Ruger’s 77/44 – The Next Generation 44 Magnum Carbine Part III

02/13/2020

So I got a job as a census enumerator. I wanted to do something for my community, in this case, make sure all of my neighbors were counted to assure we had appropriate representation in state and federal governments. My friends were shocked, my family was shocked. Then it came time to get a badge and spent four days in training when I realized, holy crap, I’m going to be working for someone. A daily routine of making a list, making up an efficient route and then going out knocking on doors.

Maine is not a great place, outside of urban centers, to walk up to people’s homes in the woods, tell them that you work for the government and ask them lots of very personal questions. So I have formally resigned my position in government, leaving it for someone who better deserves it and can benefit from the opportunity. They just better not show up at my house… on a mountain… in the middle of the woods… set way back from the road.

Making this too complicated

The plan was to evaluate some of the factory ammunition, handloads and subsonic 44 Special ammunition with the SilencerCo’s Hybrid 46 in place, log the results and call it done. Unfortunately, suppressed or not, 44 Special, 300 grain, slow pitch handloads would not group acceptably, all of the low velocity factory 44 Special handgun that were naturally subsonic used cast lead bullets that should not be used with a silencer and all of the factory 44 Special jacketed bullet loads went supersonic with the 18.5″ rifle barrel.

I was knee deep in brass shavings and modified 44 Special and 44 Mag brass, trying to find accurate subsonic loads, when my only objectives were to produce relatively quiet, acceptably accurate handloads. So I elected to take the easy way out.

Three bullets were selected. The first two expand at low velocity, the third retains velocity and penetrates: Speer 200 grain GDJHP, Remington 240 grain SJHP, Speer 270 grain Deep Curl JSP. The 200 grain, intended for the 44 Special assembled 0.010″ longer than 44 Rem Mag Spec. The Remington assembled within specification. The Speer assembled within specification.

Supersonic and Subsonic Handloads

I carried forward the handloads from Part II and added the subsonic loads at the end of the table and added group size.

Warning: Bullet selections are specific, and loads are not valid with substitutions of different bullets of the same weight. Variations in bullet length will alter net case capacity,  pressure and velocity. Primer selection is specific and primer types are not interchangeable. These are maximum loads in my firearms and may be excessive in others. All loads should be reduced by 5% as a starting point for development where cartridges have greater than 40 grains in capacity and 10% for cartridges with less than 40 grain capacity following safe handloading practices as represented in established mainstream reloading manuals. Presentation of these loads does not constitute a solicitation for their use, nor a recommendation.

“Joe, are you losing it?!…! You have lower charges with heavier bullets generating higher velocity than lighter bullets with heavier charges!…!!”. Yeah, about that, I just shoot over a chronograph and log what the display indicates. Multiple shots with the same load verify the results. In this case, the heavier bullet has a longer shank and protrudes farther into a case, reduces the net volume and bumps up pressure. IMR Trail Boss is a bulky, stable powder that works well with reduced load and has not unpredictable partial case full pressure responses.

As addressed in Parts 1 & 2, the full tilt loads for the Ruger 77/44 have wide ranging hunting applications and the use of the SilencerCo significantly reduces muzzle blast, recoil and report with these loads. Subsonic loads have their place in target practice, predator and small game hunting where power is sufficient and range is closer in. What does that mean? Glad you asked.