577 Snider anyone?

[BCall]

I bought this mold off of Lee's clearance aisle some time ago. I assume it was a left over from a group buy or some individuals custom mold. I can only assume it is for a snider. Diameter .590 to .591 with pure lead. Weighs 468-470 grains. I don't even have a snider , YET. Anyone got an opinion on how they think it will work?

The nose has kind of a funny hump on it. Hard to see in the pics, but I assume it was cut incorrectly as it isn't a smooth transition. But for a cheap mold, I thought I'd hang onto it until I get my hands on a snider. I was just casting some unused molds I had today and thought I'd give it a try.

http://i258.photobucket.com/albums/hh259/blcall/SN852364_zps0e77e8a8.jpg

[Ed in North Texas]

It should work for many Sniders. I don't think I've ever heard of someone who had a Snider that was even really close to .577 (not that such an animal doesn't exist, it might - but the odds are against it). A .590 was a favored boolit dimension on the Snider forum, so I'd say you are probably good to go (and for a whole lot less than I paid for a .590).

Ed

[DxieLandMan]

Those are some nice boolets. I haven't weighed the bullets my snider but the guy I buy from shows his diameter at .585-.595 and bullet weight at 577 grains.

[chrispy]

I have the CBE version, called a 'collar button' due to the deep lube groove. They shoot well in my three band snider. Both light and heavy loads work equally well. I have run a lube wad under, a waxed card wad under, and nothing under. No difference, just fill the lube groove and off you go.

Chrispy

[Buckshot]

http://www.fototime.com/9B5EE227877DA5E/standard.jpghttp://www.fototime.com/35572699B1D8361/standard.jpg

...........Best group I've EVER fired with my MkII* Snider carbine. Group 1.875". 24.0grs Unique, .60" Lee RB cast of WW alloy over .080" cardwad and lube disc. 1475 fps. That's match grade compared to what I'd got with various Minie' bullets and BP :-) Brass was Jamison 577 Snider. I also have a 3 band but haven't tried it with this load.

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

[BruceB]

Sure wish this info had been available many years ago, when I owned a Snider in Canada.

A friend of mine happened to be the local "ident" man for the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. He looked over the Snider one evening, and asked if he could borrow it for a few days. When he brought it back, he reported that the rifle had human blood caked around both the lockplate and the buttplate.

Also, my dentist identified two deep dents in the top of the butt as the imprints of some poor soul's incisor teeth.... in hard walnut!

Somewhere, some time, THAT particular rifle had been in a desperate action.

[curator]

Since the original Sniders used muzzle loading musket barrels, a larger bullet than .577 (land diameter) should be expected. Keep in mind that the original barrels had grooves that were purposely deeper at the breech and got more shallow approaching the muzzle, and .600 seems about right. I am waiting for some 24 gauge brass to make into Snider cases for my new (to me) Nepalise MkIII 3-bander. I have .600 round balls and .585 Minnie bullets.

[halbautomatisch]

Some good info here...... I just picked up a Snider recently and need to get some ammo together. What do you guys use for a powder? Real black? Smokeless?

[Ed in North Texas]

BP for me. Obviously Buckshot has a good Unique load.

[LeftyDon]

I'm restoring a inherited Snider that's been used as a lamp for 50+ years. (don't ask) Hope to finish it off over the winter if my pending knee replacement does slow me down.

[Buckshot]

...........Actually a Snider is a quite a bit of fun to shoot even if you can't hit anything you're deliberately aiming at! :-) Such was the instance with my first Snider, which was a full military 3 band. I had one old Kynoch 577-450 case which my buddy said he'd take home and turn into a Snider case if I could supply the required length. The next Tuesday he had the single case completed. Said he had to drag out all manner of Nazi war doctor stuff, including some front end suspension tools to gittermade. I had a few decks of the correct size RWS Berdan primers, a can of GOEX 2Fg and a bunch of some Minie boolits (forget which design now).

The ho-made 577 Snider case DID chamber, but the Minie bullet wasn't held in the case, and unless you held it "Boolit Up" the Minie would fall out. So to load the rifle you had to hold the muzzle straight up so you could load the cartridge without losing the slug. I merely filled the case up with powder and set the Minie' on top and then gingerly fed it into the chamber and closed the breechblock. I perched my left butt cheek on the edge of the bench, aimed at the 100 yard berm, and pulled the trigger. The hammer fell and just went 'Clack!' I eared it back for another go. This time it DID go off and just about rolled me over backwards off my perch! Me, my buddy and a few other guys had a hilariously fun time shooting it. The only thing we managed to hit (regardless what we aimed at) was the ground ................ eventually.

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

[David todd]

I bought this mold off of Lee's clearance aisle some time ago. I assume it was a left over from a group buy or some individuals custom mold. I can only assume it is for a snider. Diameter .590 to .591 with pure lead. Weighs 468-470 grains. I don't even have a snider , YET. Anyone got an opinion on how they think it will work?

The nose has kind of a funny hump on it. Hard to see in the pics, but I assume it was cut incorrectly as it isn't a smooth transition. But for a cheap mold, I thought I'd hang onto it until I get my hands on a snider. I was just casting some unused molds I had today and thought I'd give it a try.

http://i258.photobucket.com/albums/hh259/blcall/SN852364_zps0e77e8a8.jpg
That mold you have was designed by Kerry Jenkinson of B.C. from what i have been told.
In my old 3 band snider using 72 grains of Pyrodex, a filler to the top of the case of rolled oats , beeswax wad and greased bullet out of that mold, it would hold 1.5MOA easy - easy enough to hit the 200 meter chickens 3 4 out if five times from the bench!
David

[swamp]

That looks like the one I got from a mold maker out here in Colo.
swamp

[pworley1]

They look like the lyman 577213 that I use, except it is not a Minie'. It should work very well.

[muskeg13]

In my old 3 band snider using 72 grains of Pyrodex, a filler to the top of the case of rolled oats

Rolled oats as a filler?! I should have thought of that. Due to a ringed chamber with polyester batting, I'm pretty shy about using any fillers. I have tried COW, cornmeal and grits on occasion, but worried about the density/weight spiking pressures. Rolled oats would take up space, but still be less dense than some of the other "natural" fillers.

[David todd]

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v104/catnthehat/snider%20rifles/sniderjan152_zps056c074b.jpg (http://smg.photobucket.com/user/catnthehat/media/snider%20rifles/sniderjan152_zps056c074b.jpg.html)
Here is a group that I shot a few weeks back with 75 grains of FFG and the rolled oats filler.
The group was two strings of 3 shots each, and the gun fouled bad on the last shots.
four however, were very acceptable.
Using 24 grains of Trail Boss however, in the cold weather yesterday ( -17c) we cronographed loads in my carbine with an extreme spread between 1,200 and 1,170FPS, with very good accuracy.
I have identified a problem with both mine and my friend's chambers, in that the cases need to be cut at 1.77 minimum as both chambers will not open up the crimp properly otherwise.
Here is my best 100 yard group yesterday....
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v104/catnthehat/snider%20rifles/snidergroup100yard2_zps7a84caf3.jpg (http://smg.photobucket.com/user/catnthehat/media/snider%20rifles/snidergroup100yard2_zps7a84caf3.jpg.html)
We had issues with consistent accuracy and i believe the longer cases are the problem.
David

[shredder]

I always wanted a .577 on a Martini action. It can be such a handloading challange. I bet those big boolits hit with a tremendous slap!

[David todd]

We were ready for war yesterday!!LOL!
The recoil is quite mild but very authoritative when they hit the gong or backboard!
David
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v104/catnthehat/snider%20rifles/sniderammoloaded_zpsfce86b85.jpg (http://smg.photobucket.com/user/catnthehat/media/snider%20rifles/sniderammoloaded_zpsfce86b85.jpg.html)