Single Shot Rifles

Re3iever

Re3iever

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Newfoundland
Ran across a Youtube video a few months back of a guy shooting a Pedersoli copy of a Remington rolling block rifle. I had never seen anything like them before and I really like the idea of taking your time and squeezing off a single shot at a time. This guy was getting decent groupings at 600 yards. I started researching and found there are a lot of really nice single shot rifles out there and a variety of technologies including rolling block, falling block, break actions and bolt actions.

Initially I thought I would get a falling block or rolling block in .45-70 calibre but even the Italian replicas proved to be well outside my budget. In another forum several folks recommended the H&R 1871 Buffalo Classic in .45-70 and I was lucky enough to find one locally at a reasonable price. This is a break action single shot rifle with a 32" barrel and a Williams Rear Peep Sight (elevation/windage adjustable) with a Lyman 17A Front Globe Sight. I was also able to source a Smith Enterprises M95 Rear Ladder Sight second hand for about $70.00USD , which I will install later.

I've had the rifle for a few weeks now and have been waiting for the weather to break to get out to the range and last Saturday I got that chance. Now I haven't fired a rifle in 30+ years so I wasn't sure how it would go , I managed to get a set of Lee 45-70 loading dies cheap and bought some brass and cast bullets. I ended up loading 405g and 340g powder coated cast bullets over 13g of Trail Boss powder.

The distance was 50 yards , the target is 16" x 16". The order of the shots is numbered and which bullet is indicated by color i.e. blue circle = 405g, yellow circle = 340g and red circle is my first shot with 405g. The original POA for the first shot was centered on the large diamond at the center of the target indicated with pale blue star. You can see the first shot was approximate 5" low, the POA for all the of the follow on shots was manually adjusted accordingly. I am quite pleased and can't wait to get out to the range for a full day at 100 yards so I can start adjusting the rear sight to address issues with elevation.

I've attached links to pics of the gun, bullets and first target.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/nn6wrh5vxss4igw/20200227_144553.jpg?dl=0

https://www.dropbox.com/s/67u6nqo4gexd3dr/20200227_150055.jpg?dl=0

https://www.dropbox.com/s/5hjtt8k3uw5nhln/20200315_152054.jpg?dl=0

https://www.dropbox.com/s/tw3jalcu0umfzkf/20200315_151723.jpg?dl=0
 
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Cool, this rifle is one of the choices for long distance Cowboy Action shooters that are on a budget, nice to see someone work one over with some testing.

If you can post about your experiences with the Smith site I'd be interested in hearing about it. I was thinking about getting one for my Marlin Cowboy, but the photos available on the internet don't show the site picture well. I'm not a fan of rounded edges on iron sites, and from the look on the photos the sight is all rounded and semi buckhorn looking. Is that the case? How do you find the detent system on the site, is it fine enough to be use full at range?

Thanks!
 
American Single Shot Rifle Association
assra.com
Mostly older guys shooting old single shot (mostly falling blocks) rifles, cast bullets - and some get incredible accuracy with iron (aperture) sights.
 
Tudenom said:
Cool, this rifle is one of the choices for long distance Cowboy Action shooters that are on a budget, nice to see someone work one over with some testing.

If you can post about your experiences with the Smith site I'd be interested in hearing about it. I was thinking about getting one for my Marlin Cowboy, but the photos available on the internet don't show the site picture well. I'm not a fan of rounded edges on iron sites, and from the look on the photos the sight is all rounded and semi buckhorn looking. Is that the case? How do you find the detent system on the site, is it fine enough to be use full at range?

Thanks!
Click to expand...

Thanks Tudenom, I'm including links to pics of the Smith Ladder Sight I bought , I wouldn't call it buckhorn but you can decide for yourself - pics 2 and 4 should let you zoom in on the notch. The detent systems works well solid click with every move but still easy to slide and it has a set screw that will allow you to 'lock it in' once you have it set.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/atmbrfs0fj25xj0/SmithLadderSight1.jpg?dl=0

https://www.dropbox.com/s/w9xqeg1c4o0qj1y/SmithLadderSight2.jpeg?dl=0

https://www.dropbox.com/s/su05svrw1597ae6/SmithLadderSight3.jpeg?dl=0

https://www.dropbox.com/s/w6c1qo77idsbepc/SmithLadderSight4.jpeg?dl=0
 
Thanks for posting those photos, that site has a lot of elevation.

I bet if I didn’t like the site picture I could get in there with a small file and flatten the top of the U notch.

Another option might be sourcing one of the swedish rolling blocks that came into canada, they’re in peculiar chamberings but if you get into bullet casting then that’s not a problem.
 
Tudenom said:
Thanks for posting those photos, that site has a lot of elevation.

I bet if I didn’t like the site picture I could get in there with a small file and flatten the top of the U notch.

Another option might be sourcing one of the swedish rolling blocks that came into canada, they’re in peculiar chamberings but if you get into bullet casting then that’s not a problem.
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Tudemon, the Williams Rear Peep sight is said to only be good out to 300 yards, hence the acquisition of the Smith Ladder site as I would eventually like to get out to a 1000 yards. Local range has gong silhouettes at 100, 300, 500, 800 and 1000 yards.
 
Hey Retreever, feel free to send me a PM. I am pretty deep in the BPCR/single shot rifle game and would be more than happy to help out in any way I can!
 
Sharps45-70 said:
Hey Retreever, feel free to send me a PM. I am pretty deep in the BPCR/single shot rifle game and would be more than happy to help out in any way I can!
Click to expand...

Thanks, will definitely be in touch. Planning to hit the range today to zero the sights and try some new loads. I've loaded 5 rounds each of 15, 16, 17 and 18 grains of Trailboss powder under 405g powder coated bullet.
 
Re3iever said:
Thanks, will definitely be in touch. Planning to hit the range today to zero the sights and try some new loads. I've loaded 5 rounds each of 15, 16, 17 and 18 grains of Trailboss powder under 405g powder coated bullet.
Click to expand...

One of the great things about Canada is the sheer SIZE of the place.

All ranges here in Europe have been closed for the last week, and there is no telling when they'll re-open.

No groups of more than two people, and food stores are only letting people in one at a time - and I'm talking supermarkets here, not corner stores.

The whole thing is being taken very, very seriously, and now the PM AND the minister for Health have both got it....
 
tacfoley said:
One of the great things about Canada is the sheer SIZE of the place.

All ranges here in Europe have been closed for the last week, and there is no telling when they'll re-open.

No groups of more than two people, and food stores are only letting people in one at a time - and I'm talking supermarkets here, not corner stores.

The whole thing is being taken very, very seriously, and now the PM AND the minister for Health have both got it....
Click to expand...

All our indoor ranges are closed but outdoor ranges are still open with limitations. Temporary Rules to Comply with NB State of Emergency:

Members only, no guests

#Maximum 10 people permitted on property at a time, first come first serve.# Max. 5 people in rifle bay, 5 in pistol bay

#Minimum 2m between each person, no physical contact including sharing of sharing firearms or other gear

All members to maintain social distancing and must travel in separate vehicles

#Cough or sneeze into elbow or tissue and wash hands before and after visiting range
 
If you want to shoot long range you'll find advantage by switching to black powder believe it or not. It's about the only way you can get the velocity SD down low enough to get consistent vertical. If you want to shoot smokeless you should take a look at XMP-5744. Definitely think about a heavier, more efficient bullet. I imagine that rifle has a 1:20 twist which is not ideal, but will still work fine just as it did in the very old days. Look at something about 500gr. Stsrt by seating it out as far as it'll go. Buffalo Arms makes very good molds. They are the ones that are used by most people of the winners in the LR matches I've gone to.

I'm sure you'll have a lot of fun with that rifle. The .45-70 starts to get very interesting once you get to 500 yards or so as the winds have big effect :).

Chris.
 
gunlaker said:
If you want to shoot long range you'll find advantage by switching to black powder believe it or not. It's about the only way you can get the velocity SD down low enough to get consistent vertical. If you want to shoot smokeless you should take a look at XMP-5744. Definitely think about a heavier, more efficient bullet. I imagine that rifle has a 1:20 twist which is not ideal, but will still work fine just as it did in the very old days. Look at something about 500gr. Stsrt by seating it out as far as it'll go. Buffalo Arms makes very good molds. They are the ones that are used by most people of the winners in the LR matches I've gone to.

I'm sure you'll have a lot of fun with that rifle. The .45-70 starts to get very interesting once you get to 500 yards or so as the winds have big effect :).

Chris.
Click to expand...

Thanks Chris, that's actually my plan, I'm going to start with 55g Goex fffG (cuz that's what I have) , a wad and a bp lube bullet.

That said I did do some additional experiments with Trail Boss loads (15, 16, 17 and 18g) at the range today , will post pics and details later.

Roger
 
For single shot long range my buddy (ex Navy Seal who passed last year unfortunately) recommend getting a Musgrave action. Watched the EE for years after that and managed to find one with a custom stock and a 32" Krieger SS barrel in 7.62 NATO which the former owner had used to shoot full bore F Class competition at Bisley.

The only problem at shorter ranges is that on a good day the bullets almost all go into the same hole so one has to look closely to be sure that you hit the target ;-)

I miss my buddy and he and the former owner of this firearm are people who stood much taller than I ever will so the rifle is a cherished heirloom.
 
As I indicated in my post yesterday I was able to get out to the range for a couple of hours - first thing I did was to finish sighting in the rifle at 50 yards by adjusting the elevation of the Williams Rear Peep Sight. I fired (3) groups of 5 rounds ( .405g coated bullet over 12g of Trail Boss powder) - 1st Group I made no change to the sight and as expected per the last outing shooting about 6" low.

The second group I made a small adjustment which raised the grouping by an average of about 2 inches not a significant improvement but heading in the right direction. The 3rd group I moved the sight up to the last visible notch which raised that final group about 4" and gave me a nice group so success.

Check out a pic of the target at this link https://www.dropbox.com/s/2a3bc2cf5p6dlcc/20200329_090842_Groups.jpg?dl=0

Thanks, Retreever
 
I also did a 2nd exercise yesterday at the range. I calculated a max Trail Boss load of 19g (fits under the bullet without crushing the powder), I then loaded 4 sets of 5 rounds at 15, 16, 17 and 18 grains. I then moved my target butt back to the 75 yard mark and shot all 5 rounds for each load at a single target ( 4 targets) the results were very telling i.e. Trail Boss is not for shooting any great distance which I have to admit I kind of already knew. Check out the link to this pic to see the results. https://www.dropbox.com/s/55s85upaciiobuv/20200329_091121_1.jpg?dl=0
 
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