Home Forums Hunting & Shooting BPCR Which Sharps?

Seems that Chip Mate has done some exceptional shooting at Phoenix with a 44-77 , if my recaller is working right.
I do know that at one of the big shoots at Alliance the wind was particularly tough and the only 2 rifles that ran the 1000 yd were a 50-90 and a 44-90.

Yup, that sounds about right. Of course, Chip would shoot great scores with a .22 rimfire if he had to.

I don't see how any particular diameter is head and shoulders or even a few nits better than a caliber that is 0.01" bigger or smaller.

Yeh from the sounds of it Chip could take a redryder bb gun to a match of somekind and kick some serious butt.
You are right about it not making any sense as to why the 44 works.
I don't know what it is about the 44 but it does seem to be easy to get to shooting well.
There's got to be a reason why Remington took so long to drop it from their line. There's also a handful of foreign military units that used a 44 of some variation right to when they went to 8mm and some still kept the 44's in use.

It is probably easy to get it to shoot well because it has a good balance between a bullet size and powder charge. I think that is why the .45-70 and the .45-90 are great chamberings.

That could very well be it.
Looking forward to seeing what you and Kurt can get done at Lodi. Especially anxious to get the reports from Kurts 44-100 on it's maiden voyage at long range targets.

Well I said the .44 was not popular or used much but Kelley, Zack and Chip have had good success with the .44 as well as it did during the short years of the Creedmoor matches.
I think one of the reasons the .44 lost out to the .45 is because the .45 was a war caliber that flooded the markets like the .223 took over the .222, .30-06 and the .22-250 this day and age.

ET is havin a ball with his 44-90 and actually shooting his gun was my first BPCR outing last Oct before our Wy speed goat hunt.. managed to shoot a 3.5" group at 135 yds in a 15 mph TV wind and wasn't ready for the recoil while sitting on my flimsy chair.Took me off backwards and I landed on his new shooting glasses...crunch. Think maybe down the road a second gun in 44 of some length would be the cats meow! Been shooting my 310 gr cast outta my 444 Marlin with outstanding accuracy out to 250Yds with barrel sights, gotta be alot said for the 44 caliber.

Kurt, do you happen to know what the twist on the original 44/90 was?? You have had and used a 44 for 40 years??? a Sharps or a RB?? Curiousity compels me.

ET,
I never had an original Sharps. Most of my old powder rifles were Rem rollers you could get for less then $20. that was all I could afford.
My first .44, actually it was a ,43 spanish started in about 1954-5 dont remember for sure when I ordered it out of the back pages of the NRA magazine. and since I had two .44-77, one came with a bunch of rounds with removable iron heads. One was a RB in the .44-90. Then I got the bug for Bench rest and bulls eye pistol and front stuffers but the blk powder cartridge was always the one I used for just plain fun shooting.
The first two .44-90 Sharps were Shiloh's and the one chamber was cut from a reamer that I had made from a original 1877 Sharps chamber cast used for the Creedmoor that was like new that the owner wanted some PP rounds for display and he made a chamber cast for me in trade. I asked what the ROT was and he said as near as I can tell it was 1/18 or 1/19.
Now I have a Shiloh in .44-77, .44-90bn and a .44-100 ST.

Thanx Kurt. I have been liking my Shiloh 44/90 a lot. Got s supply of KIK 1.5 as recommended and it looks to have been a very good move. Killed another wild hog with it last month. I suspected the original ROT was around 1:19. That means 500 g bullets will stabilize fine. LOADS of fun just trying out anything I want.

Burned some KIK 2 FG in my old .45 on Easter Sunday just past.

Didn't have the clock set up, but noted that my elev for Turkeys was down NINE points from the Swiss load I was running last From .680 down to 590,.......and the old pelter was really belting me. looks like this "Lotsa' energy in KIK" carries some water.

GTC

Oops you think that KIK has energy , wait till you get ahold of some Olde Eynsford..

I'm a fan of 'Low and Slow', and am not really sure than I WANT any more energy.

Uniformity, consistency, and softer fouling are damned sure welcomed, though.

I thing there's some OE on the way to play with,.....I better get that 100 finished and running,......

Kinda' lost in (and in love with) that old Hollis, at the moment.

Don, THANKS for the great updates and evals on this new powder, and hope you'll keep it coming, Bud.

GTC

Thanks Greg it's been fun testing the stuff. Now I need to see if I can get the sort of accuracy from it that Kurt has been getting.
It's been interesting also reading some of the info that's starting to trickle in on the stuff.
We should be seeing what ol Kodiak got his 45-70 to do with the stuff right quick.
Haven't completely sold myself on it yet, altho all it will take is to start matching group sizes with KIK and I'll be hooked on it, cuz the fouling is super easy to deal with so far, but we need to get into some hotter temps and low humidity to really get good test.