Need to pick the collectives mind a bit guys,hope youīre ok with that. I had my heart set on picking a Whitworth up (and indeed just recently did) but got homed in by this sort of natural successor to it,the Westley Richards so called Monkey tail short rifle.
It is a 1:20 twist 45cal gun itīs just that as its father it doesnīt use regular rifling but is instead running an octagonal bore (in contrast to the Whitworths hexagonal).
To the point where Westley Richards has "Whitworth rifling" inscribed to their barells.
The Monkey tail then being a sort of breech loading take on the Whitworth.
Anyways. I bought this as a shooter,and indeed a shooter i got. Gun had been "restoed" at some point and then to a level where even much of the markings are gone,so this is a gun for doing what i see fit to dwell on whatīs there to be found accuracy and performance wise.
The "bolt" is actually sort of a lid that houses a plunger that is shoved rearwards by combustion pressure and by angled surfaces of the plunger and rear most part of the receiver locks up.
Gun was designed for use with paper cartridges,and these were like "knee jointed" just behind their bullets why these cartridges sort of "fold" in place.
Well. To hell with that so i drilled the chamber out and fabbed a high end steel chamber insert for 45-90 cartridges. This rendered that i had to elongate the receiver end somewhat and thus modify plunger range and what not too.
As is though weīre at the point where it all works and this still with the original setup percussion cap and hammer setup. The 45-90 Starline cases has had a "flame channel hole" drilled about midships and the whole thing works very very well.
Thus iīm now able to reload on a press with all that brings as far as seated depth and what not.
Now.
The bore is octagonal within right and measures 0,451" across the "lands" and in turn 0,483" across its shoulders. The little iīve fired the gun thus far has been with a simple LEE 450/405 assisted by a slightly oversize 45 cal greased wad,and this seems to seal the bore up nicely behind said bullet (AFAIK thus far at least).
That said i guess you can grasp that the playing rules in this case are a little different,which is why i want to ask you guys advice.
Seeing the octagonal bore (which is in A ok shape btw) thereīs no real rifling to "jump" et al which i guess is why iīve gotten away with using full soft lead bullets (HBN approx 2 or so),but that of course hasnīt stopped me from thinking what if..
I PRESUME that the full soft bullet expands somewhat but also assume that the actual final sealing is by that there said greased slightly oversize felt wad.?
Cartridge is thus indexed as well. A small tab at the rim and cutout of said rim of cartridge makes for the flame channel lining up with whatīs sent from the percussion cap.
The whole contraption works rather well.
In turn iīve spent a bit of time setting plunger movement,why as of current plunger movement comes in at less than 1mm. You can barely close the lid/bolt and lockup upon firing is about instant. Ie;cartridge basically doesnīt move at all,all things considered.
For the purpose of ruling MY errors out as best as i can iīve for now equipped the thing with a rather high power scope. This will be replaced with a more purpose and era correct Lyman,Litschert..whatever..down the road. One thing a time though.
As is i can sure see what iīm doing.
I havenīt gotten to fire all that many rounds through the thing yet,seeing the development work invested in making this in effect a 45-90 gun,but the few i have have shown great promise.
The two there were shots No 3 and No4 on my behalf,and then at 100 meters.
Said starline brass.
70 grains of Wasag 3F
Over shot card (12mm piece of milk carton)
A 36cal dry 1/8" felt wad (to create distance to..)
A "45 cal" greased wad.
459/405 LEE boolit. Full soft. Completely stock mold.
So in essence what you see there is the first ever load i just dreamed up,and the rifle seems to take to it.
Now.
What i wonder is if itīs likely iīll see any performance difference from going up in HBN? Thinking along the lines of 10 or so.
In turn iīll certainly dry other molds as well,the Lyman postell included,and wonder what to expect from that? In short,how "poor" performing would you expect that full soft LEE to be in this case?
Of course any other ideas,tips and trix to aid this endeavour of mine is certainly welcome too. Speaking of which,as i mention above,i just bough Whitworth serial C832 too and as iīve had my heart set on that for quite a while weīve already CNC machined a swaging/press die to make them hexagonal boolits.
Then again,the Whitworth is a front stuffer while this Monkey tail is certainly not. Ergo,many claim good results with the Lyman PH mold when talking "volunteer" rifles but then again..them are normally of conventional rifling,one way or another,no matter if Metford,Henry,Gibs et al while the Whitworth is not.