.44/77 Fired at Last

[Don Kenna]

You know, I thought I had indicated the bore and groove diameters in this thread, but I guess I didn't. (Should I worry about my memory?)

The groove diameter I got from this rifle was .450-inch. (I’d guess +/- .005-inch.) The nominal groove diameter for the .44/77 is supposed to be .446-inch, so the bore of my rifle is oversized. As others have noted, rifles chambered for the .44/77 cartridge are among the most notorious for having oversized bores. That’s the bad news. The good news is that my rifle will chamber a cartridge case with a .450-inch bullet seated. Many .44/77s won’t chamber a bullet larger than .446-inch diameter.

A problem arises I measuring the bore dimensions of Remington #1 Sporting Rifles (and at least some of their military rifles). Remington #1 Sporting Rifles all have 5-groove rifling. (I hate stating “all” with anything regarding antiques firearms.) As we know, that makes such barrels’ groove diameters rather difficult to measure, and measuring the land-to-land bore diameter almost impossible. But the grooves seem to be of average or normal depth, so I’ve assumed a bore diameter proper of .442-inch. The rifling definitely is not of the very shallow “paper patch only” variety, although I’m sure proper paper patch bullets would work just fine.
Because my chamber and bore measuring techniques were a bit on the crude side (use of reformed .43 Spanish brass, etc., and “you-don’t-want-to-know”.), and the fact that we’re dealing with black powder, I decided I needed a mould for a .449-inch diameter bullet, and that’s exactly what Steve Brooks made for me.

Whenever possible, I like to use a lubrisizer to lubricate bullets rather than pan lubing. I happen to collect antique reloading tools, and I had recently acquired a circa 1890-1900 Ideal lubrisizer, minus only any sizing die and top punch. Fine with me—pre-1930 or so Ideal lubrisizer dies have a deservedly terrible reputation. Anyway, I bought a Lyman .450-inch die and an appropriate top punch for the tool, which is now earning its keep. I found it worthy of note that the dimensions of the Ideal/Lyman dies and top punches (“H & I” parts) haven’t changed at all in at least 120 years. As usual, I do not want to size the bullet at all, just lubricate it.