Creedmoor 1879 some things you did not know.

[ResearchPress]

Mercury has a higher relative density/specific gravity than lead. I wondered if mercury was used to increase weight of the bullet without changing its length? Although the percentages used are quite low...

David

[country gent]

What effects would mercury have on lead even in the small amounts used? Mercury is liquid at -38* and boils at 360* would even this small amount lower melting temps of the alloy? Mercury is very toxic and at leads temps would it be vaporous? What properties would mercury bring to the ix. Flow, Fill out, Reduced weight variations, Hardness, Lubricity, The ability to obtrate and seal the bore? Ive been looking for the results of adding mercury as an alloy to lead some since this came out in this post. Almagram ( lead mercury mix used in dental fillings is all Ive found nothing on the properties just how toxic it can be. My curiosity has been aroused here. The other alloy brought up here is bismuth which is a by product of lead production from what Ive read. Bismuth would also likely loweer melt temps and add hardness toughness to the mix.

[Kenny Wasserburger]

While our British cousins continued on with mercury and antimony, I don't know if we need them?
Remember they were patching too groove an that led too jacketed ammo and cordite. Patching too bore is a different game, our American forbears continued too win with 1-11 and 1-14 alloy. Honestly I think we are missing the real secret it is not so much about how hard but how well it does not set back or compresses?

All is a mote point the man that reads conditions best and knows the effects on his bullet for said
conditions, corrects for it, keeps them in the black...........well he wins. Period!

KW

[Don McDowell]

All is a mote point the man that reads conditions best and knows the effects on his bullet for said
conditions, corrects for it, keeps them in the black...........well he wins. Period!

KW

The whole secret to bringing home the gold medal right there!
We need to work hard on our loads and fouling control and all the rest, but that last sentence of Kenny's is the one thing that is an inescapable truth.

[ResearchPress]

I just found the experimentation and development interesting. Metford and Halford did much work together in this respect. Metford by the way (at least in 1876) was loading bore diameter based on his published memoranda on loading for the Farquharson Metford.

The latter sentiments above are spot on. Much time in shooting 'classic arms' seems to be devoted to fine tuning equipment and loads; often to the neglect of fine tuning the shooter.

David

[Gunlaker]

The whole secret to bringing home the gold medal right there!
We need to work hard on our loads and fouling control and all the rest, but that last sentence of Kenny's is the one thing that is an inescapable truth.

That became abundantly clear to me when I attended my first match this year. I was quite confident about the accuracy of my ammunition, but had no real ability to read the wind flags. That's a skill I'll be working on this year, as much as I can manage, time-wise.

A fellow who knows how to handle the rifle, even with a mediocre load, and knows the wind would handily beat most. The wind adds a lot more variability than most loads will ever give you.

Chris.

[Don McDowell]

Chris what may be more important to detect and read is the mirage.
Without a good spotter that speaks the same language as the shooter, the shooter is probably not going to be in a very good position on the score board unless he/she is good at doing their own condition reads.

[.22-10-45]

Very interesting stuff! I have always been facinated by those long ago long-range matches. One thing those boys did different than today..each team member would take his shot..then get up and clean his rifle while the next man fired...while this no-doubt helped with the heavy recoil of those .44 thru .45 calibers in regulation 10# match rifles, the conditions could be completly changed when returning to the line. This is where the U.S. team had an advantage... The rifles all had their windage adj. front sights to same zero...and good coaching by the team captian..and the men talked and shared information one with another throughout the match.
The British in contrast shared precious little information one to another.

[Kenny Wasserburger]

They learned better of it, the Scratch match Halford-Hyde of 1880 they fired as a team, and beat the made up Scratch team of Frank Hyde's.

Kenny W.