First Snider RB load & chamber fit

[snidey577]

I have managed to cast the chamber with hard candle wax, with a bit of my wife's fart tablets mixed in for clarity.



My eyes are letting me down more than anything, it was difficult to get measurement precisions, but with my calipers, I get on average, .582" at the widest (groove to groove or is it Land to Land on a cast??) and .580" at the narrowest-to-narrowest of the rifling bands.

With that, I secured a batch of good NDFS brass. I needed the most modest amount of neck flare right at the top to allow the .60" RB to get seated without shaving the RB lead, with precisely only as much as the round requires to seat nice and flush in the chamber. It's pure co-incidence this is luckily right at the RB ogive (is that the correct term?). I then added the barest amount of crimp to remove the tiny little case flare and allow flush easy chambering.



I used 82.4 grains of Krank Medium BP and to take up volume I used a dipper of an active filler by dipper volume of 19.1 grains of 50% Semolina and the same of BP, that is, say 10 grains active-filler max of BP for around 93 grains max of Medium BP.

This fills the case to around 1mm from the top, seating the RB gives a nice little audible crunch, not much.

Bare Round Ball on top. Dipped in Udder Cream (bought by the cheap Kilo at a horsey shop or Tesco sell it next to the beefburgers ;-) ) just before firing.

So far, not a drop of fouling. I really expected fouling, none.

Accuracy is yet to come. This is at 25 Yards, but I am still flinching badly before I fire, I have to convince myself that MkII* non-locking bolt will not open on me... plus the pandemonium hellfire and damnation that comes from firing these thugs in a carbine barrel... I love it. I hope to get better accuracy when I stop flinching. I mightn't be able to until I get a nice steel MkIII with locking bolt. I appreciate I am resizing the RB's a few thou', but this seems pretty easy and also not too hard on the brass that I never resize.



After 50 rounds, I'm still alive...honest.. Comments guys? advice appreciated.

[snidey577]

Darn, I meant to reply to this with my post that has just gone in the 'lube' thread I started here:

http://www.full-bore.co.uk/viewtopic.php?f=29&t=10564

Dromia, could you oblige and move it here?

[dromia]

Looks like good RB group. If it doubles size at 50yrds then its is doing well.

What do understand active filler to mean?

If by that you are using the old Coyote tale of the semolina being burnt with the BP then I have to say it is a chimera of a procedure that adds nothing to loading. It just becomes extra weight in the load and increases the recoil.

I would reduce the charge considerably to ease you flinch looking at around 50 gns of BP as a starting point and if you feel the need to take up some of the airspace then carded wool, kapok or such like is sufficient.

Good stuff that udder cream.

There is not much around that will keep Krankies nutty slack fouling soft but udder cream does the business.

Remember accuracy is relative and the Sniders were never the most accurate of rifles being a stop gap, the military were never satisfied with its accuracy hence the development of many boolit variations over its life to try and get more accuracy, these were the ballistic cutting edge of their time and were a continuing experiment. Infinitely better than the muzzle loaders that went before for military purposes but had a way to go to fulfill the potential

[dromia]

Forgot to say all that unburnt semolina will also have helped keep the fouling down scouring out the Krankies caking.

[snidey577]

Thanks. I was using dacron filler (white non-flammable fluff in pillows) but the acrid stink added nothing to the BP nasal carnival.

I may use wool filler next up.

I did try 50 grains of Med BP, but it wasn't at all accurate for my setup. 6 inch groups at 25 yard. My theory was reduced velocity in the short barrel amplifying the already inherent rifle 'shake' that happens with such a lightweight gun. I figured the less time in the barrel, the less my flinches and shakes would affect the RB as it went its merry way.

Smokeless in a MKII* ? I am a BP fan, but some damp days, we just can't seeeeeeee

[snidey577]

I meant to say, yes I took the 'active filler' method from a post by a chap avatar'ed Coyote IIRC

[dromia]

Coyote did a lot of good work on Sniders and contributed a lot to people shooting them with success, however the active filler idea was not one of his best I think he even conned himself with it, could have been on the lead up to him loosing the plot and going off the rails.

[snidey577]

That sounds interesting. I've gone off the rails once, I think we all do now and again.

I heard him on some talk radio, not a shooting related show, but he was well informed and articulate.

Best place to nail a Steel MKIII Cavalry Carbine? Some 'militaria' dealers were asking around £1200 Is that fair?

[dromia]

Coyote robbed people, some others got together to help him out and help those that he robbed. Coyote turned his back on those that helped him and continued to con other shooters. When you go off the rails that much it not easily forgiven or forgotten.

Seems a lot to me for a Snider, like all things condition, rarity and desire all play a part in pricing.

Just seems to me that everything is going through the roof price wise and people seem willing to pay it. I've had perfectly good rifles in the racks at the last couple of shows I've been to and had people ask me what is wrong with them as they are so cheap, I put the price up and they sold. wtfwtf

The human race continually puzzles me, I'm waiting for a spaceship to come and take me away to someplace I recognise.

[snidey577]

After a big barrel scrub, I got the same decent group for the first few shots (in red) - but then the grouping just opened up to dinner plate size as the session went on.

Very similar 'clean barrel' tidy little initial group, but I think the crud fouling the barrel is sending shot 4 onwards badly with the fouling.



EDIT - here's a snap of 'before and after' firing, holy smoke!




I can't really use much lube at the indoor range. Any ideas to reduce the build up with the .60" RB loading? I was thinking of a quick pull-through clean after each shot next session. Hassle, but I'm in no rush anyway. Gives other shooters a chance to breath some oxygen and calm their nerves...