Development of PP loads for the .44-77.

[J.B.]

Just a few observations I made yesterday as I put together some rounds to load some of my new base pour Kal dd pp bullets. Initially using the J.B.A. cases.. several times fired & oal @ 2.246", I set my MVA powder tube to 2.4". Using Swiss 1.5.. lot. Oct-27-14 .. was producing 84.9 grains. Drop tubed and with 1 x .06 card & no compression I had .163" of clear space for seating. Set the tube @ 2.45" for 87.2 grains with the same 1 x .06 card left me with .109 of space.. again with no compression. I chased up the '1' example of BACO. 50/110 converted brass.. also once fired and tried the same load. The BACo. shell was slightly shorter at 2.244" long. Loaded with MVA @ 2.45" ie. 87 grains.. 1 x .06 card and no compression, left me with .108" of seating space. As a rule of thumb I rarely load with less than .06 - .1" of compression.. as much to ensure the loads are level and c.o.a.l. is the same as anything else. I was hoping to get by with no neck sizing and indeed I possibly could if I was prepared to have less than friction tight bullets...but I was having a hard time dealing with that. I've avoided annealing as I'm a bit nervous of ruining cases and this is probably contributing to some 'bounce back' in some of the necks. As they fire form around .467/ .4675 at most... I ran them through the .466 CH neck die I have and this solved 'most' of the inconsistencies. I settled on the MVA @ 2.425 which yielded 86 x S. 1.5. Card wad at .134 & compressed to .170". Loaded with the Kal 510 grain bullet and wrapped in S.C. yellow I have an overall length of 3.522". This cartridge slides in without issue. Seth Cole white is the same but you can feel the engagement...though very slight. I tried with some 100% cotton onion skin paper I got from BACo years ago ( should have bought more )and it wrapped beautifully and took up the slack in the necks well. Designed for the S.C. paper though...these slicks wouldn't chamber with paper at .0022" thick. Shame as that paper just plays the game really well... and this paper roller... really needs all the help he can get . I'll try and get some photos up of the the three loaded examples showing the three bullets to be trialled. Pandemic permitting
As an aside.. I was curious ..just for the exercise...to see how much 2f or indeed 3f could be loaded if I needed too but alas I had none to try. I would hazard that a shallow loaded gg or pp with 3f could be loaded with close to 90 grains if that was your goal. Not sure there would be much to be gained though as most of my 'better' results have been between 76 and 84 grains of 1.5. I'd be keen to try some 2f though.

Gavin.