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 CARTRIDGES | Guns & Military Artifacts Ammo | Online Auctions | Proxibid

40 ROUNDS (4 BOXES/10) VINTAGE KYNOCH .577 / .450 MARTINI-HENRY RIFLE CARTRIDGES. 480 GR. SOLID LEAD BULLET. TWO OF THE BOXES ARE IN GOOD TO VERY GOOD CONDITION, TWO ARE IN FAIR - POOR CONDITION. (PREVIEW / INSPECTION AVAILABLE PRIOR TO AUCTION. ALL ITEMS SOLD AS-IS WHERE-IS, SALES ARE FINAL...

www.proxibid.com

Ed Z