577 load
- Thread starter Hillbilly
- Start date
.577 what?
Army load for the .577 Snider started off as a 530-grain bullet ahead of 65 gains of RFG Number 2 gunpowder. This later changed to a little, lightweight 480-grain bullet with 60 or 65 grains of powder.
If you are shooting a Snider-Enfield rifle (muzzleloader converted to breechloading; dates usually are pre-1867 on the lockplate...... unless it has been changed), you should be aware that these have soft brown-iron barrels. The STEEL barrel (which is marked prominently as such, beside the Proof marks) only came in with the Mark III Snider rifle, which also had the locking-piece on the breechblock; these usually date 1867 through 1872. With the later Snider rifles specially, you can use an oversize bullet around .584", lube heavily, reduce your powder a bit and shoot like that. Sniders often make poor gopher-guns because of questionable accuracy; this comes from the Minie-type undersize bulet: a muzzle-loading solution to a breech-loading problem. Best accuracy will be with the oversized bullet, but do drop the charge just a bit.
For an Enfield muzzleloader, you will need the Minie bullet. Lee makes moulds for these in .575" and .578": 25 bucks retail and they work well. Sixty or 65 grains of FFg should do the trick.
I have had ZERO luck casting the "modern" ribbed bullet for these, although the so-called flat-nose "Modern Minie" casts very well although 500 grains.
For the .577 Nitro, friend, you need help from the "Elephants and Dinosaurs" forum! The loads here will do very well in the old black-powder rifles; they certainly did in enough Fenians, Fuzzy-Wuzzies, Pathans, Afghanis and lawful residents of Saskatchewan in the '85 rebellion, not to mention taking almost any game that was bigger than the bullet.
Have fun!
.
Army load for the .577 Snider started off as a 530-grain bullet ahead of 65 gains of RFG Number 2 gunpowder. This later changed to a little, lightweight 480-grain bullet with 60 or 65 grains of powder.
If you are shooting a Snider-Enfield rifle (muzzleloader converted to breechloading; dates usually are pre-1867 on the lockplate...... unless it has been changed), you should be aware that these have soft brown-iron barrels. The STEEL barrel (which is marked prominently as such, beside the Proof marks) only came in with the Mark III Snider rifle, which also had the locking-piece on the breechblock; these usually date 1867 through 1872. With the later Snider rifles specially, you can use an oversize bullet around .584", lube heavily, reduce your powder a bit and shoot like that. Sniders often make poor gopher-guns because of questionable accuracy; this comes from the Minie-type undersize bulet: a muzzle-loading solution to a breech-loading problem. Best accuracy will be with the oversized bullet, but do drop the charge just a bit.
For an Enfield muzzleloader, you will need the Minie bullet. Lee makes moulds for these in .575" and .578": 25 bucks retail and they work well. Sixty or 65 grains of FFg should do the trick.
I have had ZERO luck casting the "modern" ribbed bullet for these, although the so-called flat-nose "Modern Minie" casts very well although 500 grains.
For the .577 Nitro, friend, you need help from the "Elephants and Dinosaurs" forum! The loads here will do very well in the old black-powder rifles; they certainly did in enough Fenians, Fuzzy-Wuzzies, Pathans, Afghanis and lawful residents of Saskatchewan in the '85 rebellion, not to mention taking almost any game that was bigger than the bullet.
Have fun!
.
tactical870
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
- Location
- Buckhorn, Ontario
Pm me if you need loading tips. Dantforth on here helped me a lot when I started to shoot my sniders. They are capable of decent accuracy, but I load .590 round balls in front of 60 gr FFG. Most .577 diameter stuff keyholes in my guns (and most others).
I use .590" round balls and bullets. These catch the rifling, which is usually worn and shallow, and do a very good job. I load FG black powder at 60 grains for plinking and targets out to 100 yards and a 24 guage card wad or two over that with the ball or bullet on top. Usually the ball is seated low enough to put a good dollup of lube over the top, even with the top of the case. I adjust load depth by using more or fewer card wads. Wads are ordered from "Circle Fly Wads" and I think a thousand are about $9.00. Much easier and handier than trying to cut your own from cardboard. I have had "some" luck with the original mini bullet at .577" by filling the base with lube. I can't explain why this works better than minis with the hollow base left clear, but it does. Hillbilly, if you and others here would add where you live it would make life easier for those of us who could help if you were close by! Dies are available for this cartridge but are not completely necessary. Good luck. Dave
577
I was shooting the 577 saturday.... I noticed a huge difference in over my 45-70 with black powder. I do enjoy my 45-70 but there is something about the snider that just is damn fun to shoot.
I was firing BP and modern loads through my H&R buffalo classic I noticed the BP rounds were 6 inches higher on target at 50 meters. At 100 it still made the gong swing
I am trying to decide which one to make my BPMC shooter. The 45-70 seems more accurate
I was shooting the 577 saturday.... I noticed a huge difference in over my 45-70 with black powder. I do enjoy my 45-70 but there is something about the snider that just is damn fun to shoot.
I was firing BP and modern loads through my H&R buffalo classic I noticed the BP rounds were 6 inches higher on target at 50 meters. At 100 it still made the gong swing
I am trying to decide which one to make my BPMC shooter. The 45-70 seems more accurate
