The new 44-77 arrived

Nice one!

Sweet.. ENJOY !

Congrats, I love mine, it's a hell of a cartridge, accurate and clean burning.

This is my 3rd 44-77 from Shiloh. Think it's going to be the perfect blend of the other 2.
About half think of putting the order in for Shiloh #8 to duplicate more or less the original hartford I have in 50-70

Would love to see some pictures of that original Hartford in 50/70.
My favorite Sharps Model in my favorite caliber!!

Looks like it served it's owner well!
Thanks for posting.

Wish the bugger could talk. It was shipped in 72 to Curry's in San Fransico, part of a shipment of 14 rifles, 12 44's and 2 50's. This one has a 26 inch barrel and twist. Some where along the way it ended up on the plains of northeastern Colorado.

sweet!

Nice.

Nice rifle! What is the parent case for the 44-77. Never seen a cartridge in that caliber. Is it good for hunting or just targets?
I have the Shiloh 45-70 with Baldwin rear tang sight. I used it a few times for steel targets but mainly shoot paper and hunt whitetail with it.
I use a cast 405 grain bullet.
Good looking original also. You are right about the stories that are probably behind that rifle. I have two original muzzleloaders, Bedfords, .54 cal and still use both for deer hunting.

Mike

The 44-77 predates the 45-70 by 10 years or so. Had it not been for the military rifles in 45-70 , the 44-77 would be the most chambered cartridge in the original sharps rifles.
It was and is used as a target and hunting cartridge.

great looking rifle.

I think, if I order another Shiloh, it will be a 1877, in one of the lighter cartridges. My .45-90 is a gem but I just can't warm up to shooting a deer with a 500 grain bullet

Really like my 77 in 4590, but don't think I'ld want one for a hunting rifle. This one is the English gun with the pistol grip, a straight stock with a standard weight barrel might not be to bad for a hunting rifle. They do tend to be a bit more muzzle heavy due to the action being slimmed up a bunch. Which I don't think is bad for a hunting/offhand rifle. 40-65 or 45-70 both make great hunting cartridges.
This one uses about 15 minutes less on the soul sight than my other 45-90's

I am leaning towards a .40-90 BN for my next rifle. I don’t want it too heavy but I know if I go real light I will pay for it in my end

I wouldn't even consider another 40-90 unless it wore a bull barrel, and even at that I suspect the muzzle blast would be significant. 94 grains of powder churning thru that 40 caliber hole, brings to mind the old axiom for every action there's a reaction.
My 40-90 will wear you down after just a bit of shooting, it weighs just a tad over 10 lbs.

I have heard that they had some nice recoil. I had a Rough Rider in .40-70 BN with a standard 1/2 round barrel. Great gun but I didn’t like the pistol grip for hunting. Another thought is to get a Hartford in .40-70 straight to start out with and if it does what I need I could rechamber it to .40-99 BN.

I had a .44-77 with a 32” barrel that was heavier than Shiloh’s heavy barrel but not as heavy as the 14 lb ones. It was about 16 lbs all up. It would be great in a gun like yours.

Very nice. I am at 2 years and 7 months on the wait for my 44-77 Shiloh. I am looking forward to getting it.

Are you going to paper patch for yours?



Bryan

That's about all I shoot in any of my rifles.
I've found that the best accuracy in these Shiloh 44-77's is to keep the bullet length at or just under 1.3 inches long, and using bullets at .434 or 435 diameter before patching yields the best results.
1.1 inch bullets as the originals used work well, but the longer bullets give better results beyond 200 yards.
My favorite all round bullet is a dual diameter from Brooks, 1.3 inches long, .435 on the base, .432 at the base of the nose, with his original postel nose. Cast it from 18-1 alloy. Wrapped in Seth Cole 55y wet patched, 3/4 inch wide.

I'm thinking about buying a Shiloh in 44-77 that has a 34" Green Mountain 1-17 twist barrel that has the Remington type paper patch only chamber installed by John King. It supposedly has never been fired. I've read a lot of threads in the last 2 weeks and the best and most informative have seemed to be here. It sounds like a fun cartridge and will be my first time paper patching.


Robert

I would caution you to proceed carefully with that paper patch only chamber.
If the chamber dimension is too tight you may not get consistent accuracy. If it's one of those "paper patch" chamber with an excessively long throat, accuracy may be challenging to achieve.
The twist rate will be good for bullets over 1.3 inches long.

Thanks for the info Ranch13. Maybe this is not the Sharps I need. It know in the description it states "Will not chamber ammo loaded with .446" grease and groove bullets." The rifle seems to be at good price for a minty looking Shiloh $2600ish. Maybe it's the paper patch only chamber holding it back. I'm still in a holding pattern trying to make sure I'm going in the right direction. Could I have the chamber fixed to shoot GG or paper patch? Or maybe have the barrel swapped out to a different caliber. I've not invested in any reloading components yet for 44-77.

Thanks,
Robert

Pretty good chance a plain ol 44=77 reamer would clean it up. Might see if you can get a drawing of the reamer they used and go from there.
Reloading equipment isn't a terrible thing to come across for the 44-77, it's simple enough to just use the Lee 43 mauser dies, and get a compression die from BACO , or Montana Extreme.

Thanks for the info!

You're welcome, if you get that rifle and for some reason the chamber can't be opened up , the the Lee 43 spanish dies might be the way to go, as they are intended for a .439 bullet.