Integrally Silenced 77/44 chambering and reloading questions

[Dermestes]

I am in the process of getting a trust together to order a double stamp SRT 77/44 Bison with the Douglas barrel 11:1 twist and removable outer for cleaning. The gun can be chambered in either 44 Magnum or 44 Special. I only plan on hand loading subsonics for this gun and had wondered if anyone chambered it in the 44 Special for the shorter case to be able to shoot heavier cast lead bullets. It seems the shorter case would allow more options for heavier lead bullets to be used and still use the magazine which limits the overall length of the cartridge. Anyone have experience loading over 300gr bullets for this type of gun?

Thanks
Dermestes

[ncorry]

I went with the 44 Mag from SRT. Mine is not take apart, so no lead- I didn't know it was an option when I ordered mine. I have the DOuglas barrel. I load the 300 grain Hornady XTP over 17.4 grains of IMR 4227 to an OAL of 1.640 and it shoots great.

[Dermestes]

I went with the 44 Mag from SRT. Mine is not take apart, so no lead- I didn't know it was an option when I ordered mine. I have the DOuglas barrel. I load the 300 grain Hornady XTP over 17.4 grains of IMR 4227 to an OAL of 1.640 and it shoots great.

It is an extra fee and tax stamp. The outer tube comes off but no tools to take apart the baffle stack. Apparently he had the tool custom made for assembly and disassembly for the baffle stack so I guess if I want to take it all the way apart I would need to figure out how to make one myself. Does the 1.640 OAL cycle through the magazine just fine?

[ncorry]

I went with the 44 Mag from SRT. Mine is not take apart, so no lead- I didn't know it was an option when I ordered mine. I have the DOuglas barrel. I load the 300 grain Hornady XTP over 17.4 grains of IMR 4227 to an OAL of 1.640 and it shoots great.

It is an extra fee and tax stamp. The outer tube comes off but no tools to take apart the baffle stack. Apparently he had the tool custom made for assembly and disassembly for the baffle stack so I guess if I want to take it all the way apart I would need to figure out how to make one myself. Does the 1.640 OAL cycle through the magazine just fine?

They work fine for me, with a slight roll crimp (forgot to mention). I wish they'd expand just a little it more, but man, they dump some energy. If I shoot in the afternoon at the 300 yard gong, I can see the ass end of the bullet rainbowing down like a copper comet.

[Dermestes]

I went with the 44 Mag from SRT. Mine is not take apart, so no lead- I didn't know it was an option when I ordered mine. I have the DOuglas barrel. I load the 300 grain Hornady XTP over 17.4 grains of IMR 4227 to an OAL of 1.640 and it shoots great.

It is an extra fee and tax stamp. The outer tube comes off but no tools to take apart the baffle stack. Apparently he had the tool custom made for assembly and disassembly for the baffle stack so I guess if I want to take it all the way apart I would need to figure out how to make one myself. Does the 1.640 OAL cycle through the magazine just fine?

They work fine for me, with a slight roll crimp (forgot to mention). I wish they'd expand just a little it more, but man, they dump some energy. If I shoot in the afternoon at the 300 yard gong, I can see the ass end of the bullet rainbowing down like a copper comet.

It seems the largest bullet I can find is the 405gr Beartooth that has 2 crimping at .330 and .5. In the 44 Special case it would be 1.49" or 1.66" with the 44 Mag case it would be 1.615" or 1.785". I am not sure if I am figuring that correctly because my brother usually does the reloading and I more or less just hand it over to him to find a working load.

[laxguy59]

1:11 Wow! compared to all the other 44mag rifles I've seen I thought the factory 1:20 twist was a fast twist barrel on the 77/44.

[L1A1Rocker]

I'm in the same boat. I'm sitting on an approved Form 1, a douglas 1:11 barrel blank, and lots of titanium. I plan on running these 300gr lead pills that I cast myself. Loaded to the short crimp groove they will fit the magazine with a 44mag case. The problem is how to cut the chamber, once I figure out the correct cut/length and have the time, it should be a great shooter. I'd also like to find a stock maker that could do a bit more length over the regular "Destroyer" look. Here's a pic of the pills:

[L1A1Rocker]

1:11 Wow! compared to all the other 44mag rifles I've seen I thought the factory 1:20 twist was a fast twist barrel on the 77/44.

Yep, those "Silent Destroyers" had a tendancy to shoot a bit of a shotgun pattern when loaded with the really big, slow, sub-sonic bullets people shooting silencers love so much. Douglas filled a bit of a nitch with the 1:11 44 barrel. They really do shoot nice, from what I've read.

[Dermestes]

Yeah I would like to have the option to shoot as heavy as possible so trying to get a plan together. The 405gr should stabalize if it will work from the magazine.

[laxguy59]

1:11 Wow! compared to all the other 44mag rifles I've seen I thought the factory 1:20 twist was a fast twist barrel on the 77/44.

Yep, those "Silent Destroyers" had a tendancy to shoot a bit of a shotgun pattern when loaded with the really big, slow, sub-sonic bullets people shooting silencers love so much. Douglas filled a bit of a nitch with the 1:11 44 barrel. They really do shoot nice, from what I've read.

Anything is better than the 1:38.5 the NEF barrels are. I was shooting a NEF integral with 240gr 44spl subs and it was getting end cap scrubs.

[ncorry]

My Douglas barreled SRT integral shoots the 300 grain XTPs at 1030 fps with 17.4 IMR 4227 to a 2", 5-shot group at 100 yards. I'm happy with that. It's almost a suppressed (very, very suppressed) muzzle loader. I ended up sending it back to Doug and got some short picatinnny rails mounted at 3, 6, 9 and 12 o'clock to mount NV accessories. Very happy with it. Only thing I would change on it would be to make it user-serviceable so that I could shoot some heavier cast HPs.

[Dermestes]

My Douglas barreled SRT integral shoots the 300 grain XTPs at 1030 fps with 17.4 IMR 4227 to a 2", 5-shot group at 100 yards. I'm happy with that. It's almost a suppressed (very, very suppressed) muzzle loader. I ended up sending it back to Doug and got some short picatinnny rails mounted at 3, 6, 9 and 12 o'clock to mount NV accessories. Very happy with it. Only thing I would change on it would be to make it user-serviceable so that I could shoot some heavier cast HPs.

Exactly what I am trying to get a user serviceable version of SRT Bison. I tried contacting Tom Denall but he has 42 people on his list already and not putting more on till it gets shorter. I have contacted Beartooth Bullets to ask them a few questions about the 405gr and reliable feeding through the 77/44 magazine but from what I have read the WLN bullets have issues with feeding correctly. I finished setting up my Gun Trust yesterday and need to get the bank account setup correctly next before purchasing the gun to send to SRT which last I talked to them was a 16 week wait which at least I would be on the list.

It appears if I used a 405gr in a 44 Mag case I would have an OAL of 1.615 set to the .330 crimp. This would leave around 1.2782 cubic centimeters for powder. If it would feed it seem that it should be enough to get it to around 1000fps with the right powder. I would like to find someone who has tried it though and has experience.