Need bore and groove diameters for a modern 44-77

[elk hunter]

I'm seriously considering building a 44-77 and am wondering about the barrel dimensions i.e. bore and groove diameters. And what barrel maker makes such.

[Nobade]

Modern barrels are .438" X .446" typically. Not sure who is making them now other than Shiloh.

[Bent Ramrod]

Green Mountain still advertises them. I think they have a 16” rifling twist, versus the 19” twist of the Shiloh barrels.

On the Historic Shooting Forum, the late, great Distant Thunder wrote up a lot of his experiments with the .44-77.

[nuclearcricket]

The twist on GM barrels is 17", They are .438/.446. They will shoot quite well. Depending on your use you will want a heavy barrel. A #3.5 barrel on a Pedrosoli rolling block, 30" long will give you a rifle in the 10 1/2 pound range.
You will need a reamer with about a .436 diameter pilot. This is what my smith told me when he measured my barrel in prep for me to order a reamer.
SAm

[Don McDowell]

Shiloh is 438 446 and so is my green mountain and from advertisements and feed back from folks that have used them so are Kreiger

[ndnchf]

I have a green mountain .44-77 barrel on my original #1 Remington sporting rifle. It shoots very well.

[nuclearcricket]

I think its great you want a 44-77. Very neat round, lots of horse power. Down side is Brass. Best advice is to find a stash of brass before you build. I got lucky when I decided to go down this road as was able to secure enough brass to last me.
I have been playing with mine a little. My rifle is a rolling block I had re-barreled. It was originally a Pedrosoli pistol grip rifle. My barrel is a bit lighter than what I would have prefered , its a 3.5 taper, a 4 would have been a better choice. The rifle only weighs about 10.5 pounds. It now has a good recoil pad on it and its much nicer to shoot.
Like I said I just started to play with it some and mostly with PP bullets. I just threw some loads together, powder up into the neck a bit, a ldpe wad, wax paper wad and the bullet. I was surprised how well it shot. It wasn't hard to hit the chickes, pigs and turkeys at 200, 300 and 385M. One the rams I went to a GG bullet and the rams were not hard to hit. To me it seems to be a round with a lot of potential if you are willing to put in the development work.
If you are looking for serious target loads they will take a bit of work, hunting loads not quite as much and you put a 400 gr bullet over 75gr of black you have a load that most animals will really regret stepping in front of.
Sam

[elk hunter]

Thanks to everyone for their input.

I'm still vacillating on a caliber for this build. I first thought I would build it in 405 Winchester as I have that reamer. But I have a 40-70 BN so don't need a second 40 caliber nor do I need another 45 caliber. That is why I started looking for something different. 44-77 brass is hard to find like rocking horse poop. I'm pretty sure I can make 44-77 but, it would be a pain. I'm still thinking about and researching for a neat caliber.

[Don McDowell]

You could do a 44-70 or 44-90 st. Cases easily made by running 45-70 or 45-90 cases into the size die.
The 44-77 cases can be had from Rocky Mountain Cartridge, a bit speedy but a box of 20 would do fine for hunting and plinking. In the mean time get on the Buffalo Arms backorder list for their reformed 50-110 cases.

[nuclearcricket]

If you are looking for somethign a little different but easy to make and manage, maybe consider the little brother to the 44-77, the 44-60. Easily made from shortened and necked down 45-70 brass. I have been told that its a nice mid range round. Dies are available from CH.
Food for thought
Sam