mould for swaging a identical bullet for the .45.

One thing you might want to do and that is, ask around what people use in their 1/19 twist .44-77 for a bullet. I stay away from the elliptical like the money bullets they are ok for close range in the .44-77 but get unstable reaching out. I get along with them in the .44-90bn with a 1/19 twist because they get pushed faster but get to be a problem past 700 yards. They shoot very good in my 17 and 16 twist .44's
The original bullets that Sharps, Maynard, Remington used in the slow twist they used I found is the way to go in the 19 twist barrels. They shoot well past 1500 yards. Below is what I settled on after joining the mould of the month club The two on the left are of the original bullets I had Brooks duplicate from one I sent him. I told him to make a adjustable mould so I could find out what range of length the 19 twist will handle. After all lengths I settled on the 1.325" for the .44-77. That bullet drops from the mould at 485 gr and it has dropped three Buffalos and it is a fine bullet for the 1000 yard gong matches. The first on the left is the same bullet but it is 1.430" long and I use that bullet in the .44-90 bn 19 twist for long range and it is still usable at the ram line in the .44-77 but fails at the 1000 yard irons.
The Elliptical on the right I use in the 1/17 and 1/16 twist .44's. in the 19 twist it fails.
It's hard to beat the original designed bullet that is a round nose with a long elliptical ogive. I think that is why you see a lot of old pictures of vintage bullets with this bullet.

[Eric Johanen]

Thank's for the info guy's. With the 1X19 twist in Shiloh barrels I'm thinking this bullet profile between 410 and 450 grains will work. Plenty heavy for hunting and wacking steel. Kurt, now that you mention it the nose does look similar to the Medford design. Not quite as tapered but similar. Cast very soft and with the .20 meplat I do hope to get some expansion at 75 to 78 grains of 1.5 fg.

[J.B.]

The first fired case you eject from that chamber you'll be thinking someone Ackley Improved that chamber. LOL , from then on you'll likely find the sweet spot around 77-78 gr.

..Never a more true statement Don... that is almost exactly the way I reacted when the cases came out of my 44/77 Shiloh. #76 gns x Swiss 1.5 and a 480 grn Brooks ( original Postell/ Sharps gg ) was a lovely load to shoot out to 6-700 yds and was very effective for me at my first silhouette shoot. Case capacity does increase to the tune of about 5 gns or more and getting 85 gns behind a shallow seated pp bullet would be no problem for target work when one is wiping. I'm looking forward to dragging mine out again but it won't be till January now

J.B.

[Don McDowell]

JB , the first thought crossed my mind when I ejected that first case, was my god what did they do to my rifle?

[Kurt]

I think we all had this reaction. If you ever handled a original .44-77 or the 43 Spanish they had a more rounded shoulder sort of like a Weatherby with a flatter taper. Shiloh uses a 8 degree taper for the .44-77 but the edge is sharper then the originals. The .44-90 bn has a 11 degree taper with a rounded shoulder.

[Kurt]

You know right now we are pretty fortunate to have Jamison brass for the .44-77 or the .44-90 bn. It wasn't to long ago when if you wanted to shoot these rifle chambers and you could not scrounge up vintage cases you had to make them from .577 Kynoch or later the .44 3-1/4" Bell basic. I'm still using the Bell and HDS .44 basic brass for the .44-90 bn.

[Don McDowell]

Yup

[J.B.]

Well said Kurt. A hearty thanks to Captech-Jamison , Rocky Mountain Cartridges... and also to BACo. Without the assistance of these guys we would be in a 'fine pickle' !

J.B.