.44-77 hunting load questions.

[Kurt]

Jim I have two moulds like it. One is the 1.470" and the other is a 1.4" in the photo below. I like the way the long one shoots in the .19 twist .44-90 bn so I left it as is. I got the 1.4 for the .44-77 and it shoot well in the .44-77 but since making it a DD with the .444 major base it shoots quite a bit better now
I been thinking changing the long one also and they can still be used for shooting dirty.

[Distant Thunder]

When I bought my Metford I was thinking I would eventually convert it to a 2-D bullet, but it shot very well as a bore diameter so I decided to leave it alone for a time. While it was shooting well I was still getting one or two outliers in a 10 shot group, shots that were 1/2 moa or so out of the core group. I finally decided to open the mold up just a bit, .001-.0015". I also opened up my size die another .0005". Doing those two things made it a nice firm push into the bore and the outliers went away. My 10 shot groups at 220 yards are now just a little over 1 moa.

If I were to go to a 2-D bullet with it now I'd have to get some paper that is .0018" so the bore diameter section would fit well without sizing. I am still playing with the seating depth and a bore diameter bullet makes that easy, so it is likely to remain bore diameter through this year anyway. I do have my BACO elliptical that is a 2-D design. I plan to try seating that one a little deeper and see how it shoots. Probably at one of the Rapids matches this year.

I think I need more mid range matches to test all the things I have in mind. I'm thinking mid range give me a better picture of the accuracy of my loads than long range because long range is so much more a condition reading thing. At 300, 500 and 600 yards you still have to stay on top of the conditions but it is so much easier than 800, 900 and 1000 yards where everything has so much more time to push your bullet around.

Right now I'm looking at 4 mid range matches. I talking about paper matches here, while gong match are fun and really test your shooting paper gives much more precise feedback as to how the load/bullet is working. I really like paper for that reason.