Another period correct Buffalo rifle in .44-77

[Stephen Borud]

Kurt and Don. Have either of you shot a 405 grain bullet with 75 grains of Fg in your rifles? That’s what my load has been, and it does well to 400 yards. I loaded around 20 rounds today with 75 grains of Fg, two 1/8” lubed wads and a 405 grain .431 pp bullet. It patches up to .438 with 9 lbs paper. I’m curious to see how these shoot.


SB

[Don McDowell]

Stephen I have . My rifles hated the Swiss 1f, but showed a liking for the Goex. I've been wanting to shoot some of the 1f Olde Eynsford, as it works so very well in the 40-90 bn, but haven't got around to it yet.

[Stephen Borud]

Stephen I have . My rifles hated the Swiss 1f, but showed a liking for the Goex. I've been wanting to shoot some of the 1f Olde Eynsford, as it works so very well in the 40-90 bn, but haven't got around to it yet.

Don I used Fg OE when I loaded these latest 44/77 rounds. Will let you know how they shoot.

[Don McDowell]

Looking forward to hearing how it works for you.
One thing I have noticed with the 1f, if you're not compressing enough it will foul pretty heavy, but with the compression it likes, the stuff leaves very little fouling.

[Kurt]

Stephen.
I just checked my book to see what I have used in the 19 ROT .44-77.
I have not set the mould for 405 gr, I stopped at 425 gr that made it 1.200" and it was cast with the cup based base plug to give it a little more length than a flat base. It was cast with 1/30 alloy and loaded with 77 grains of 2F OE patched to .336". I have it noted that it was very good at 200 yards using barrel sights and the soft lead blew the bowling pin apart after 4 hits.
I also used that bullet when Robert Bryan delivered the rifle to me at the Q but the load was 74 grains of 2F Goex express and it held the 400 yard diamond.......that put a smile on my face for the first time shooting the rifle
Since I switched to the 485 gr with a flat base plug I made for the Buff hunts. I wanted a little more weight for those tough critters.
The cup base needed the patch tail twisted and tucked into the cup to protect the thin shallow skirt to get the best accuracy using them.
Kurt

[Stephen Borud]

Looking forward to hearing how it works for you.
One thing I have noticed with the 1f, if you're not compressing enough it will foul pretty heavy, but with the compression it likes, the stuff leaves very little fouling.

I’m not sure how much I compressed the powder but I’m guessing around .300 or so. Next rounds I load I will see how much I’m compressing the powder. Thanks Don

[Stephen Borud]

Kurt I just casted some 44 .431 bullets 1.300 long and they weighed out at 447 grains 1/40 mix. My bullets that are 1.200 long weigh at 407 grains. The Sharps book shows a 405 grain bullet to be 1.125 long so I’m kinda close. I need to go and empty some cases out on some targets real soon. Hopefully in the next month or so!

SB

[Kurt]

Stephen I just set the mould at 1-1/8" and cast 100. To get 405 grains I had to keep adding pure lead to some 1/30 alloy. I emptied 1/2 of the pot and added lead till the 1 1/8" bullet weight right at 405 grains. I don't think the ODG's used a cup based bullet to get 405 grains with a 1-1/8" long bullet. I put the flat based plug in the mould to make this weight/length combination.
I will load 100 and take them to the Q and see if they hold up at 805 yards
I think they would make a fine silhouette bullet for the 19 ROT......Kurt

[Stephen Borud]

That’s interesting Kurt. Maybe they got the bullet weight to 405 grains by mixing there lead 60-1? It would be interesting to find an original Sharps bullet mold with extra base plates of different configurations. Hope they shoot well for you. I bet they will.

SB

[Don McDowell]

I have a bullet pulled from a Sharps creedmoor round for the 77, it is 1.3 inches long, measures .438 diameter, and has the typical huge hollow base, weighs 450 grains. I cast quite a few bullets at 1.1 inches from a couple of different moulds and they weighed right at 410 when using 20-1. The 432 diameter bullet didn't shoot worth a poop in my rifle no matter what length it was set at, but the dual diameter with the .435 base shoots well until you let the length out past 1.3, then it's all bets off past 800.