44-77 Dies

[John]

What’s the recommendation for the 44-77? I’d like to use the meacham neck sizing die.

[Eric Johanen]

I only use 2 dies: Meacham bushing neck size die and a powder compression die. I only use paper patch bullets in my Shiloh and neck size for a slight friction fit. Works great!!

[John]

I only use 2 dies: Meacham bushing neck size die and a powder compression die. I only use paper patch bullets in my Shiloh and neck size for a slight friction fit. Works great!!

What size bushings did you settle on for the paper patch?

[Kurt]

Here is another way to go with good dies at a good price. Especially for the old calibers.
Rick raised his prices since I got my dies. I wanted a pack tool for my .44-77 but I use the sizing die in my rock chucker with a thread reducing bushing for the 310 die to fit the 7/8X14 threads. I also had a taper crimp die and a universal de priming as well as the compression stem for the .44's.
Just send Rick a couple cases fired in your rifle and bullet you want to use for the sizing die. It is a lot better then a Meacham bushing that can make a eccentric neck if you don't watch how you run the case in the die.
CH-4D is also a good place to have dies made. Just tell Dave what you need and he will talor the dies for your chamber from a unseized fired case.

[John]

Who is Rick?

[Kurt]

Sorry John it's been a hard day forgot to post the link. http://www.cnyauctions.com/the310shop.htm

[Nuclearcricket]

I made up my own bushing die. It took some thinking and some scratching but I have one die that I neck size, de-prime, flair, compress if needed and seat the bullet. I have a separate bushing I made up to take the flair off the case mouth and put a slight taper crimp on the mouth. I made it so that it would hold an RCBS de caping stem. if anyone wants I can post it as a PDF and your can print it out and make changes as needed to fit your needs. Before I would post the print I would like to check the parts against the prints as things may have changed a bit. I think the original design was for the 45-70 and the die may have been opened up a bit on the inside to fit the 44 case.
Sam

[Kurt]

Sam I took a Meacham bushing and tapered it more so the case mouth would get aligned better and it acted more like a taper crimp die. That did away with the eccentric case mouth problem I had with the regular Meacham bushing.
When I design a chamber reamer I have a sizing die reamer also made and this eliminates the need for a neck sizing die.

[Nuclearcricket]

Kurt,your way sounds like the best way to go. One problem I did have early on with the bushing die is it being off center when I screwed it into my lyman press and ran a 45-70 case into it. I know my work was well centered so I had to put the blame on the lyman press. They said it was fine but. With a full length die, you would not see any offset to amount to anything as the entire case is supported.
Eventually what I did to get around this problem was to get one of the Co-Ax presses and that pretty much solved the problem. If your careful when you set things up when you change things for a different caliber, my case necks appear to be concentric. With the Co-Ax press you do have to use a standard shell holder for the 44-77 as they dont have jaws that are big enough for that case and you have to get that special set of jaws to prime in the press do to the 44 rim being so thick. Other than that I am happy with what I have made and done. The " one die solution" may not be for everyone but so far I am happy.
Sam

[Kurt]

The alignment between the ram and the die threads is were the problem starts. I have a rock chucker that had the ram bushing wore that gave the ram a lot of throw (slop) so I retired that press to use for a wad punch and a light duty arbor press. When I got the new RCBS I was forming .44-90 bn cases from .44 Bell basic and when running cases through the die the case lit would catch on one side this made me turn a stem with a sharp point and put it in the ram and I used a empty primed case in a sizing die and raised the ram till the point made contact with the primer with a slight dent and I was surprised just how far it was off center. There is a lot of slop in the 7/8X14 threads were the die wiggles and when the die gets locked down with the lock ring and it is not threaded straight it will hold the die on a angle with the ram also. This is were your Coax press is very precisely build for bench rest quality loads. The only die set that will top the Coax is the Wilson dies.
But man I load a lot of good loads using my Rock chucker or the RCBS Big Max that has the clamp jaw shell holder.