.577 Snider load

[onerifle]

I have some .577 snider ammo and it has a 500 gr cast bullet in a Jameison case and 20 gr Unique with Kapok filler . Is that a safe load to shoot from the 1860's rifle ?

thanks

[pworley1]

That sounds like too much unique to me. You rifle can probably take it, but why shoot a load that heavy. A modern 20 gauge shotgun shell only takes about 16g of unique. The 577 snider is about the same as a 24 gauge.

[fg-machine]

in theory with the 577 you should be safe up to about 24 grains of unique , that however is just a theory .
in practice i would start at around 13-14 grains of unique if i just had to use it , 14 grains should put the velocity around 1000-1100 fps .
i think 20 grains is a bit high for a starting load , start low and work up if you must .
i would be more inclined to stick with slightly slower powders myself

i know there are a lot of folks who shoot smokeless in sniders , but i prefer to stay with good old black powder , lets remember that most of those old sniders was already quite old and going obsolete when they was converted from muskets 150 years ago .

[Blackwater]

I'm with fg on this. A couple of friends have, or have had Sniders, and they're just not all that strong. Take a long, hard look at it, and how it locks up, the thickness of the metals, and remember too that those metals were smelted long before metalurgy was anywhere near as good as it is today. IF I shot one at all, and I just might, it would ONLY be done with real black powder. NO smokeless for me. They burn quite differently, and there's a REASON we're very well advised not to use it in some applications. Nitro for black loads are for old guns originally intended for black, that were pretty much state of the art when they were built. The Sniders were NEVER anywhere near that status, and were "make do" guns that often went to folks whose lives weren't nearly as valued as we'd nowadays like to think. People STILL have "accidents" shooting those old guns, even sometimes with the original black powder, but before I pulled the trigger on one, with EITHER powder, I'd have it checked out by someone with the stuff to do it with, and be SURE it didn't have any cracks that my eyes hadn't seen, and stuff like that. But of course, that's just me. A lot of people get away with doing things that I once did, but would never do any more. FWIW?

[elk hunter]

My current and best so far load is 20 grains of Trail Boss behind a 515 grain .585 bullet patched to .594 with three wraps of 9 pound 100% cotton content "onion skin" paper.