Development of PP loads for the .44-77.

[Distant Thunder]

I got a call from Shiloh today, they will be shipping my rebarreled 1874 on Monday the 22nd. That's the short story. This project actually began a year ago when I became determined to rebarrel my Shiloh .45-70, that was not really being used much, to .44-77, a cartridge that has been of interest to me for at least 16 years.

I began to research what would be the best way to get this rifle set up for use as a silhouette, mid-range and long range target rifle. I decided that what I really wanted to do was develop accurate loads using Shiloh's standard grease groove chamber with a 2-diameter paper patch bullet. The main reasons I decided to go this way was 1) I believe that the standard GG chamber that Shiloh offers is one of the best for the use of both bore diameter or 2-diameter paper patch bullets and 2) I believed that having Shiloh do the work would be the easiest way to get to shoot PPB in a .44-77 with a very good probability of having the accuracy I need to compete in those kind of matches.

The rifle started life as a business rifle built in the first year Kirk Bryan at Shiloh. It had a 26 inch heavy round barrel chambered for the .45-70, military buttplate and standard wood. The new barrel will be a 30 inch heavy octagon in .44-77. Everything else will be unchanged. I ultimately went with a Krieger 17-twist barrel which would give me a wider selection of bullets to work with than the 19-twist that Shiloh offers. That is an important consideration for Creedmoor matches at 800, 900 and 1000 yards where heavier bullets have an edge.

Once the rifle arrives, which should be the 24th, I have to get it set up with sights and scope mounts (for silhouette & load development) and begin the process of getting all the brass I've acquired over the past year fire formed and ready for load development.

Once I have that all done and begin the actual load development I will continue this thread and attempt to lay out the process as I go through in developing paper patch loads for anyone who might be interested in working with paper patch bullets in their .44-77 or any other cartridge in a BPCR. I don't think the process will be much different base on the cartridge used. The .44-77 will be different from say the .45s in that it is a bottle neck, but everything regrading the bullets and load development should be pretty much the same.

This for all intents and purposes this is my first bottle neck cartridge, so there will be that learning curve too. The main goal is to show how I go about developing PP target loads for my rifles and this one will be totally from scratch. It appears I will be using some grease groove bullets for fireforming thge brass, but those are the only GG bullets this rifle will ever see, I HOPE! I'll use them because I kept the molds from another project many years ago even though that rifle got repurposed a few years back. I just couldn't see using good paper patch bullets for fireforming when I have plenty of GG bullets that aren't good for much else.

So give me some time to get it ready for this endeavor. Then I'll start posting what I'll be working with for paper patch bullets and loads as I go through my development. This could well take me into next year before I get it where I want to be and there is the outside chance that this rifle won't take a liking to anything I feed it when wrapped in paper, but I am not too worried about that.

I will of course welcome any suggestions and advise from those who want to help. Just as I did when I was trying to figure what barrel length and twist rate to go with. Also if you have questions, if I'm unclear about any of what I do or how I do it, please ask.

I had this barrel put on my rifle because I really want to shoot paper patch bullets in a .44-77. I also want to use this opportunity to encourage other to shoot paper patch bullets and I believe the 2-diameter designs now available are an excellent choice with a high likelihood of success for other shooters who want to try.