577 Snider and smokless

[Buckshot]

...............I knew I had a couple articles someplace about Sniders and that one had some smokless data. Sure enough, so I used the lightest one. It was 20.0grs of Unique under a 480gr Minie' sized .590". I substituted a .600" 305gr roundball. Under the ball was a 1/8" thick lube wad and under that a .080" cardwad. This was all in a previously fired Jamison case with a large pistol primer. It went swimmingly:drinks: A sharp smokless 'BANG!".

I'd driven out to the sticks where we used to live and fired it into a gopher mound on a hillside. The RB was cast of WW alloy and when dug out of the ground it was pretty flat and had obviously shed some lead, but was still as big around as a quarter. So that afternoon I loaded up another with the same load but used one of the Mag-Tech cases I'd converted to use a 209 primer. Same deal. A sharp bang and a big splash of mud (we had rain overnight). I wasn't wanting to dig into the wet dirt after the slug, and the main thing was to see what'd happen. Cases and primers looked just like regular. I'll try it with a 480gr Minie' next.

................Buckshot

[Mooseman]

sounds interesting Buckshot...any Idea of what pressure that is generating ?
Rich

[dano440]

I have a friend of mine that got one of these old 577 Snider's we took it out and shot it about a year ago, nothing like shooting a piece of history. he is using a magtech case and black powder not sure of bullet weight but it sounds like a cannon.

[chrispy]

I am keen to follow this thread, as I have three sniders. And an alternative to BP would be handy.

Chrispy

[Buckshot]

..............I don't have any idea of the pressure. However neither the large pistol primer in the Jamison case, nor the 209 in the Mag-Tech showed any undue stress. In fact the 209 showed less then what you see in 12ga field loads. I looked for some 24ga shotshell load data as a reference without much luck. I did find out that 28 guage loads of 1 oz (437grs) are available. This suggests to me (assuming here) that payloads of that weight or greater should be available in the 24 guage. Of course the 24 guage shotshell is 2.5" in length so a direct 'Book Load' translation to a 2.00" length .577 Snider would need some adjusting, assuming similar weight payloads for the indicated pressure.

..................Buckshot

[Mooseman]

Looking in my Lyman cast handbook That load of Unique and Boolit weights are close to loads for the .458 Win Mag. which uses 292gr.,385gr.,482gr. and 552gr. Cast boolits and from 16.0 to 23.0 gr of Unique .
Velocities listed ran from 1200 to ~1600 fps.
This makes me wonder how it relates to pressure in the shorter, fatter Snider case.
No C.U.P. was listed in my handbook.

Rich

[Chicken Thief]

I set the ball a little deeper to compensate for grease and here is a WAG from QL:

http://i295.photobucket.com/albums/mm153/Chickenthief/Skydning/Til%20andre/577snider.jpg

[Buckshot]

I set the ball a little deeper to compensate for grease and here is a WAG from QL:

.................The Quickload is showing Bullseye? I used Unique, but I appreciate you showing that. I'd think Unique might show a 'bit' lower pressure. The article was old and the guy used an Avtron chronograph ('Break the screen' type clock I think) and a 480gr .590" Minie'. The 20.0gr load was supposed to give ~ 1200 fps. I'd have to check but I believe his max was 26.0 grs.

I'll have to get 10 rounds loaded up in each type case and get to the range to put'em on paper and shot them over the PACT.

................Buckshot

[Chicken Thief]

I think i just flunked my intelligense test:oops:

http://i295.photobucket.com/albums/mm153/Chickenthief/Skydning/Til%20andre/577snider2.jpg

[Buckshot]

I think i just flunked my intelligense test:oops:

http://i295.photobucket.com/albums/mm153/Chickenthief/Skydning/Til%20andre/577snider2.jpg

................If you're human I believe you're allowed to make a mistake from time to time. At least I hope so or I'm in deep Kimchi :-) An estimated 10K pressure? Sounds reasonable as I mentioned I didn't note any stress, distress, or the usual indicators of undue pressure.

.................Buckshot

[303Guy]

About the Snider - they made double barrel pistols in that calibre for back-up when hunting tigers in India from elephant back. I recall reading that the muzzle velocity was around 1400fps. The figures shown seem to indicate that was actually possible!? Know anything about that?

[Chicken Thief]

In them days the fuel was BP so i doubt that from a Howda. Usually they are no more than 6-8" in barrel length.
I think it vould be possible to tinker up a smokeless load, but man oh man the recoil! 480gr at 1400fps in a 2½-3lb handgun.

[Buckshot]

About the Snider - they made double barrel pistols in that calibre for back-up when hunting tigers in India from elephant back. I recall reading that the muzzle velocity was around 1400fps. The figures shown seem to indicate that was actually possible!? Know anything about that?

..............Well in a Snider RIFLE you can get a 305gr .600" round ball up around 1600 fps. I don't think a Howdah PISTOL is gonna get much of anything up to 1400 fps with BP.

..............Buckshot

[303Guy]

I wonder whether it was 1400 ftlbs from the pistol? Someone may have built one and was stoking it up a bit. I seem to think it was a 400gr boolit doing 1400 fps though??

Anyway, it sounds like a fun cartridge in a rifle.