M?H question

[Beekeeper]

Has anyone here ever shot a 577/450 M?H in a match?
How did it perform?
Worth even trying?



Jim

[leadman]

I haven't shot one but have participated in 200 yard military cast boolit match where these were used in the big bore portion where they did well. If competing against the 1903 Springfields the Sprinfields will outshoot them normally.
I was shocked at the cost for brass for these!
I did not have a big bore to compete with and found a nice 1871 Mauser single shot bolt action that I bought. Brass was still pretty expensive.

[Beekeeper]

Leadman,
I have 2 of the 71/84 mausers.
I have shot them with smokeless and they shoot great.
A pretty good learning curve but not too bad.
Always wanted a 71 but haven't found one I can afford yet.
Brass is pretty expensive but at least it is available.
Thanks for the info on the M/H.
I have a Gahendra I have restored and am in the process of getting ready to shoot it.
May change the barrel out to a 43 Mauser barrel as I have a couple of good ones.
Have to wait and see.


Jim

[herbert buckland]

The MH is as acurate as any of the early BP rifles if loaded properly(this is not as straight forward as the 45-70 )I shoot it in cartridge BP compitions and jenrally do well but this has been from a lot of practice and load devoloment,lick all military rifles of the period the sights are a limiting factor, but it is one of my most yoused BP rifles

[The Double D]

Has anyone here ever shot a 577/450 M?H in a match?
How did it perform?
Worth even trying?



Jim

I have shoot the 577/450 in numerous times in Provincial shoots- 100 yards. I have worked with it beyond 100 yards....

After a lot of work and and testing I get some fair results.

I do not believe the 577/450 can be considered a competitive cartridge.

If you wanted to work with a Martini and a competitive British BP chambering go for .450 WR Musket #2.

Do not expect much from the Gahendra. If yours shoots well, then consider your self lucky and go with it.

The .43 Mauser might be a bit warm for the Gahendra action. The 43 Mauser is a 2800 bar cartridge. That is 40,600 psi. The 577/450 is 1750 bar/25,300 psi cartridge.

[skeettx]

They kick quite a bit and if you want to shoot light and accurate loads, you will need a .466 or so diameter bullet.

http://www.hunt101.com/data/500/medium/MVC-006S22.JPG

Will yours shoot this well?
If so, it could be a match gun

Big bullets
http://www.hunt101.com/data/500/medium/MVC-007S23.JPG

At my age, eye sight is becoming a factor, I have mounded scopes on my Rolling Blocks,
NO HOLE DRILLED, NO WOOD MESSED UP

Good luck
Mike

[The Double D]

Proper bullet size for the MH is .468. Some MK IV rifle prefer bullets .470 to .472.

Gahendra are a whole different animal and must be slugged to determine proper bore size. Sizes vary widely from rifle to rifle

[Bad Ass Wallace]

Ive shot mine in our local Service rifle competitions where the target is the same for all ranges - 6" bull 3" inner V
100yds offhand - 74.11 / 75
200yds sitting - 48.2 /50
300yds prone - 20/25

Total 141.13 / 150 a master grade score, left a lot of Mausers M17's and 6.5 Swedes redfaced that day:Fire:

My MH has a .361 bore and I shoot a .362 x 500gn over 80gn FFG

[The Double D]

.361?

[herbert buckland]

Has anyone here ever shot a 577/450 M?H in a match?
How did it perform?
Worth even trying?



JimIn what type of match are you refering to ,if the match is for BP military rifles the 577/450 MH is very competive loaded properly(not as strait fowards as other BP cartridges)IF you are talking about open BP events against match rifles it has no chance.Its main advantage these days is you can find a 577/450 MH in very good shooting condition for a lot less than other BP miltary rifles on the down side is the high cost of brass.As DD mentions the No 2 musket cartridge is probley the best military BP cartridge going but rifles chamberd for it are hard to come by,the 45/70 is allso hard to beat but original miltary rifles can be expencive,I have yoused the 577/450MH for some years now and genrally do well in matches against Miltary rifles of all kinds and hold my own against open compitition but I belive this is from practice + the confidence I have in the rifle

[Bad Ass Wallace]

.361?
I believe mine was refurbished possible for an officer. Barrel is marked "C G Bonehill, London" and is indeed .361.

[The Double D]

So it's not a 577/450?

[Buckshot]

http://www.fototime.com/7CD7CAD02940F78/standard.jpg

I have 2 rifles chambered 577-450. A MkIV (3rd from top, above) It has proven accurate, and my favorite plinking load for it is the Lee 405gr FNPB (as cast) and patched with 20# paper to give a .471"/.472" OD when dry. (BELOW)

http://www.fototime.com/0FDEA25C2215222/standard.jpg

You've probably seen this picture before. Under the above mentioned boolit I load 38.0grs of IMR 3031 with a dacron wad. Regular Win large rifle primers are used. The 60 rounds above were loaded to take to a NCBS a couple years ago. Velocity is right at 1250 fps. I also used the load for our club's 200 meter silhuette competition in their "Cowboy" catagory which didn't count for anything except for the fun of it. Any hit on the 200 meter ram would topple it. The best I ever shot was a 32 and it was with the Martini and this load.

http://www.fototime.com/9DC03C642E41F6B/standard.jpghttp://www.fototime.com/8C8714312BCD32C/standard.jpg

http://www.fototime.com/23A942A3998B584/standard.jpghttp://www.fototime.com/9109FBD2EB448DC/standard.jpg

This is the sporter. It has a 26" barrel of fairly heavy cross section as can be seen by the wall thickness in the muzzle shot. It has ratchet rifling of 20" twist. The action is by Greener. I don't know about the rear sight, meaning I don't know if it's authentic to the barrel. It looks like it is, but the ladder has no spring nor is there a place for one. So if you stand the ladder up and then happen to lower the muzzle, it falls down I don't know who made the barrel but it is liberally covered with criptic stamps and proofs. The guy I bought it from said it was made by Westley Richards, but I don't know how he figured that our or who might have told him.

http://www.fototime.com/75D942E2844D619/standard.jpg

I bought it from a friend for $125, and had to finish up the wood. In addition as it was the barrel didn't 'quite' clock to the action. I had to make a spacer to go between the barrel's shoulder and the face of the action. You can see it in the above photo. As well as I could figure it wanted the same .470(ish) slug as the MkIV.

http://www.fototime.com/B1B7E53F8AE2ECF/standard.jpghttp://www.fototime.com/36D423A1D578B61/standard.jpg

Left Photo On the left is a 505gr slug of .470/.471 OD bought as a group buy off the British and Militaria board http://britishmilitariaforums.yuku.com/ and to it's right is the Lee C458-500-F. Both were driven through the barrel from the muzzle end. Right Photo A bunch of those GB's cast up and one sitting in a case as it would be if loaded. Has a bit of a leade, eh?! The cases they were fired from were turned brass from the old Gaintwist Barrel company (Or Red Willow Armory, I forget). They weigh 337 grs as compared to the Jamison brass @ 353grs. HAven't weighed any of my Bertram cases.

The ID of a fired caseneck is .477", and the caseneck walls are .012" thick. The Jamison's approch .020" thick so I hope they'll chamber with this slug (fired 'as cast' @ .471").

TARGETS BELOW

[Buckshot]

http://www.fototime.com/1746A587F489BF0/standard.jpghttp://www.fototime.com/5F60F47125304C4/standard.jpg

In case you're wondering, yes there was supposed to be a 45.0 gr load. However the person (that would have been me) failed to put powder in them :-)

http://www.fototime.com/878978C4327FE50/standard.jpg

Regardless, I realized the 45.0 gr load wasn't needed as it was obvious with these 3 that as the load increased the groups materially tightend up. That 47.0 gr load would have been just under 1.5" without that flier. Of course God throws those fliers in there to keep the shooter from getting the big head :-) Maybe also to point up other things may also be going on too. I didn't chrono the loads but I do recall that when I cleaned the rifle there was no leading.

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

[martinibelgian]

I shoot mine regularly in BP military rifle matches - I've shot it out to 500yds. Last midrange comp I ended 2nd overall (300 and 500), but put in the best score at 500. This with a Martini with standard chamber configuration. Works fine when competing against similar military rifles of the era. Sights are a bit harder though, especially when compared to a Buffington. Still, we manage to at least hold our own :-)