Time to continue load development with my .44-77.

[Kurt]

Jim,

I cant shoot a consistent group with the same load every time I shoot. I have good and bad days like everyone else.

The best bullet I have used in the 19 twist .44-90 BN is a swage die I had Corbin make that is a copy of that top 550 gr special.
I have used that bullet twice at Lodi and I used it at the Q and Mt. 1000 over the years I shot there and it has served me well. I used this bullet twice at the Lodi matches and the Fall 2013 the sky came down so bad I had to take the front insert out and use the hood for the front aperture just to make out the target and that knocked me out of the game.
The velocity the old Goex I was using pushed that bullet just below 1300 fps out of the 19 twist .44-90 BN about what I'm pushing the .44-77 using the 2F OE.
This particular bullet profile has shot well in all of my .44's of the 6 different .44 calibers I have.
That bullet has an elliptical radius of one caliber off the ball hemi. I forget what that ball is for sure. But that profile is very close to the KAL tapered Gibbs of the two moulds I have. Rick made me an adjustable and later on I bought a used one from Don here. All three bullets shoot well under 1.445" in the 16, 17 and 19 twist .44's from the .44-75 Ballard to the large calibers like the .44-100 Rem and .44-90bn. I like the length of 1.4"
The two Cal moulds I have first cast a terrible bullet because pf the way Rick vents the blocks. They made terrible parting and vent hairs the way I pressure cast. If you just dumped the lead in they were OK.
I had Rick make me a sprue plate with just a .100" hole to cut down the fast flow and this cured the problems I had using those two moulds.
But now I just use the mould for a core slug to run them through the swage die.
These .44's, all I have shoot very well. I could never understand why the .45 took preference over the .44's

Kurt