Wisconsin Rapids mid-range match with my .44-77.

[Distant Thunder]

I was much surprised when the 215 primers shot well with that 2016 lot of Swiss. I have never used 215s with Swiss before, only with Goex. Maybe another primer would work better with my 2013 lot? I'm am having good and consistent result with the Goex 2F so I will work with it for now.

I am shooting some more Goex loads this morning. Little things can bother me and having 1 or 2 shots in 10 go high or wide is something I don't like. So this morning I decided to shoot 3 loads with everything else the same except I loaded 90, 91 and 92 grains of 2F. I shot 7 of the 91 grain loads on the thinking that it takes a couple of shots to settle in. Those 7 shots are such a copy of the 10 shot groups that I am convinced the load is on the edge of being too much powder and just starting to open up again like it can when you are past the sweet spot.

Then I shot the 90 grain load (5 shots) and that is a very satisfying group, nice and round and small.

And then the 92 grain load (5 shots) and that confirmed my thoughts about the 91 grain load. 92 grains doubled in size.

I'll post picture of the groups when I finish testing today. The wind today is wild and very gusty. I have to wait out some pretty nasty stuff to get something that looks good and then break a shot quickly before everything changes again. It's fun shooting like that and it's good practice for matches, which I need, but groups can suffer. This 441505EPP that Arnie designed is looking really good in some tough conditions.

I know I'm only shooting 220 yards but this rifle/cartridge continue to impress me with how this .44-77 can shoot. Because all my load testing and development beyond 220 yards is done at matches and those have been few this year it will take me until at least half way through next season to fine tune a Creedmoor load. I am very happy that it has gone so well with my .44-77. It has been the easiest cartridge I have worked with to get good accuracy with paper patch bullets, but a lot of yards need to be shot before I can know if it's as good as it seems at this point. It's a journey and I'm enjoying the heck out of it so far!

Next up for today will be trying a few other primers with the 90 grains load and confirming the accuracy of that load. Stay tuned.....................!