Hello Folks,
I'm new here so please bear with me.
I own an 1853 Sharps Slant Breech Carbine in 60 bore (plus minus .44). About 10 years ago I had the gun fully restored by Markus Moll in Germany.
I shot it a bit back then, but then the kids got into sports and I had to put it aside for a while. I've decided to pick it back up again.
When I had the gun restored, I told Markus that I wanted to hunt deer with it. He being a German gunsmith was very adamant about developing a bullet/load that was sufficient for deer. So he made a custom mold for a 376 grain bullet. Its a four ring bullet that's about 1.11" in length. the first ring is approximately .42" in diameter the final ring is .44". (I'm led to believe that this bullet is heavier than the original bullet of the day)
I spent some time at the bench and developed a nitrated paper cartridge that used 67 grains of 1 1/2 fg swiss with a 1/4" cotton wad between the powder and bullet.
It posted 4" groups at 50 yards. I was able to kill a sizable boar at about 70 yard with it.
I just never felt like I got the accuracy out of the gun it was capable of. Now that the boys are almost out of the house I feel like I can now goof around with it.
FWIW, I spent some time time trying to gauge the twist rate and as best I can tell its 1:37.25 inches
So here are some thoughts/goals
1) continue to develop the load for the 376 grain bullet.
2) find out more about the original bullet and load and develop that.
Thank you,
Tmac