Experiences with a snider carbine??

[sportee]

Been thinking of picking one up lately...whoes got experience with accuracy?

Ive found a few cadet carbines and although not the real thing they do look nice and are a h*ll of a lot cheaper!

I suppose for a 300-400 gun it wouldnt hurt it to re-chamber to something easier to load (and more accurate) either...45-70, 44-40, 38-40 maybe...

Although I have read that with 24 ga hulls re-loading can be extremely simple.

 

[mooncoon]

Ive found a few cadet carbines and although not the real thing they do look nice and are a h*ll of a lot cheaper!

I suppose for a 300-400 gun it wouldnt hurt it to re-chamber to something easier to load (and more accurate) either...45-70, 44-40, 38-40 maybe.

Rechambering for those calibers also means sleeving the barrel or rebarreling. The Snider action is not a particularly strong action so of the above options, I think 45-70 would be out as being too powerful for the action.

I have never had an awful lot of luck with getting accuracy out of a snider but I also think the problem is choosing a bullet with the correct thickness of skirt or alternately using paper patched bullets.

cheers mooncoon

 

[copilot001]

Don,t mess with a perfectly good snider....you want a 45/70 ...get a new or used one.
Sniders and martini,s are from another age and era, meant to be fired using black powder and apreciated for what they are.
Not choped to bits by Bubba.

 

[sportee]

Don,t mess with a perfectly good snider....you want a 45/70 ...get a new or used one.
Sniders and martini,s are from another age and era, meant to be fired using black powder and apreciated for what they are.
Not choped to bits by Bubba.

Easy now,

Im not wanting to bubba a good snider. (most of you guys know me better than that)Ive been collecting antiques for some time and know far better than to do something like that. If I pick up a decent one...then thats the way it stays. The re-lining idea would be applied to a rebuild project. Basically take a piece of junk and build something out of it. Im not going to wreck a perfectly good snider.

Those cadet carbines...would stay as they were made. Dont worry.

If it bothers you i'll remove the re-chambering comment. I just wanted to ask folks what kind of accuracy their getting from thier sniders...

 

[Dantforth]

I get some degree of accuracy with all of my Sniders. The key is to wait for one with strong sharp rifling. The tricks are most surrounding the diameter of the round ball or conical that you choose. Round ball shoots best at .590" with conicals of that diameter shooting best as well. Long rifles with the slower twist like round ball best. Short rifles and Cavalry Carbines have the faster twist barrels at 1:48" and do shoot conicals as well as round ball very well. Brass is available now from many sources unless you are in Canada when it becomes very tricky to try to import any reloading components from the USA. 24 guage brass works after cutting to length. Black powder is a safe way to go. Some do use specialized smokeless propellants or duplex loads with some smokeless on the bottom and BP on top. Cuts down in the fouling and cleaning but not suggested for new loaders....you are better to stick to BP at first.. If you are serious and get the components you can PM me for what help I can give. Dave in Westport