Are the .44-77 BN and the .44-90 BN viable contenders in modern Creedmoor

[Distant Thunder]

Don,

All very good info in that post.

I did not mean to say gong matches don't count, they surely do, but they are often run much differently than paper matches. Gong matches are often fired with a long wait between shots while paper matches you have a shot string with not a lot of time between shots unless you're waiting on a condition for a few minutes. There is a different strategy to each, neither is easier. Putting a high number of hits on a 30" gong at 900 yards over a period of time is challenging as hell. Running a condition in Creedmoor and having 9s, 10s and Xs tells a little more precisely how many shots were closer to the center. They're just different games and different challenges.

I have shot far more long-range paper than I have long-range gongs and I can relate to the results of paper better.

I had most recently been working with a 1.350" bullet in my .44-77 at 220 yards on my home range and it shoots very well. Yes, I happened into an 82-grain load of 1 1/2 Swiss that is shooting well. That was with the cupped base mold Brooks made for me. He also made a flat base plug for that mold, but for some reason he made that in .45 caliber. It didn't fit my mold.

Because my lathe and other machines are sitting in storage waiting for winter to end so I can safely move them to my new shop I haven't done anything with the flat plug. Last week I couldn't wait any longer and chucked it up in my drill and polished the heck out of it until it fit my mold. Now I just have to get around to casting and I set the mold to 1.350" with the flat base so that's what it will be. I really like this 82-grain load. I use 83 grains in my .45-70 and that is perfect for Creedmoor.

Last fall I started setting up a 400-yard range on my brother's land and this spring I plan to use that for load development with my .44-77 and that should allow me to tighten things up considerably. There just seems to be only so much I can learn at 220 yards. I'm hoping that this flat base bullet will work better than the cupped base verson as the range increases. I think it will.

My only concern will be if the 480-grain bullet will hold up at 1000 yards and from what you're saying it will.

I have read everything I could find on Chip's efforts with his .44-77, but most of what I found seemed to be mid-range. I had not found anything about him shooting at long-range with it, so that is also encouraging results to hear.

I'm not sure why the 1.350" length seems to be a sweet spot for .44s but it does indeed, even my 17-twist likes it.

When I have told people that I shorten the bullet I use in my .45-70 Hepburn from 1.460" to 1.440" and it shoots much better they look at me like I'm nuts. That aside the bullet does shoot better, and it wins matches. That's just the facts. It depends on how fast you can push it. That same bullet was excellent in my .45-90 at 1.460" but I was pushing it at 1400 fps with 105 grains of powder. In the .45-70 with 83 grains, it's down around 1296 fps and it just needed to be shorter to have the same level of stability at the lower rpm that resulted from less velocity.

Anyway, if you get to working with your .44-77 this summer I for one would really like to know how it goes and I'll post my results with mine as well.