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

[Don McDowell]

Jim in the 44 and 45 with patched I use 2 felts. With greasers and either or in the 40's just one felt,

[Distant Thunder]

Good news and the bad news!

The good news is my revised bore wipers worked much better and combined with a dry patch they cleaned out the fouling very well.

The bad news is 88 grains of my 040313 lot of Swiss 1 1/2 shot poorly, very poorly. In 5 shots I had 8" of vertical! The group was about 4" wide. So now I have to think through that problem. I only had 3 pounds of the 2016 lot of 1 1/2 Swiss that I have been using and that is pretty well gone.

I've got a few weeks to work up an accurate load with my 2013 Swiss.

I am still not happy with my trigger. It's just too heavy.

[Don McDowell]

77 grs of OE 2f,,,

[Distant Thunder]

Yes, OE will be on the menu. For now I really only have two choices, 1 1/2 Swiss, 1F Goex and 2F Goex. I'm down to one lot of Swiss, 040313. It works in my .45-70 and .40-65 and it should work in my .44-77. The 2016 lot shot really well in the .44-77.

When I loaded the same 88 grains of 040313 there was almost no compression. I'll step it up a bit and see if it just needs more (some) compression. I've got 89 and 90 grains loaded to test and I could go up to about 95 grains if I had to.

The JBA brass is bothering me, it's .020" short. I like the BACO stuff better, it's right at 2.250".

I will eventually have another 2-D PPB that I can seat deeper, but with this 441505 it is made to be seated only .090" in the case. When the case is .020" short it's only in the case .070" and that is a big bullet to only be in the case that little bit.

I'll have to work with what I have for now but I will be trying other things in time.

[Don McDowell]

I've had some good accuracy with 1f Goex, but the velocity was low.
I really think if a person narrowed it all down 1 1/2 OE might be the best powder, maybe a good lot of Swiss the same size, but I went thru almost a 1/2 case of that and couldn't get anything that made me feel good for accuracy

[Distant Thunder]

The 2016 lot of Swiss 1 1/2 was shooting right around 1 1/2 MOA for me with this 2-D EPP. I too have burned thru a bunch of powder searching for a good load with a different cartridge. So when I started my load development with my .44-77 I used the lot #18/01/2016 because I only had 3 pounds of it and if it didn't work out I wouldn't be out anything because there wasn't enough to find a good load in anything else and shoot matches with it. I have maybe 1/2 pound left so my thinking proved true.

To my surprise it shot very well in my .44-77 right out of the gate! I knew I would have to transition to the 2013 lot that I have a lot of eventually. Now that time has come. As has been the trend with Swiss the lots starting in about 2013 are fluffier than the earlier lots. When I loaded the same 88 grains (by weight) of the older powder I had no compression because it is more dense. Running a case up into my compression die with 88 grains really only squared up the wad and nothing more.

When shooters were first starting to use Swiss many years ago it was said that Swiss did not like compression while Goex tended to preform better with 1/4" or more compression. That was pretty much the rule until some time in 2013 when Swiss began to change for whatever reason. Since that time every lot is different and each new lot became fluffier than the last, less dense. In my limited experience with different 4 lots of 1 1/2 Swiss since 2013 it preforms better with more compression.

One thing most people did not know about the early Swiss 1 1/2 is that while it shot very well with around 1/16" compression, where most shooters stop their development, there was often a second sweet spot with much more compression. But that matters little with the newer lots.

While some every good shooters began to struggle with Swiss 1 1/2 starting with the 2013 lots using compression like they had for years it seems some discovered they were able to get good accuracy with more compression. I have worked with lot #210113 in my .40-65 and I found that when I got to 3/16" compression the accuracy was less than 1 MOA at 220 yards! Ten shots under 2" at 220 yards is pretty good accuracy in my book.

In my .45-70 with that same lot loaded with minimum compression and shooting 1000 yards I was barely able to hold on to the paper. It was grouping more like 6 MOA on a 7 MOA target! After that disaster when I loaded it in my .40-65 I started at 3/16" compression because another shooter was having success doing so and it has proved to be THE most load I've ever had in any my rifles.

The 040313 lot I load in my .45-70 has over an 1/8" compression I think, I'll check just how much compression when I start loading for the up coming Creedmoor Cup. That lot has won a good many Creedmoor matches for me over the past several years. That is the same lot number I am now working with in my .44-77 and I'm hoping with more compression it will shoot well, but I'll see.

The 2016 lot of Swiss 1 1/2 was shooting very well with not a lot of compression. I used .090" compression with 88 grains.

For a long time Swiss was the one powder that was very consistent from lot to lot, but something changed some time in 2013 and we'll just have to deal with.

I have been hearing good things about OE for a number of years and I will be giving that brand a go, but being on the old side I am resistant to change and dragging my feet. Kind of like I did with the .44-77 and now I ask myself why I waited so long on that! It is what it is.

[Don McDowell]

I heard from another shooter the other day that is absolutely disgusted with this last case of Swiss he got. He threw his usual same volume of powder, noticed something different, and found that same volume is 5 gr lighter than the previous batch that has worked so well, after he figured out what to do with that batch that was 2 grains lighter than the batch before that..
I hear a lot of folks saying OE is inconsistent, but I haven't noticed it being as bad as what they say, then on further investigation most of the folks putting that out are just regurgitating stuff a Swiss company rep is putting out...
Another shooter of note had a batch of OE and Swiss that he couldn't get to shoot to his satisfaction, ended up blending them and shot very well.. go figure.
So it all just boils down to find something a person can work with and run with it.

[tarbe]

tarbe,

It's good to know you're onboard! Welcome to the great sport of BPCR!

Whereabouts in Wisconsin do you call home?

Hi Jim

Stuck in Houston until I retire (soon?) to the Missouri Ozarks.

Grew up about 40 miles north of the nonsense in Kenosha (Germantown).

My post-retirement BPCR dream is to set up a 700 yard Buffalo/Gong range on my 300 acres in MO and invite folks over for shoot-fests. At least we have a longer shooting season than WI (too cold half the year) and TX (too hot half the year).

[beltfed]

tarbe,
I grew up in NW corner of MKE cty- Mill Rd and 105th st. At 78 I am Probably close to a generation before you
since you are still working. I hunted rabbits and pheasants with a bow and arrows up in Germantown as a kid.
beltfed/arnie seitz

[tarbe]

tarbe,
I grew up in NW corner of MKE cty- Mill Rd and 105th st. At 78 I am Probably close to a generation before you
since you are still working. I hunted rabbits and pheasants with a bow and arrows up in Germantown as a kid.
beltfed/arnie seitz

Arnie - Per GoogleEarth, that is literally 5.5 miles as the crow flies, from the house I grew up in just north of County Line Rd.

Small world!!

Yes, I turn 63 in a couple months...so you are ahead of the curve on me!

Sadly, the places I hunted rabbits and pheasants in Germantown are now mostly all giant subdivisions. Likely even more true for you.