New life for the Ol girl

[deckerhead]

A while back I was talking on here with some fellas about my old rifles (1859 Snider and 1873 Martini Enfields). General consensus always seem to be ammo. One of the guys "Budman" sent me lathe drawings on 577 inserts......so off I went paper in hand to my sons shop (he's a machinist)......and a 12 pack later we were done the 22 insert for the old Snider. He suggested we start off small....lol. Now I might play with different calibers ? but quite happy shooting 22s. I have put about 60 rounds down her so far and it works flawlessly. \

 

[rgbai]

I just made one up in .44 (black powder of course)I'm planning on doing 2 more one in 45 and one in 22

first I cut up some shafting with my little hacksaw


this is the first one i made in .44 the outside is a bit rough i was trying to rush it because it was cold i was going to finish it later but it fit good in the chamber so i left it the way it was.

 

[deckerhead]

I just made one up in .44 (black powder of course)I'm planning on doing 2 more one in 45 and one in 22

first I cut up some shafting with my little hacksaw


this is the first one i made in .44 the outside is a bit rough but it fits good in the chamber

You might find the walls too thin once you carve all that meat out of it ?.....my fear is it will get hot and expand then have to beat out. Just my 2cents...... keep us posted.

 

[antiqueguy]

if you have a lathe why not take some 3/4" od tubing cut it about 1" long machine it to the cartridge dimensions on the outside and then ream it out to fit a belted magnum case or for the snider a .303 or 7.62x54r(brass) case could work. anneal the brass case load it fill the rest of the space with cream of wheat and cap it with wax firing it will expand the brass out it may take more then one firing to make it work

 

[NorthCoastBigBore]

if you have a lathe why not take some 3/4" od tubing cut it about 1" long machine it to the cartridge dimensions on the outside and then ream it out to fit a belted magnum case or for the snider a .303 or 7.62x54r(brass) case could work. anneal the brass case load it fill the rest of the space with cream of wheat and cap it with wax firing it will expand the brass out it may take more then one firing to make it work

Yup or if you are fortunate enough to find a take off barrel in the caliber you want (actually plenty of .303 barrels around) then you can make an insert as long as the action will allow for (which I admit is very limited in a Snider but not sure about the Martini)

(this one's still in progress but you get the idea)

 

[deckerhead]

All good input.......but this was our first try at it and its fast cheap and works great ! Not sure what phase 2 will be yet.

 

[deckerhead]

All good input.......but this was our first try at it and its fast cheap and works great ! Not sure what phase 2 will be yet.

Also keep in mind the Snider has a hand pulled ejector and this seems to work good so far.......might be a different story with a falling block ?

 

[mooncoon]

if you have a lathe why not take some 3/4" od tubing cut it about 1" long machine it to the cartridge dimensions on the outside and then ream it out to fit a belted magnum case or for the snider a .303 or 7.62x54r(brass) case could work. anneal the brass case load it fill the rest of the space with cream of wheat and cap it with wax firing it will expand the brass out it may take more then one firing to make it work

One thing you do have to consider in what calibers you adapt to, is the diameter of the firing pin. Most older guns, Sniders included use a fairly large diameter firing pin. For low pressure cartridges that is not a problem. High pressure rounds however present a problem and the primer can potentially rupture, spitting hot gasses down the firing pin channel. That is the reason that those guns which are rechambered to modern high pressure rounds, have the firing pin hole bushed and use a much smaller diameter firing pin. The issue is not the thrust on the breach but the pressure in the chamber whether it be a 22 hornet or a .303.

thrust on the breach is a second issue to consider in choice of cartridge. The Snider is not a particularly strong action, in my opinion, and I would be very reluctant to chamber one in anything but a relatively low pressure handgun cartridge (or a 22 rimfire)

cheers mooncoon

 

[NorthCoastBigBore]

Yes I understand this ^^ has been a problem with shotgun adapters in some actions with large firing pin tips.

 

[deckerhead]

One thing you do have to consider in what calibers you adapt to, is the diameter of the firing pin. Most older guns, Sniders included use a fairly large diameter firing pin. For low pressure cartridges that is not a problem. High pressure rounds however present a problem and the primer can potentially rupture, spitting hot gasses down the firing pin channel. That is the reason that those guns which are rechambered to modern high pressure rounds, have the firing pin hole bushed and use a much smaller diameter firing pin. The issue is not the thrust on the breach but the pressure in the chamber whether it be a 22 hornet or a .303.

thrust on the breach is a second issue to consider in choice of cartridge. The Snider is not a particularly strong action, in my opinion, and I would be very reluctant to chamber one in anything but a relatively low pressure handgun cartridge (or a 22 rimfire)

cheers mooncoon

Agreed.....it shoots surprisingly good with a 22 (at short distances) and is safe to shoot all day. We were plinking cans and found the sweet spot to line up the insert so it shoots somewhat consistent .

 

[antiqueguy]

One thing you do have to consider in what calibers you adapt to, is the diameter of the firing pin. Most older guns, Sniders included use a fairly large diameter firing pin. For low pressure cartridges that is not a problem. High pressure rounds however present a problem and the primer can potentially rupture, spitting hot gasses down the firing pin channel. That is the reason that those guns which are rechambered to modern high pressure rounds, have the firing pin hole bushed and use a much smaller diameter firing pin. The issue is not the thrust on the breach but the pressure in the chamber whether it be a 22 hornet or a .303.

thrust on the breach is a second issue to consider in choice of cartridge. The Snider is not a particularly strong action, in my opinion, and I would be very reluctant to chamber one in anything but a relatively low pressure handgun cartridge (or a 22 rimfire)

cheers mooncoon

im not adapting these adapters/bases are to make case from smaller caliber brass the base only go's a inch into the chamber the rest is made up of the case used for the snider it could be something shorter like .303 but for the .577-450 you need something a bit longer

 

[antiqueguy]

Yup or if you are fortunate enough to find a take off barrel in the caliber you want (actually plenty of .303 barrels around) then you can make an insert as long as the action will allow for (which I admit is very limited in a Snider but not sure about the Martini)

(this one's still in progress but you get the idea)

you can adapt full length if there a chamber plug that the barrel threads into like the morris tubes

 

[deckerhead]

im not adapting these adapters/bases are to make case from smaller caliber brass the base only go's a inch into the chamber the rest is made up of the case used for the snider it could be something shorter like .303 but for the .577-450 you need something a bit longer

I'm not following ? sounds dangerous ......wouldn't the smaller case just expand in the chamber ?

 

[antiqueguy]

I'm not following ? sounds dangerous ......wouldn't the smaller case just expand in the chamber ?

look at the pic above

 

[rgbai]

One thing you do have to consider in what calibers you adapt to, is the diameter of the firing pin. Most older guns, Sniders included use a fairly large diameter firing pin. For low pressure cartridges that is not a problem. High pressure rounds however present a problem and the primer can potentially rupture, spitting hot gasses down the firing pin channel. That is the reason that those guns which are rechambered to modern high pressure rounds, have the firing pin hole bushed and use a much smaller diameter firing pin. The issue is not the thrust on the breach but the pressure in the chamber whether it be a 22 hornet or a .303.

thrust on the breach is a second issue to consider in choice of cartridge. The Snider is not a particularly strong action, in my opinion, and I would be very reluctant to chamber one in anything but a relatively low pressure handgun cartridge (or a 22 rimfire)

cheers mooncoon

I never thought of that maybe .22 and .32 pistol rounds might be a better options.

 

[deckerhead]

I never thought of that maybe .22 and .32 pistol rounds might be a better options.

I also own a few of the old Stevens in 32rim and 25rim and have been collecting ammo for a few years now. I think I will try it in both.

 

[antiqueguy]

I also own a few of the old Stevens in 32rim and 25rim and have been collecting ammo for a few years now. I think I will try it in both.

might work better with a .22 hornet trimmed and sized to fit a .25 cal bullet load it with 3f bp you can make a full length tube this way instead of a adapter

 

[deckerhead]

might work better with a .22 hornet trimmed and sized to fit a .25 cal bullet load it with 3f bp you can make a full length tube this way instead of a adapter

Tooooooo much work.....lol

 

[antiqueguy]

Tooooooo much work.....lol

yeah well its better then rings in the barrel

 

[rgbai]

One thing i noticed was how close a 1911 barrel was to fitting without needing much machining at all for the snider this one is from my 12-6 commander pistol the barrel fits inside the snider barrel,not that i would use it for that.