451 volunteer rifle

[heelerau]

Gents,
today shot my Volunteer off the bench at 100m. Had one misfire first shot, second cap got it away. I put 10 rounds down range and basically shot a 7 ring group. I used the new .451 wads cut with my new rotary wad punch. greased felt wad over powder, card wad on top, then wipe. Guess following the instructions was a good idea !!! I am a bit slow. The last few shots were all in the 9 ring. Still 73 grs of Goex FFg, I did not wiegh the projectiles, just eyeballed them. Next go round I will weigh them into groups of 1/2 grs variation. The point of todays excersize was to get the rifle fireing reliably. Now I can start to work on group size. The last 4shots were all 9 ring, so feel that may be promising
cheers
Gordon


.451 8th Feb 2015

[heelerau]

either will work. I use the 457121 & 451114 in my PH Volunteer sized to .450" along with a few other styles. Does your rifle have Rigby or Henry rifling?

Gentlemen, have just got back from the range. Shot the .451 using this time 80 grains of FFg Goex, beer coaster wad over powder, wet wipe, dry wipe, same bullet, thumb seat, using the 5 to 1 volume beeswax to lard. Scored 93 at 100m off the bench. Very bright day, had to aim off at 60clock as don't have enough adjustment so some stringing. Had no miss fires for the 13 rounds, best 10 to count. The last 5 shots were all in the 10 ring, either at 3 or 9 oclock. Club captain said he had not seen a Volunteer shoot so well. Anyways that is enough skiting from me. The trick seems to be the cleaning, but I have now fitted the rifle with a ramrod and shot with this in place. A mate brought some of the same bullet as mine, with a lube mix of synthetic oil and beeswax, with some 70 grain charges of FFg Wano. I shot a 5 shot group on another target and shot a 9 ring group, this rifle seems to be quite forgiving?. I did not notice any more recoil with the increase from73 to 80 grains, and have found her very comfortable to shoot. Next time I will have a go at the 200m target. I suspect the bullet that I am using as the ogive is not bore size may fail at the much longer ranges of 300m plus and may look a the postal bullet. [image][/image] [image]http://[/image]

[PAT303]

What club did you shoot at?. Pat

[heelerau]

Perth Muzzleloading Club, was for many years with the Adelaide Black Powder boys before coming west in '90.

[PAT303]

Well I'll have to come up and we can have a volunteer shoot off,you've met Doctor Leo then,top bloke. Pat

[heelerau]

Pat, you are on, 50cents a shot, 10 best winner take all !!!

cheers

gordon

[Zouave 58]

A quick comment about the lined nipple; if the issue is erosion causing an eventual shift in point of impact due to variation in ignition, then beryllium nipples might be a cheaper solution as they are both rust proof and highly resistant to erosion. They do have a tendency to batter over time and in some rifles with small powder chambers in the bolster the ignition channel needs to be widened and the bottom of the venturi counterbored. I've used them without modification in standard civil war muskets but they must be modified for either a 1841 Mississippi rifle or a Remington Zouave. Just a thought...

[Silfield]

I have been using beryllium nipples in my Volunteer for a few years now and they tend to last a very long time. Last time I brought a couple they were about £9 each.

[heelerau]

I bought a Platinum lined nipple from the US, for about $60 US. I have a beryllium nipple on a little leman rifle which I have had for 35yrs, admittedly I don't shoot it hell of a lot.

[heelerau]

Gents, have now got a set of Lyman Mod 17 inserts from Lee Shaver, have fitted one of the posts, I note it is a little taller than the one that came with the rifle, so hopefully will have a more sensible sight picture at 100m. It has been suggested that I should try one of the front sight apertures, will have the set with me at the range so will give that a try as well. We are shooting out to two hundred meters on Sunday. Zouave, I have been thinking about opening up the vent directly below the nipple. Just a tad. I am unable to remove the vent screw in the bolster at this stage. I give it a good blast with the air compressor when cleaning, and have a sharp piano wire nipple prick as I do have the odd misfire when firing the first few shots.

[heelerau]

Gentlemen, Happy New Year , trust you all had a Merry Christmas as well.
Yesterday, I took the Volunteer back to the range after a hiatus of several months. 85 grains Goex FFg, this time a waxed felt wad over powder, beer coaster wad on top, wipe with a dampened flannel patch via a proper fitted ribbed brass jag, which allowed the bore to be cleaned to the top of the wad. I lowered the rear sight a couple of turns and brought the group pretty well central. It took me two adjustments hence the 3 shots in the white at about 1'oclock. It was a hot bright still morning. 13 shots, 10 to score at 70. Range 200m. I could lower the rear sight another 1/4 turn and that should bring it completely central.
A mate from the Canada's is sending me some postal bullets both in pure lead and 20/1 lead tin. I suspect this bullet should perform much better than my current one which has a long unsupported ogive.

Cheers

Gordon...

[dromia]

In my experience the orignal PH Volunteers have to be the easiest muzzle loading rifles to load and shoot for, just drop in the powder, an overpowder wad, drop down a soft alloy Lyman 451114PH sized to 0.451" lubed with any BP lube mixture and it will shoot well.


This is a typical 100 yard group from my 3 band volunteer, the rifle will do better but is handicapped by my diminishing shooting ability and eye sight and I am handicapped by the open sights.

[Bad Ass Wallace]

Mine is an early model with square Rigby rifling. As others have said the easiest m/z to tune for and get really good accuracy. Just a few things that make me curious, I cast my boolits from 1:40 and shoot as cast even though the rifle came with a push through sizer. The bullet mould that came with it casts .451 x 506gns with 3 generous grease grooves and I just finger lube with SPG.

I clean after each shot and use a 36" brass drop tube to place the 85gns Wano 2P into the chamber area. This proceedure has reduced group sizes from 4-5MOA to 2.5MOA

I see on your bookshelf an interest in "Zulu". (My uniform is a repro of 1st Moreton Regiment with Queensland Artillary had badge!)

[heelerau]

Mate, could you please post a photo of your bullet? ZULU, a great film, I remember watching it whilst holding my own Martini Enfield in 577/450 !

Cheers

[dromia]

I use a drop tube too, to get the powder into the patent breech, I also run a barely damp patch down when seating the wad followed by a dry patch just to keep bore condition consistent. I size the bullet to 0.451 but only to lube the bullet, if I dip lube them as cast they shoot just as well, the sized and lubed bullets are just cleaner at the muzzle and easier to load, they just drop down the barrel.

I find the Volunteers very forgiving rifles and shoot well out to medium distances with little preparation, longer distances require more effort in being consistent and I batch weigh my bullets for anything over 600 yrds.

A Rigby rifled example is all I need to complete my Parker Hale muzzle loading collection.

I've had many Parker Hales through my hands over the years and have finally settled on these examples for my shooting collection. They are all original British made PHs.


From left to right: .577" 1861 Carbine, .577" 1858 Naval two band, .577" 1853 three band, .451" Henry rifled Volunteer two band, .451" Henry rifled Volunteer three band, .451" Whitworth hexagonal rifling.

[Ballistics in Scotland]

Tatume, I reckon Buffalo Arms seem to have the correct platinum lined nipples, 5/16 x 18 thread listed, I will double check before ordering them. They are pretty dear, guess platinum is real expensive.
Cheers
heelerau

It is indeed, although one could be made with platinum tubing from a jeweler's supplier at considerably less cost than sothime I have seen. Personally I would use stainless steel, which the Track of the Wolf website tells us are hardened 416, a cutlery steel. Some others may not be. They don't look at all glitzy, especially after a little use. They are available in the musket thread to use No11 taps, and this would be my choice. I don't believe there would be anything wrong with the ignition, and I think there would be less chance of the pressure lifting the hammer and causing faster erosion of the nipple.

Nipple threads are usually a very close fit, to exclude fouling and rust, so it is preferable to get the right one. It is possible to adjust a nipple thread pitch slightly by screwing in the wrong nipple until it sticks, tapping it until it shifts the threads, and then repeating the process until it is screwed in all the way. But 1.25mm. and 18tpi seems a it much for that, and this isn't a desperate case.

Nipple taps are available, but I would only use one of these if it was going to remove all of the old thread.

[heelerau]

Mate I did get a platinum lined nipple from Buff Arms, and seems to be lasting fine.

[Nobade]

Impressive gun collection you have there!

-Nobade

[dromia]

Impressive gun collection you have there!

-Nobade

Thank you.

[OhioBeekeeper]

I love my Volunteer. I shot a doe with it during Ohio's Deer Muzzleloader season a couple weeks ago using 85 grains of Graff FFFg, a card wad, and a 540 grain bullet originally cast for use in the Gibbs Rifle. Not much of a challenge though at around 30 yards.