.44-77 PP bullets.

[Distant Thunder]

Ten pounds sure did seem to handle well, it didn't feel heavy at all. I don't tend toward really light triggers, especially in a hunting rifle, but I didn't have any trouble with trigger on yours, it felt very good to me.

I really like the idea of the .44-70 and set up in my roller action with the fairly light barrel I have would make a good hunting rifle. It could also fill in as a mid-range and silhouette rifle. Time will tell if I ever actually do anything with this roller.

Shiloh's 19-twist would work out very well in a hunting rifle with a 400 to 425 grain bullet and up 475 grains if I was inclined to reach out a ways. I have a very nice Hartford on my wish list at Shiloh and it is what I am considering for my new Shiloh.

.44-77 BN
30" STD. OCT.
STD. WOOD
SHOTGUN BUTTPLATE
STD. COLOR CASE
SWIVELS
CUSTOM BED
PEWTER TIP
HARTFORD COLLAR
PATCH BOX
SEMI BUCK & BLADE

I just like the patch box and I would not order a Hartford without it. I keep going over the list in my mind and think about changing this or that, but what I have listed would make me pretty happy hunting wise. The chamber would be the same standard chamber they are putting in my rifle now. Cases and some bullets/loads would be interchangeable. It would give me something an old man could carry around in the woods without skinning up his knuckles!

I like my leverguns for deer hunting but I would have to use this one if I did go ahead with it. I like the idea of it, that much I know.

[Kurt]

That would be a nice combination. I always thought putting a patch box on my Hartford because I like the looks.
That .44-70 Maynard would make a nice caliber. Would you go with the original 2.21" length or the 2.1"? But I guess running a .45-70 through a .44 die would lengthen it to around 2.21"
The .44-75 Ballard was 2.250" and 2.50" but this was a rare caliber and not much known about it. I guess this is why I went with it.

[Nuclearcricket]

Sam, That long taper is a plus for sure. That helps from getting a ecentricbump on the case mouth. I always wondered why Meachem bushing dies did not make them that way.
With those bushing dies if you don't have a good fitting shell holder or don't have the case going up straight you get an uneven reduction.

yes it does help center things but the 8 degree is also the shoulder angle on the 77 case. I have used the bushing die to neck a 45-70 case down to 44 with no problems and have necked one clean down to 44-60 length. One pass and it was done. I used a 348 Winchester shell holder as my regular shell older is too large of a diameter to work with the Co Ax press.
Jim as to material for the bushing, all you listed would work just fine as would some prehard 4140. It just doesn't polish up as nicely. The last bushing I made I used 8620. Polished up like a mirror but does need case hardening. I don't have a selection of tool steels like you do and mostly what I use is 12L14. or aluminum and brass. But any steel that you can harden will work well.
Sam

[Rockridge]

I wonder where this outfit is. They are tight lipped with their location. https://www.rccbrass.com/category/library/

Information from Bizapedia:

"Roberson Cartridge Co., LLC is a Texas Limited-Liability Company filed on September 13, 2017. The company's filing status is listed as Active and its File Number is 0802813759.

The Registered Agent on file for this company is Jeff Roberson and is located at 6213 Gainsborough Rd., Amarillo, TX 79106. The company's principal address is 6213 Gainsborough Rd, Amarillo, TX 79106-3517."

Rockridge
Ed

[Nuclearcricket]

That would be a nice combination. I always thought putting a patch box on my Hartford because I like the looks.
That .44-70 Maynard would make a nice caliber. Would you go with the original 2.21" length or the 2.1"? But I guess running a .45-70 through a .44 die would lengthen it to around 2.21"
The .44-75 Ballard was 2.250" and 2.50" but this was a rare caliber and not much known about it. I guess this is why I went with it.

Kurt I don't think the 45-70 case will grow enough to reach 2.21. The 40-65 doesn't grow that much and thats more of a reduction. For my money if it was just to be a hunting gun and maybe a few silly wet matches I would go with the shorter version. I just went and checked, by necking down a new case to 44 to the shoulder length of the 60 case, the case only grew about .020" . The case I fired in the 77 chamber and then necked down the rest of the way grew a bit less.
Sam

[Distant Thunder]

As to.44-70 cases, I agree with Sam 100%.

Sam,
4140 prehard is one of my favorites. I just have boxes of small pieces of tool steel of all sorts. I'm a pack rat, I don't throw anything away. I probably have 400 lbs. Of little pieces, good enough for me.

[Kurt]

Tnx. Ed.
I don't think I will ever have them make any cases at the price they want. At $7.51 a case for .44-77 is a little out of line.

[Kurt]

Your right Sam. I have to use the 2.6 brass for the .44-75. The 2.4 does not make the 2.5 but that small bit being short with the long 4º funnel transition I did not see a change in accuracy using it.
Heck I don't see a change using the .44-75 loads in the .44-100 That's the beauty of the 4º and 5º chamber ends.

[Kurt]

How do you tell what the steel is. I was given several 1"x6' lengths of round bar several years ago that's been laying on the rack in the shed and it's still as bright as the day I put it there. I mead a couple dies using it but I have no idea what it is.

[Distant Thunder]

Kurt,

It's hard to tell just by looking at it. There are technical ways to tell, but that is above my pay grade.

You can check to see if it's magnetic.

Using a grinder you can check the spark compared to a known piece of steel. My dad could tell that way, I sometimes think I can tell that way.

In my shop I always tried to mark each piece when it is put on the shelf. Any piece on the shelf not marked got tossed in the scrap barrel. My steel suppliers all had a color coding system, none were the same, and they would paint one end of any pieces I bought. We would mark any small cut off pieces that were saved before putting them on a specific shelf. Once a piece of any size was unmarked it was pretty much worthless. Some of that tool steel was $18 + a pound back when I quit the business. You could scrap out a $700-$800 piece of steel in the blink of an eye! Not to even mention the cost of labor that may have been put into it when it was scrapped! That could be weeks of labor. It was entirely possible to scrap several thousand dollars worth of material and labor on any given day. The loss of money was bad enough but the loss of time was devastating. No pressure though! The hardest part of being in the tool and die business was learning to deal with the pressure! It took me a few years to learn how to deal with it. Before that it was slowly killing me. I can't say I miss those days all that much.

My steel needs are pretty flexible today and anything I make is pretty much for my own use and just has to work. Life is good!