I've had my 77/44 for a while now and it's had a few things done to it to make it better.
When I 1st got it the trigger was a bit heavy, had some creep and of course it was a bit shiny, so it's undergone 3 stages of modifications.
Stage 1, I did a few simple things, I fitted a Volquartsen sear, spring and shim the trigger, and I was quite happy for a while.
Stage 2, I painted the shiny barrel and bolt 1st with etch primer and then flat black. I also cleaned out the magazine inlet so mag changes were smooth and floated it.
Stage 3 was a touch more drastic, first I bead blasted all the metal to remove the shine, then cut the barrel back and recrowned it in about 15min.
The end result is a gun that originally blinded game with shine and shot 3.5" groups with factory ammunition at 50m to something with no shine that shoots the same ammunition under an inch.
I thought I might add the cast bullet groups I shot the other day while load testing, not the best I could have shot as I was more focused on getting accurate readings for velocity then the best possible groups.
I'm loading a Lee RN 240gn load although my softer lead mix makes them 250gn, but being RN I thought I'd make them expand a bit if I made the lead softer.
Anyway the loads were,
Top, 23.5gn of AR2205 for 1660fps, 1st round was the high one and the next 5 were pretty good, the black tape is a bit under a half inch.
Bottom, might have been me but anyway it was 24gn of AR2205 for 1720fps, the 1st shot was high right, the last high left. I might have stuffed them but I think that's a bit hot for cast bullets anyway.
But I got next to zero lead fouling and I loaded up 15 rounds of 23.5gn to shoot 3 5 round groups off a rest to see what they are capable of, and 15 rounds exactly the same but with a waxed cardboard wad behind the bullet.
I've heard that can improve accuracy and I wanted to test it out and see, I will clan the barrel some between the two to try and ensure an accurate test.
If that 1st round was me or a random flyer then I will load a ton of the best grouping loads, or just to load without the card if there is little or no difference.
The trigger kit sure sorts them out my 77/44 was shooting about the same prior to fitting the kit and shimming the bolt etc. Can I ask what made you recrown the barrel? Goodluck
The front sight was annoying at low power and I don't shoot open sights so I cut the whole barrel lug off with an angle grinder and dressed it, then re-crowned it with a die grinder bit in a cordless drill.
Awesome! I did some similar work to mine in 357... Cut down to 16" and threaded it. Now it uses a suppressor for quiet shots. I would like a laminate stock for it at some point. Fun rifles!
I plan on threading this one at some future point, but the permit here is a bugger to get even for professional use.
I'd like one in 357 too, but I don't know what I want 1st, one of those or a front stuffer, but I'm on a buying freeze for a while on the little woman's orders so I have plenty of time to think about it.
It shoots great with BP loads although as I've discovered it's murder on cases, I've got a good trail boss load but there is something about that cloud of white that makes me smile.
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