First, some changes in your lead bullet casting technique may be required when casting the long, heavy .40 or .45 caliber bullets as compared to casting round balls. You may need a larger capacity lead pot, and the temperature of the lead may need to be higher. You must hold the lead dipper to the sprue plate for a longer time to assure all air is vented from the mould and the mould is filled. To obtain good castings, the mould and lead must be maintained at a uniform temperature.
Archives
Shooting Pointers
Percussion caps and nipples for the long range muzzle loader. Plus, a brief note on the importance of record keeping, consistent support position and butt plate position.
Loading the Rifle
Shooters need to develop a consistent way of loading the rifle. Here Bill Roberts offers different ways of loading and considers their merits.
Loading Accessories
A few tips on accessories for long range muzzle loading: powder measures, drop tube, cleaning and loading rods, bore cleaning solutions.
Bullets & Wads
Bullets used are either groove-lubricated or paper patched lead or lead alloy projectiles. They may be cast and directly used, or if paper patched, may be cast as slugs and then put into a hammer or press swage for final shaping. A muzzle-loaded bullet of lesser diameter than the bore is susceptible to gas leakage when fired. To help assure that gas does not pass between the side of the bullet and the bore, a sealing wad is sometimes used.
A Beginner’s Perspective
The beginning long-range muzzle loader shooter will soon learn that the single most important element in obtaining accuracy is consistency. If everything is the same with every shot there is no reason that all rounds should not go through the same hole. Of course this is humanly, mechanically, and meteorologically impossible, but the shooter can try his or her best to achieve the ideal. The most successful marksmen can replicate shot-to-shot conditions very closely, and their scores are proof that consistency works.
‘Amateur Rifle Club’ Origins
The “Amateur Rifle Club,” of this City, has been organized to promote the introduction and use of the most improved rifles, and to encourage long-range practice without regard to any military organization. This body, composed of young men in business, will be subject to the laws governing the practice of the National Rifle Association, on whose grounds they will shoot next month on the opening day, when, it is thought, Gov. Dix and other prominent persons will be present.
Metford & Bullet Alloys
Some of William Metford’s letters to Sir Henry Halford survive and give a fascinating insight into the experimentation conducted by these gentlemen in the pursuit of accuracy. This short collection of extracts from their correspondence covers work with bullet alloys.
The Soper Rifle
The rifle invented by Mr. W. Soper, of Reading, was one of the number sent for the recent competition at Woolwich, and was rejected on the ground of “complication of breech arrangement.” In this rifle the breech-piece is formed of a block of steel, working freely up and down in a vertical slot at the rear of the barrel, and secured to a lever fixed at the bottom of the lock, which is placed in the center of the stock. The striker is mounted inside the breech-piece, and works easily without any spring. The cock is also secured to the breech lever in such a manner that the breech-piece and cock are worked simultaneously.
The Lee Magazine Rifle
England has lately adopted a small-bore – 0.303 inch calibre – modified Lee magazine rifle – a Lee with most of the strong points of the mechanism modified out – after making a long series of most amusing steps of development in order to reach the conclusion that this arm was suited to her needs.
The Soper Rifle Factory – In Liquidation
Mr. George Russell Butler has received instructions from the Trustee of Mr. William Soper’s Estate to Sell by Auction, at the above Factory (which adjoins the Great Western Railway Station at Reading), on Wednesday and Thursday, the 6th and 7th of July, 1881, at 11 for 12 o’clock punctually each day, and exceedingly valuable and complete Machinery, Special Tools, Stock in Trade and Effects, comprising the entire contents of the factory and of the retail shop in Friar-street.
The Snider Breech-Loader Rifle
At the present time when the “Snider question” is exciting so much interest and discussion, and when the Government factories are busily employed in turning out large numbers of what will, for some time, be the national weapon, we think a description of the Snider rifle and its ammunition will not prove uninteresting to our readers.