.44-77 PP bullets.

[Distant Thunder]

Chris,

My plan is first and foremost is to have fun and enjoy the crap out of the .44-77. To do that will include a lot of experimenting. This all assumes that I can get some fairly good accuracy out of a bottleneck case and I'm sure I will.

Beyond the obvious challenges of BPCR shooting, which have held my interest for these many years, I have especially enjoyed the challenges the sport offers the experimentally mined person like myself. I think that is a need that is perfectly filled by the .44-77 and paper patch bullets.

The .44-77 is a cartridge not seen in great numbers today and even the caliber is not that widely used when compared to the .40s and .45s. Being a truly obsolete cartridge with no SAAMI specs makes just getting good usable brass more of a challenge than many of the other cartridges of the 1800s.

BPCR has progressed enough at this time that all of the accoutrements for the .44-77 can be obtained, even if at greater expense. The fact is that the COOLNESS rating of the .44-77, especially when loaded with a paper patch bullet and chambered in a 1874 Sharps, is unequalled and will help make any added cost worth while.

   

The extra cost part is largely behind me now and my thoughts are more toward what I hope to accomplish with this rifle/cartridge once I have it. At somewhat more expenses and unquestionably more wait time I opted to go with a Krieger 17-twist barrel and have Shiloh do the work. The reason I chose to go with a 17-twist over Shiloh’s 19-twist is to have a better chance of realizing the FULL potential of this great cartridge. I chose Shiloh to do the work because I believe their standard .44-77 chamber the best readily available and will be key in achieving my goals.

With the 17-twsit barrel on my 1874 Shiloh I should be able to get very good accuracy out of PP bullets from 450 grains ( and maybe lighter) to 530 grains or a bit more and that will cover a very wide range of BPCR sports. These will include, I hope, silhouette and mid-range as well as Creedmoor and even hunting under all conditions likely to be encountered. If I am successful I will have something that has always been of interest to me and that is one rifle/cartridge that can do it all well.

Yes, there are other cartridges and rifles that can be used to “do it all” with PP bullets but to my thinking none would stand out from the crowd like an 1874 Sharps in .44-77 with a paper patch bullet! Others can argue for whatever cartridge or rifle or bullet they want but I think most shooters will have to admit that nothing speaks of the big bore single shoot rifles of the 1870s like an 1874 Sharps rifle shooting a .44-77 loaded with paper patch bullets. That’s just my opinion.

For me it was the 1874 Sharps and paper patch bullets that was the main draw that brought me to BPCR in the beginning. It didn’t take long and I noticed how really cool the .44-77 and a paper patch bullet was compared to all the others. In 1981 I remember reading an article in Guns & Ammo by Elmer Keith in which he mentioned his .44-77-470 Sharps and hunting with it for everything that could be hunted in Montana. Now Elmer loved the 3 ¼” cases and made no secret of it, but I was drawn to the earlier cartridges, the .50-70 and the .44-77.

My 1874 in .50-70 has been an excellent hunting rifle for me, but is somewhat limited in it’s usefulness as a target rifle in my experience. I hope to soon see just what a .44-77 can do for me in the field and on the range. Yes, I plan to experiment, a lot!