577-450 Hunting?

[nomienos]

I have a serious problem with buying strange guns, especially those multi-caliber options. For the last 2 years, I've taken each of my drillings out for some hunting, and am always on the lookout for more. I got offered to buy a just plain weird cape gun that's 12 gauge by 577-450, which I know nothing about beyond that I want it! if I did buy it, I would want to take it out hunting, but have never seen 577-450 hunting before. I found an older thread here talking about its use in Africa, but wanted to see if anyone has experience with it and big game here in North America. It seems to have comparable balistics to a 45-70, would you just use it the same? Where I live in BC is a paradise for game, and have taken deer and even a moose with a 45-70 adapter in the cooey single shot. would the 577-450 act the same? Would love to hear some anecdotes about this round if any of yall have them!

 

[matt85]

No experience with the cartridge but I imagine it would be fun to play with. Im assuming it's a black powder gun and the cartridge performance is likely somewhat superior to original 45-70 loads given the larger case dimensions. But I'm just guessing here.

 

[mowen]

First, just know that reloading for these is a PITA as you need a press thst takes the large .50 BMG size dies. Brass can be formed from 24 Guage shotgun shells. I invite you to visit the British Militaria Forum for more info, probably the biggest concentration of 577-.450 reloaders out there.

 

[BlueFlyer]

First, just know that reloading for these is a PITA

Yes, best to stick with black powder as this cartridge goes back to the 1890's and the guns are typically built to reflect that.
Over here ADI do list a load for it using smokless, but with 37grns of powder in that cavernous case it would need a lot of packing material to keep the powder on the primer. Bertram also make solid brass cases for it, but they may not be available in the US?

ADI also have a burn rate comparison table for all their powders so you could relate that back to powders you might have.

I went the other way, I have a couple of Martini actions (actions only) that were originally in 577/450 and rebarreled 1 into 45/70.

 

[Zinz]

Here’s 40 Kynoch rounds that auction in a couple days.

40 RNDS. KYNOCH .577/.450 MARTINI-HENRY | Proxibid

Bid in a Proxibid online auction to acquire a 40 RNDS. KYNOCH .577/.450 MARTINI-HENRY CARTRIDGES from Falcon America South, Inc.

www.proxibid.com

Ed Z

 

[mowen]

If you do scrounge some old Kynoch your best bet is going to be to pull the bullet, dump the cordite, and reload with black powder. The Kynoch brass is also Berdan primed so it'll take some doing if you want to reload it.

Theres a reason my two martini Henry's are .22 and .303

 

[Hunter-Habib]

It saw extensive hunting use in the late 19th century since military surplus Martini Henry rifles were extremely popular (and affordable). It must be remembered that there was no Safari Outdoor in late 1800s era Africa. If you would like to read a book where this caliber was extensively employed for hunting, then I highly recommend you read "Jock Of Bushveld". The author shot plenty of wild game in order to supply fresh meat for the wagons that he worked for with an old Martini Henry.

I wouldn't hesitate to use this caliber against any thin skinned game.

W.W Greener built several Cape guns in 12 gauge/.577-450 Martini Henry for the colonies.

If you can get your hands on any old Kynoch Berdan primed cases, then I can teach you how to modify them in order to accept a modern boxer primer.

 

[PerH]

Here is a excellent play list of his martini Henry videos

His ammo reload video is elsewhere on Rumble I think , as YT took it down when they banned reloading a while ago .

Martini-Henry

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