Its stranger than that! Side by side evolution: In 1868, the Remington trialed for the Spanish army. The trials rifles were chambered in .42 Berdan! (George Laymans "Remington Rolling Block Military Rifles of the World). The Spanish selected the Remington, but asked it to be changed to .43 caliber, thus creating the .43 Spanish. (Why? Layman says they liked the bullet used in the Chassepot paper cartridge, though the Chassepot itself finished last in their trials.)
At the same time the Sharps rifle Co were preparing their new (sorta) Cartridge rifle of 1869. (what would eventually become known as the Sharps 1874) To introduce a new Cartridge with it, they took the .42 Berdan, and loaded it with a .44 caliber bullet (sorta). This became the .44-77. (having been told that the minimum cartridge needed for Buffalo was a .44.)
The Sharps became the dominant rifle on the Buffalo plains, thus Remington shrugged, and made .44 barrels for their domestic customers. Meanwhile nearly 1.5 million .43 Spanish rifles headed overseas.
But the root cartridge for all this would be the .42 Berdan, to be adopted as is in 1870 by the Russian empire. It also pretty much puts to rest that Gorloff had anything to do with the cartridge itself, Berdan had it ready long before the Russians came calling.