Time to continue load development with my .44-77.

[Distant Thunder]

Don,

Your thinking and mine are along the same lines for sure.

When you patch that bullet with SC 55Y the base comes up to .442"-.443"? What are your thoughts on that? I'm just trying to learn why you chose that diameter.

Do you seat that bullet out so that the base diameter is against the rifling?

Yes, the Money started out very close to Metford's design. I have that same nose on one of my BACO bullets, 520 grains, and it is the best shooting I've found for my rifle. The problem seems to be the 1.460" length is a little too much. When I get my Lathe wired up I'm going to shorten it to 1.420" and work with it some more.

I started out with my 18-twist .40-65 shooting a 420-grain bullet for silhouette. Sometimes it shot really well and other days it didn't do so well. It was just too long for that slow twist and in certain conditions it wouldn't hold up out to the rams. When I figured out that the RCBS 350 bullet actually shot better at 600 yards and more consistently the light began to flicker a little as to how important bullet length vs. twist was. I'm still in the learning process but the light gets a little brighter every year. There will always be just one more mold!