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.
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.
BIG OR SMALL I LIKE THEM ALL, 577 TO 22 HORNET.
Modern barrels are .438" X .446" typically. Not sure who is making them now other than Shiloh.
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.
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
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
Long range rules, the rest drool.
I have a green mountain .44-77 barrel on my original #1 Remington sporting rifle. It shoots very well.
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
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.
BIG OR SMALL I LIKE THEM ALL, 577 TO 22 HORNET.
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.
Long range rules, the rest drool.
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
BP | Bronze Point | IMR | Improved Military Rifle | PTD | Pointed |
BR | Bench Rest | M | Magnum | RN | Round Nose |
BT | Boat Tail | PL | Power-Lokt | SP | Soft Point |
C | Compressed Charge | PR | Primer | SPCL | Soft Point "Core-Lokt" |
HP | Hollow Point | PSPCL | Pointed Soft Point "Core Lokt" | C.O.L. | Cartridge Overall Length |
PSP | Pointed Soft Point | Spz | Spitzer Point | SBT | Spitzer Boat Tail |
LRN | Lead Round Nose | LWC | Lead Wad Cutter | LSWC | Lead Semi Wad Cutter |
GC | Gas Check |