Shooting Buck’s Snider

[Newtire]

It’ll be close to 2-years now since I last saw Buck at our Winnemucca get together. The only gun he had to shoot at the board shoot was his old Snider .577. He was on our side and I remember how each shot took a big chunk out of the board. Just after his last shot, Cindy knocked it over by shooting the top. We won!

Not too long after that, we got the news that Buck had passed away. Boy, just like that! The guys on the board got together and made an inventory of his shooting stuff, agreed on some prices and put it up for sale at gun shows thru Don (Obbssd1958) primarily.

Since I live close, I went over to Don’s & had a look. I bought a few items but nothing too spectacular until the other day at our weekly coffee meeting. I have been hoarding my shekels to the point where I saw my way clear to buy the old Snider. It came with some dies & a box of other essentials along with some black powder loads.

Went to the range yesterday & set up a target at 50 yds. to see where it hit. After the smoke cleared, I saw a big white mark where the red dot used to be in the target. The next two hit within 2” of that. The boolit was an Accurate Arms 59-430B and I’ll have to get the load pulled to see what amount of holy black he used. The next shot was at the 100 yd. steel hanging plate. I remember the last time at Winnemucca, him saying “Just aim at the top of that plate.” I did and hit it twice. Yesterday was a repeat of my Winnemucca experience. That big old slug really makes those plates dance.

So Buck, wherever you are, I hope you’re happy and that you’re setting at some ethereal bench showing some British soldier from bygone days how to shoot and load for a Snider. I promise to take good care of your gun while I’m here.

[Bad Ass Wallace]

Always many historical events flash through ya mind when shooting a snider!

[Stephen Cohen]

I saw 3 Snider's last week at a mates place, 2 were the typical loose rattle traps I am used to seeing and one, Oh my god what a one, it was tight and showed no sign of wear and the barrel was pristine. I just hope that I get a chance to shoot it if it goes to the range. No it is not for sale sadly. Regards Stephen

[obssd1958]

A picture of the rifle - but it doesn't do it justice. It's a beautiful piece!

[toot]

I have one and I like to shoot it. thanks for the post.

[John in PA]

Just to clarify the bullet mold you are using, Accurate Molds makes a 58-450B, that's the closest I could find to 59-430B (Of course Tom would cut it larger upon request and would probably mark it "59-xxx" if the final diameter was closer to .59 than .58) Does the bullet look like this?

[Newtire]

Just to clarify the bullet mold you are using, Accurate Molds makes a 58-450B, that's the closest I could find to 59-430B (Of course Tom would cut it larger upon request and would probably mark it "59-xxx" if the final diameter was closer to .59 than .58) Does the bullet look like this?

Like that but 2-grooves and .600 from pure lead. It's shown in their online catalog. It says "Snider" under the illustration.

[DonHowe]

My 2 band MkIII is "shooter grade" and would definitely be in the "rattle trap" category. With a .600" RB over charges of 70 grains and less of 2f BP it does ok. Minute of chicken at 100yds.
The 5 groove bore comes out at. 595" best I can measure it. I use Magtech brass hulls, first formed with a Lee sizer die. Later I had a neck sizer made to size the mouths to .595".
I first fired the Snider with Lyman minies paper patched up to .590". The attrocious "accuracy" with .575"-.577" minies is, I suspect, about what the Snider was capable of in it's day with service ammunition. Might have been a bit better with the Pritchet bullet it was fired with in service.

Anyway, Snider are WAY cool!

[Dave T]

I went to my local FFL (pawn shop) to pick of my latest BP cartridge revolver and they showed me a Snider they got in. I'm not into British military arms so I didn't know much about it other than having seen pictures. It looked to be in reasonable shape. Anyone in the Phoenix, AZ area who's interested send me a PM and I'll tell you what pawn shop it is.

Dave

[Gewehr-Guy]

Buckshot, do you use some kind of filler between the powder and wads, or do the wads fit tight enough that they don't fall down on the powder and create an air space ? I need to try a round ball load, as my attempt with a .578 HB bullet didn't do well.

[Buckshot]

Buckshot, do you use some kind of filler between the powder and wads, or do the wads fit tight enough that they don't fall down on the powder and create an air space ? I need to try a round ball load, as my attempt with a .578 HB bullet didn't do well.

..........I dumped 24.0grs of Unique into the case, dumped in enough cornmeal to bring it up to 1/4" of the case mouth. Added a couple .600" OD wads punched from tablet backer (or posterboard). Seated the RB and then ran the case up into the seater die, adjusting a few times to get the ball height correct, then crimped (in the same die). As you'd probably guess but I'll add, the correct seating depth would be half the balls' OD/width.

I never did shoot it using BP, but I cannot see why that wouldn't also work as well. Just smokey and probably a foot of orange flame at the muzzle

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

[Buckshot]

..............I tried to post photo's, but unknown to me at the time, Fototime is down, and may not be back up again. I can't find any info on what's happening with it.

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