44-77 brass

[J.B.]

You might be surprised with lighter bullets in that twist Don. I know that provided I dont drive them too fast... I can use lighter bullets ( 450-500 ) in my fast twist 50 than the favoured 650-700 grain monsters and they seem to do fine . Havent shot anything lighter than 400 grns in my 44 to date anyway and managed to get a few of them to hit at a 1000... alas ...non consistently ! Will be interesting to see how 'buttugly' does when its on the sticks.

[Kurt]

Don,

As well as that postell nosed PP bullet shot a Baker on that 1000 yard 4' iron during the practice days I don't understand why you have a problem with the .44-77. It held very well for you even with the low setting Sun. You and Brian where putting them right on top of the others. Shooting over that squirrely wind canyon is no easy shot to make even in a low wind condition.

[Don McDowell]

Kurt that was the Money bullet we shot that afternoon. And it does hold fairly well. I was running both the 1.3 inch postel slick and the money bullet in the 1000 yd challenge, but that stupid MVA scope mount went to pot on me, so not sure if it was the problem or the bullets , or both, but shooting 75 out of 300 doesn't impress much...

[J.B.]

This may be old news to some but having recently gone to place an order with BACo for Captech/Jamison 44/77 brass, I noticed that the listing for cases to suit Shiloh had been dropped from the range. Was there a few weeks ago but not now. A few emails to and fro to BACo established that the Captech rim thickness of .072" was apparently still too thin to be ideal in the Shiloh action. I believe this was confirmed between Shiloh and BACo and a figure of .076" would be almost ideal for that Shiloh chambering. Certainly this has been my experience and when I ordered some RMC brass I stipulated rims at .076-.0765". When they arrived..they were a perfect fit. Some came to .077" on my verniers but the breech still closed..although it did barely touch the case base. No marks though.
Back to the topic... BACo are apparently ordering the brass and have a method to bring the rim thickness up to approximately .076". There will be a delay obviously until there are stocks and a slight increase in price as additional labour is involved . The cases listed now with .072" rims and .012" necks wouldn't work in my rifle unless I go to paper patching. My chamber is too snug for necks thicker than .0105/.011.
I purchased about 250 Jamison cases from their first re run and while the rims were a tad thin at .0715-.0725" ..they were..or seemed to be working. I figured on fire forming that the headspace issue would be gone as I was only sizing necks. Have any others had any issues. ?

Gavin.

[Don McDowell]

I haven't had any issues with the brass at all.

[J.B.]

My experience has been the same Don. Other than the fact that they shorten between .008 & .010" on firing, I've had no issues. I'm guessing someone 'may have' had a problem ? and hence the change but I don't know. That's why I was asking. I've more of a 'if it aint broke...dont fix it' attitude to this and it seems unnecessary although the thicker rims would be better suited. Hopefully the lot I pick up in June will be spot on. Wouldn't have thought .004" would have been a big issue although certainly running down to .067 and a .009" difference would be noticeable. Wondering if thickening the rim may mean less reduction in length ? I guess I'll find out.

Gavin.

[Don McDowell]

Well keep us posted. I've got about 200 of the first lot, and then I got another 200 of the first lot with the JBA headstamp, and they all fit my rifles just fine. I almost wonder if somebody might have got confused at BACO as the 44-90 cases were made with 2 different rim thicknesses..

[J.B.]

With the import/export fiasco that just seems to get worse every few months, I'll be collecting any brass when I come over in June. Much simpler that way. There may well be someone on the forum who'll be getting some brass before me and I'd be interested in any feedback if they do. I'm relying on having 150+ new cases waiting for me when I get there and was running with the existing Jamison ( JBA) dimensions ...now I'm a little nervous as to what I'll end up with. As we've all found out from time to time... what "should" work in a given rifle... aint necessarily so !

Gavin.

[Kurt]

The Shiloh rim recess is .078" C Sharp what one guy that has one said his was .069" When I ordered my brass from the first run cases ran .079" to ,082" also the .44-90 brass. Some of the .44-90 had a rim thickness of .083 and I had to do a lot of figure eight's on sand paper to be able to close the breach, but that was OK with me. This way I got a good fit. But when I got some .44-77 brass from Buff Arms that was marked Shiloh I had to send it back because it was the thinner brass for C-Sharps. It was just marked wrong.
Lately I been getting my Jamison brass from Track of the Wolf and it is the proper diameter and also a better price.

Kurt

[J.B.]

Thanks Kurt. All good information. As both Don and I ..and several others found, the run of JBA brass that I purchased from early last year ( I think thats when it was ? ) has been working fine. Its rims were running the .0715 - .0725" and were working fine in my rifle. The necks averaged .010" and this was working also ( ie. grease groove ..ie. .446/.447 diameter bullets ). While the chamber rim cut is .078".. I've found .076 in the case rim to be ideal. It can up a little but anything above .077 means some camming by the breech block. Not much...but its there. The 'generic' sizes quoted on the Captech site aren't much help as there is no SAAMi standard I believe but they are obligated to put some measurements down as a reference. So Track of the Wolf hey...I gather they are fitting very nicely then ? What neck thickness have they been running by the way ?
This is an observation and heads up and by no means any criticism of BACo. Dave and the gang have kept a lot of us going when others in the industry couldn't have cared less and this may well be an effort to make a good product even better. The best fitting brass I have for this rifle is actually RMC and the new owners there have done nothing but give me assistance and corrected dimensions in the two orders I've received. If anyone wanted to order some of their brass.. they certainly have the Shiloh dimensions now and some shooter feedback to go with it. Their cases are a little thicker though..so you lose some capacity but thats only an issue if you start climbing above about 78 grns or so.. depending on bullet and whether you're gg or pp.

...Just a nervous Aussie not wanting to get caught out

regards.. Gavin.