Interesting thread. Glad to see some higher level thinking on the .44 and on the 788.
I have been shooting 788's for about 30 years years and suppressed .44s for about 20. Here are just a couple of general thoughts.
The bottle neck 788s are hard on brass. The safest route is to full length size them. A lot of guns have been destroyed by not understanding this aspect.
The .44 mag 788's are 1:38 twist. There is only so much you can do with them. And I would not thread one of them, but it is your gun and do as you wish. Make sure you have enough barrel to thread before you determine where to cut.
For reloading, it seems (same for 9mm PCC) that your greatest gain over a revolver is lighter bullets driven very fast. Especially for terminal performance. For instance, the 90 grain 9mm in a rifle is magnitudes more lethal than the same in a pistol. A 147 in either is about the same.
The Ruger M77s have a 1:20 barrel. Because you will keep the loads subsonic, this is the model that is most often used in integral rifles. You can cut the barrel down to 8 inches or so in them and have lost nothing in terminal performance or accuracy. I don't have experience with coated lead bullets, but uncoated lead bullets are not recommended in sealed center fire rifle cans. The integral cans are designed for disassembly for cleaning so you might get away with that. If your barrel is ported, as some are, you can not get away with it at all.
I killed a few deer with the 300 gr XTP out of my S&H integral. It just poked a .44 hole in and out. I have on my project list to try some expanding copper bullets for the .44. It is the same experience I had with the 300 blk a few years ago. My 300blk is now legit. I use cutting edge and lehigh bullets for these projects.
Your mileage will vary.
Is it christmas already?
