Nepalese Snider Fun

[jugulater]

This isnt my first "Nepal Cache" Gun, that honor goes to a IMA "cleaned and Complete" Mk.IV Martini Henry That is awesome and im still waiting to get brass for so i can shoot it, But this is my first "Untouched" gun. And holy Cow they really Meant Untouched! This thing was absolutely filthy! so after a day of getting it at least clean enough to be allowed in the House i feel pretty good about my buy.

The Good: I got a 99% complete Nepalese Made Snider with a clean bore that is mechanically sound, with a Bayonet!

The Bad: The Stock is ugly and has multiple minor bits of damage and a rather large broken bit behind the rear barrel band, and the rear sight is broken.

all and all the stock issues are no big deal, and the sight can be replaced if i suddenly decide i need to shoot past 100 Yards.
Tomorrow ill take a swing at cleaning it up some more and slug the barrel, Hopefully ill be shooting this Ugly thing soon!

Speaking of shooting it any advice on what kind of Boolits i should use is greatly appreciated. Ive read that .600 Round balls shoot well in most Sniders, but ive also read that some sniders have a different twist rate that really requires a conical boolit.

223467

Here's the snider hanging out with my Mk.IV ( with a 1912 Chilean Mauser and a 1888 Commission as well)

[curator]

Jugulator,

Nepaleze Sniders can be fun or frustrating. They were made with the special "Enfield" rifling that has grooves deeper at the breech and tapering towards the muzzle. Getting a conical to shoot well in one of them is a combination of luck and skill. I have had the best success using .600 round balls and cut-down 24 gauge all-brass shot shells. Buffalo Arms is a good source for these shells that I believe are made in Brazil. The best source for answers to your questions is the "British Militaria" website: https://www.tapatalk.com/groups/britishmilitariaforums/snider-enfield-forum-f2/?sid=0db36ebd4bf7a072b0ef775e8a8ce394

[Tatume]

Very cool. I've always wanted to try one.

[jugulater]

I had no clue about the rifling depth being tapered, that sure makes it complicated.

i can understand the frustration, im sure theres huge amounts of variation in these old guns.

ive been having some real issues getting 24 Gauge shells to make 577-450 Shells, so ill probably just get some of the expensive purpose made .577 snider brass for this project.

And yes its been a really cool experience But it is not for the faint of Heart! its a serious project cleaning these things up.

[justashooter]

satisfying to make one of these boom. i have been shooting an egyptian re-build with the plastic fiocchi and 600 rb over 50 grains of 2F and beeswax/olive oil lube. the idea of .535 saboted in standard 24 gauge shotcups also worked well.

[jugulater]

Its funny you posted that today because i just finished loading up some test rounds for this snider. i have cleaned it up a lot more and found that it is double unit marked! i would post a nice picture of it all pretty but im too lazy to tonight.

my test rounds are 60Grn of 2F with the Lee .600 RoundBall.

if its anything like shooting the Martini Henry it will be loads of Fun.

[ndnchf]

Not quite the same, but quite similar. My Remington rolling block in .58 Roberts. Its a hoot to shoot!

[jugulater]

I did end up getting around to testing the Snider and the good news is that it didn't explode! i wasnt worried about it anyways.

ive seen the .58 Roberts before, and the idea is very similar. the Snider was designed by an American.

i Have a Rolling Block in 50-70 Gov't, and its a real fun one to shoot. Just about any Rolling Block is fun to shoot!

on a side note Roundball loads for the Snider are surprisingly pleasant to shoot, and quite accurate.

[curator]

Jugulator,

Reloading Unlimited has 24 gauge brass shot shells on sale right now. Link: https://reloadingunlimited.com/product-category/reloading-components/brass/shotshell-brass/

[yulzari]

The best deal on Snider loading bits is xringservices.yahoo.com who make cases to Snider size and moulds for bullets. Exceedingly good service and value. I use none other (and no I have connection to xringservices).

[Steppenwolf]

I couldn't agree more, Martyn is a great guy to deal with.

The best deal on Snider loading bits is xringservices.yahoo.com who make cases to Snider size and moulds for bullets. Exceedingly good service and value. I use none other (and no I have connection to xringservices).

My Nepalese Snider 224082 224083

[jugulater]

i worked out the brass situation and have been shooting my Martini and my Snider. but ill snap up all the extra brass i can get!

Steppenwolf Does that 3 band Snider have a 5 Groove barrel? i thought the "Infantry" rifles like that all had 3 Groove barrels like mine. Either way thats a nice Snider!

[Steppenwolf]

It has a 6 groove rifling.

[jugulater]

id heard of these guns having a lot of variations, including some that had different rifling. absolutely fascinating.

[jugulater]

well Today was Range day for me and the wife and we took both the Snider and the Mk.IV and put 20 rounds through both. First off This is my first time using SPG boolit lube and i had no clue what to expect, but i was absolutely shocked at how soft the BP fouling was. i was wiping every 5 shots with each gun and one wipe seemed to be more that enough. once i got home both guns cleaned up fast, nothing like im used to with BP.

Ok, on to the Snider, First of all i did end up milling a loose Tangent (The Ladder Bit of the rear sight) from what i think was a Spanish rolling block to fit the snider so i was happy to find that windage was spot on, but it was shooting 4ft high, easy fix. adjusting for shooting high i was able to put 80% of my shots on a 8" gong at 100 yards, a great result for my first time out, and more than i expected from the gun. The load i used was 60Grn of FFG with Corn Meal as a Filler topped off with a .600 RoundBall, the loaded rounds were dipped in SPG. Recoil was mild and it was a fun gun to shoot.

As for the Mk.IV, i got the gun in great condition so i had no doubts about its abilities, and it performed as expected, with it putting rounds on the gong consistently with a 6:00 hold.
i used a "carbine" load of 70Grns with a 6Grn ball of Dacron to fill the case to the neck, the Boolits were cast from a CBE mould that drops them at a dead .469, and lubed with SPG. Recoil was still a bit on the stiff side even with the 70Grn Carbine load.

All in All it was a Good day. The Martini was a bit too stiff for the wife to want to shoot much, but the Snider was easy on her.

I had taken a bunch of awesome pictures but they wont load from my PC for some reason, ill try from my phone later.

[Steppenwolf]

well Today was Range day for me and the wife and we took both the Snider and the Mk.IV and put 20 rounds through both. First off This is my first time using SPG boolit lube and i had no clue what to expect, but i was absolutely shocked at how soft the BP fouling was. i was wiping every 5 shots with each gun and one wipe seemed to be more that enough. once i got home both guns cleaned up fast, nothing like im used to with BP.

Ok, on to the Snider, First of all i did end up milling a loose Tangent (The Ladder Bit of the rear sight) from what i think was a Spanish rolling block to fit the snider so i was happy to find that windage was spot on, but it was shooting 4ft high, easy fix. adjusting for shooting high i was able to put 80% of my shots on a 8" gong at 100 yards, a great result for my first time out, and more than i expected from the gun. The load i used was 60Grn of FFG with Corn Meal as a Filler topped off with a .600 RoundBall, the loaded rounds were dipped in SPG. Recoil was mild and it was a fun gun to shoot.

As for the Mk.IV, i got the gun in great condition so i had no doubts about its abilities, and it performed as expected, with it putting rounds on the gong consistently with a 6:00 hold.
i used a "carbine" load of 70Grns with a 6Grn ball of Dacron to fill the case to the neck, the Boolits were cast from a CBE mould that drops them at a dead .469, and lubed with SPG. Recoil was still a bit on the stiff side even with the 70Grn Carbine load.

All in All it was a Good day. The Martini was a bit too stiff for the wife to want to shoot much, but the Snider was easy on her.

I had taken a bunch of awesome pictures but they wont load from my PC for some reason, ill try from my phone later.

Sounds like a fun day. Can't wait to see the photos.

[jugulater]

i gave up on the Photos, file size might be too big, although i managed to get a couple on my post at the British Military Forums, so ill link that for ya.

https://www.tapatalk.com/groups/britishmilitariaforums/questions-on-loading-the-577-450-t23564.html