Snider Enfield MK III Cavalry Carbine

[The Goose]

I just acquired this and wanted to share it. It is a Snider Enfield MK III Cavalry Carbine .577. It has all the war department markings and is British made, but was sold out of service to the Portuguese. My understanding is that the ring behind the trigger guard is distinctly Portuguese as well as some of the serialized markings. It was made in 1870. The bore is quite good with the exception of a 1/2" rough spot about 5" in from the barrel crown. I have been slowly working on it and it is gradually getting better. I have certainly shot a lot worse. I pulled everything apart and cleaned all the old grease and crud out of the lock and the breech mechanism. I used some of Kramer's antique cleaner to get the grunge off of the stock, but keep the finish in place followed by some wax once clean. There is some really nice figure in the wood. I have 3 other Sniders and shoot them quite a bit. The round shown is made from 24 guage shotgun brass. The bullet is from an Accurate mold and is pure lead. It falls from the mold at .594 and weighs about 500 grains. It is over 70 grs of Goex Cartridge with some shredded cotton ball for filler, a .025 card wad, an SPG grease cookie another wad and the boolit hand lubed with SPG. My Enfields seem to really like this boolit. My Nepalese Snider does better with a .600 boolit (also from an Accurate mold). Now it is off to the range to see how she does.

[Gunor]

What are you doing for dies?

[The Goose]

I use Lee dies initially, but they do not expand the brass enough for my boolits. So I fire form the brass. The Enfields seem to be interchangeable once fire formed, but the Nepales is different. I initially use a .577 Minie to fire form the brass.

What are you doing for dies?

[Mk42gunner]

Gee that looks like fun.

I have kind of wanted a Snider ever since I saw one in Australia.

Robert

[JeffinNZ]

Gee that looks like fun.

I have kind of wanted a Snider ever since I saw one in Australia.

Robert

Be careful what you wise for. Those lil carbines leap around a bit when you light them up. LOL.

[Gunor]

I got a Synder and Martini from the Lend Lease program in Afghanistan.

Got 24 ga. brass formed to 577/450 and have plastic 24 ga cases for the 577.

.600 balls are a little tight in the chamber and so I bought .595 - haven't tried them yet....

Geoff in Oregon

[Mk42gunner]

Be careful what you wise for. Those lil carbines leap around a bit when you light them up. LOL.

I imagine they do. The one I actually handled had a bit longer barrel, not sure just how long it was; it has been about a month and a half shy of twenty five years.

Robert

[Bad Ass Wallace]

I am just in the middle of a project to rebarrel a Martini to 577 Snider with a new Walther barrel. Loaded as a BPCR the case will hold 92gns FFG behind a 615gn projectile!

[The Goose]

Yowza!! I love it.

[dragon424]

New to the Snider and enjoying shooting my 3 banded Mk II. I have a Mk III cavalry carbine coming this week and I wonder if it will chamber the same cartridge and powder load ? Does it require a reduced powder load and is the cartridge case the same length ( 2 inches) as the long and short rifles?

[Wilderness]

My grandfather was at boarding school about 1890. The school cadet unit was armed with Snider carbines. Pop said when they went to the range they wore every piece of clothing they owned on account of the recoil.

[john.k]

My grandfather also had a Snider story from school cadets.....aged 8 ,he got his finger stuck in the barrel,and the school was going to amputate the finger .....his mother was told of the plan,and went up to the school and tore strips off the principal.....he also used to tell of a school outing to watch the river during the great 1893 flood .....houses were washed down the river with people still in them ,and smashed on the rocky outcrop where the Storey Bridge was built in the 1930s.

[NEKVT]

New to the Snider and enjoying shooting my 3 banded Mk II. I have a Mk III cavalry carbine coming this week and I wonder if it will chamber the same cartridge and powder load ? Does it require a reduced powder load and is the cartridge case the same length ( 2 inches) as the long and short rifles?

I believe all versions of the rifle take the same cartridge and load level the only difference being barrel lengths and twist with the Long Rifle at 1 in 78" and the Short Rifle and two Carbine versions at 1 in 48". I had a short relationship with an 1867 Long Rifle Musket. A neighbor up at my cabin inherited it from his father and when he showed it to me I asked if he was going to clean it up. It was dirty, covered with rust, all brass had oxidized to black, and the breech block was frozen half open. He wasn't going to so I asked if he wanted me to work on it for him. He handed it over along with the only two brass cartridges he had which were headstamped D*C. Co. and had cardboard crimped heads filled with shot to test if it got to that point. It took a month of soaking to free up the breech block and in the meantime I got it cleaned up and then test shot it with the two cartridges.











The owner is not a reloader so to assist him with shooting it without tracking down ammo I made a breech plug out of a case to allow him to load patched .570 RB's. I drilled out the case to accept a 209 primer and then inserted a 1" section of a .223 Rem case bottomed out in it held in place with two brass washers ground and filed to size with a washer positioned at each end of the .223 section. The space in between the washers was filled with JB Weld. A length of steel rod threaded on the end and a .45 ACP case attached with small nuts and epoxy served as a ramrod. It fit under the barrel in the cleaning rod slot. Back to the range and fired three shots offhand at 50yds and these grouped nicely on the target - a reasonable alternative to the real deal.

These are the prototype pieces of the breech plug. The purpose of the insert is to take up capacity to allow a light charge without a space between the powder and RB.

[Gewehr-Guy]

I was thinking of doing something similar too that with a .577 case, to reduce powder capacity. I have rolled a strip of heavy paper around a pencil, and inserted it in the bottom of the case, but had to remove it before washing cases. Have thought of pouring lead into the case, and drilling out a smaller powder chamber, but your method using the case and epoxy might be easier. Thanks for the pictures, that old Enfield cleaned up nicely.

[john.k]

If you put anything in the case ,you need to check after every shot that the piece is still there ,and not half way down the bore.

[NEKVT]

The design above is epoxied in place at the bottom of the case. It becomes an intergral part of the case. The 223 case section is a channel from the primer to the main charge which sits above the insert with a small portion of it in the channel. It is not going up the barrel.