I think that hardened balls was the reason that Baker preferred the 6 guage over the 4 guage which I assume he shot with soft cast minis of some kind.
In Wild Beasts and their Ways, Baker said: "I have seen in a life's experience the extraordinary vagaries of rilfe bullets.. there is nothing, in my opinion, superior to the old spherical hardened bullet with a heavy charge of powder...
So, possibly he was not shooting soft cast minis. Also, I don't recall his mentioning anything about 6 bore guns, but could be. After the advent of breach loaders, he did seem to favor the .577, from what I recall.
John
The 577 was the 577 2 3/4 BPE and 577 3" BPE cartridge rifles which he was instrumental in developing.
He also used a 10 bore cartridge rifle. The 577 used PP bullets either solid lead or HP for penetration they hardened them. The 10 bore shot hardened bullets too but I doubt they were significantly heavier than a 10 bore RB.
In MLs he preferred the RB having gotten into "scrapes" with African Elephant when he had a conical mould made for his two groove "stopping rifle". With the normal ball (probably belted) it never failed to "floor a charging elephant". With the conical it was useless for this.
I have a 577 2 3/4" "solid" bullet used in a friends Westley Richards double. Might be a photo on the computer someplace....
They did not have a high sectional density being "Express Bullets" and BP will not produce high velocity with bullets that are 3 calibers long like the LR bullets for 44-45 calibers.
Went out and took a photo.
This is a 560 gr 577 2 3/4" BPE bullet and a copy of the Gov't 45 cal 405 gr. The HP 577 was cast in the same mould by using a plug to form the hollow.
The 405 gr is a medium length bullet for the 45-70.
Dan