Model 1876 50-95

[missionary5155]

Greetings
Photos in post #3
Took the 50-95 (Chaparrel) out yesterday morning for the first time. Has the 28" octagon barrel with nice colors on the receiver and other parts. This one is in the 198x's serial numbers and does not suffer from the early problems. Barrel interior is very consistent with a tight patch getting pushed through. No nasty machine marks that I can visibly see in the rifling. Fit is good but maybe not perfect. Nice looking wood that is solid on the frame. Rear sight is similar to the origonal ladder sight but they installed the slide keeper screw to the center of the ladder and it is in the sight plane. Front sight is a tall brass blade which is tall enough to keep even slow starter loads on a 8x11 sheet of paper.
All in all it was worth the sale price Roadrunner is selling them at. I went with the 28" as that is what my origonal 45-60 has so the weight was no surprize Plus I can always wack off some inches in the future. Balances nicely and is a joy to shoot sitting on my backside. Sounds like a 1876 as the action is cycled. This is no quiet up close hunting rifle on the reload just like the origonals.
Started with 24 grains of 5744 with a 515139 350 grainer made of 50/50 which weights 353. Loaded as cast with an average diameter of .516. In Jamison brass this diameter boolit chambers easily but is .001 over throat which is great. A medium crimp is in use. Action works nicely and no binding or sloppiness is found with this load and a COL of 2.25" .
That starter load of 24 grains 5744 is very mild as expected and grouped into a loose cloverleaf at 25 yards. Some unburnt powder was left in the barrel. Brass filled out nicely to seal the chamber and ejected easily. 5 minutes was given between shots to let barrel cool as temperature was 94 and climbing. A patch was run through the bore with each 5 shot group and no leading was found with any load.
25 grains was about the same. 26 grain group opened up on paper and recoil felt similar to the 45-60 with a 260 grainer. Slightly less unburned powder observed. 27 grains felt resonable on recoil and was about 1/2" tighter group nicely rounded at 2". Slightly less powder left in barrel. 28 grains was about how my 50-70 feels with a 450 grainer. A nice thud to the shoulder. Group was back to a small cluster that measures 1 1/8 inches. Less unburned powder in barrel.
That was the last load fired and will be my starting point next time out. 8 rounds at 50 yards. I plan to install a tang sight as I see this rifle has sufficient accuracy to go hunting. Also the trigger will get so attention.
Planning to try 28.5 grains of 5744 next time also and continue adding in half grain incriments. Would like to reach 1300 fps but first I want to fire several rounds with case full of 2F for comparrison. Only have 3F and 1F on hand right now. May also try the previous loads with COW on top and compressed to see about the unburned powder issue.
On a cooler day this rifle will be a fine companion walking about. That caliber .50 350 grainer will more than handle any critter slinking about eastern ILLinois. I hope to get a chance at one of the non-existent cougars. A 50-95 up close would be one fine cat contender. If I can ever find our camara I will get some photos attached... Camara found and photos at reply #3
Mike in ILL.

[sharps4590]

What a cool rifle and interesting cartridge. I thoroughly enjoyed reading your post and results, thanks! Be sure to post up your black powder results!!

[missionary5155]

Camara located an put to use.
In the second photo the cartrige in center is a .308 with RCBS 180 RFN for comparison. In the close up that is a tape measure sticking up at the dust cover to hold the rifle off the floor at a slight angle.

[ajjohns]

Can you say thumper!

[missionary5155]

Good afternoon
Had a few minutes to tinker and figured to run some "BP case full" loads to see what I can expect with the 350 grain boolit I have in these Jamisson cases.
With 3F I could shake, rattle, long tube, tap 79.5 grains into a case and still be able to cram a boolit into the case to meet the 2.26 COL. To removed powder I had to dig it out with a long thin tool. Powder was a near soild mass in the case.
With F only 76 grains could be crunched fitted. Powder was as a near solid chunch in the case.
No 2F is available to try but I would recon about halfway between the two weights or about 77.5 grains.
So next time out I will take a couple 3F loaded rounds to Crono using that as my velocity base line with this 350 grain boolit. Might as well load a few F BP loads to compare.
Mike in ILL.

[Bob Busetti]

Good afternoon
I have been playing with a 50/95 Chappy using the 350 gr. bullet. I shot mine as cast-.515. I have been using 35.0 4198 in the Jamisson cases. It clocks out at 1515 fps out of my 22" barrel. I have installed a Lyman globe front sight and a Marble rear sight. I needed the longer stem for the rear sight. Buffaloe Arms gave me alot of help with the sights. I tried 53.5 grs of Tripple seven. It gave 1420 fps and alot of smoke, but 4" groups. I am working on some loads with IMR 3031. I have used the Lee 450 gr bullet in the 50/95. It seens to shot ok. Its like shooting a 50/70 as the bullet is quite long, and needs to be seated deep. On a lark I had a machine shop mill the bottom driving band and grease groove off. It is seated deeper than the Lyman bullet and needs a case filler to keep the bullet in place. The new bullets weight 360 grs give or take a few grains.
When I got the gun it was a rough working action. So I took it apart and found a fair amount of metal chips from milling process. Also the sights were of poor quality. Now the gun works & shoots much better after the changes were made.
Bob in Co.

[bigted]

man i know better then to read these posts! tis all i need is another need in rifles...im bout convinced so keep it comin...the wife is gonna hurt me i bet!

[Idaho Sharpshooter]

They are absolutely neat rifles. The Centennial Rifle is a solid sort-of klunky, a lot like a Harley-Davidson.

I read somewhere, that a lot of 50-95's were sold to Winchester's London office, and many went to India Tiger hunting. A carbine would be very comforting about the time a Tiger came calling...

Congratulations on a really neat rifle.

Rich

[missionary5155]

Greetings
My first experiences with the 1876 is a 40-60 origonal I have dearly carried about for some years when up north here. Never have found anyway to to reload without all the clanks and clunks the system can make. The only semi-quiet solution is to carry the cartriges seperate and reload as a single shot not opening the lever to far so the carrier raises. The dust covers on many rifles were removed thus eliminating another rattle trap as they got loose on the frames.
But as far as having a repeater that would put a big hole numerous times into a mean critter the 50-95 would be hard to beat. Every round I load I admire the compact pachage and realise the deep, awful hole that soft 350 grain caliber .50 slug will make on contact.
Mike in ILL.

[alrighty]

Camara located an put to use.
In the second photo the cartrige in center is a .308 with RCBS 180 RFN for comparison. In the close up that is a tape measure sticking up at the dust cover to hold the rifle off the floor at a slight angle.

Thanks for the review and the pics , It looks like loads of fun.

[missionary5155]

Good afternoon
Some crono info on loads fired out of this rifle this morning. Temperature was about 75 -80. Crono set 8 feet from muzzle. Two loads were fired from a Interarms 45 Colt to verify crono function before 50-95 ammo was fired.

50-95 28" barrel Barrel swabbed with dry clean tight patch before firing.

79 grains 3F 515139 353 grains 50/50 1485 fps card wad over powder
76 grains F " " 1265 fps " "

25 grains 5744 with COW (same boolit) 1213 fps
26 grains " " 1258 fps
27 grains ' " 1303 fps
28 grains " " 1344 fps

Adding the COW eliminated most unburnt powder.
The real surprise was the 79 grain 3F load. That was the heaviest recoil I have had with this rifle. As krashnburn remarked " You can hunt any critter in North America with that load". I certainly would not hesitate to do so. There was very little fouling in the barrel and the followup cartriges chanbered with no extra effort. The 76 grain F load left much more fouling in the chamber area but did not restrict chambering follow up rounds. Both BP loads expanded the brass completely in the chamber and no blowback residue was noted. Possibly the F load would produce better velocity with Mag rifle primers. Today I wanted to eliminate all variables with this crono try today.
Mike in ILL.