Some Questions about Antique Cartridge Rifles.

[trevj]

A fella that posts under the moniker of Beagle, over on Castboolits, says he's never had a mold design that didn't shoot better as a hollow point.

Might be along those lines, re: the wood plug. It would move the CG of the slug back a bit.

I have not worked myself up to hollow pointing a mold yet.

Cheers
Trev

 

[mooncoon]

Another unique feature of the originals was the nose of the bullet, it had a hollow point which appearers to be approximately 3/16 in diameter with a wood plug filling the cavity, apparently this was suppose to lighten the nose of the bullet and help with aerodynamic stability, .

My impression was that the hollow nose remained hollow but had lead rolled over to obscure the cavity. One reference said the base plug at one point was bees wax and clay but the two originals I dug up, it is the consistency of brick.

I think the critical things for me was the thicker skirt and the flat base at the top of the cavity and filling the cavity with bees wax/bear grease lube and compressing the powder ahead of time. It also probably does not hurt to increase the bullet diameter as well.

cheers mooncoon

 

[zemnicky]

Yes sir, the brick part is the fired (baked) clay.
And as far as the nose is concerned, yes some were rolled over and some had a wood plug.
Do you have the booklet from Museum Restoration Service, it describes the Snider cartridge quite well.

Few years ago there was a article in Man At Arms where a fellow was experimenting with base plugs made from auto body filler, apparently he got respectfully results but my single active brain cell can't remember the details and I am too short of time to dig up the issue.
I think your idea of bullet diameter might help a lot, I worked with Lyman and Lee minies before I quit but I might resurrect the project with bullet diameter that will allow a thumb press fit in to a fired case. I tried paper patching the above bullets to increase the diameter but the results were same, disappointing.

 

[BUSHMAN79]

My impression was that the hollow nose remained hollow but had lead rolled over to obscure the cavity. One reference said the base plug at one point was bees wax and clay but the two originals I dug up, it is the consistency of brick.

I think the critical things for me was the thicker skirt and the flat base at the top of the cavity and filling the cavity with bees wax/bear grease lube and compressing the powder ahead of time. It also probably does not hurt to increase the bullet diameter as well.

cheers mooncoon

Seems to me boxwood plugs were used, as well. I don't like increasing the diameter too much in the Snider, since the rifling is deeper at the breech than at the muzzle. I noticed some time ago, that the bullets which I was able to recover were cracked through the skirts. Too thin. Switching to FG powder solved that, I guess because it's so much slower. I also fill the entire hollow base with beeswax. Makes a huge difference. 72gr. FG, a .38 S&W case full of cream of wheat, compress, then seat the bullet.

 

[H Wally]

modifying a 71/84 to single shotCan this be done?.

Have my eye on a bubba'd 71/84 that is affordable.

Yes, but it's a pretty heavy bubba job. To limit it to single shot it essentially has to have the magazine hole plugged and welded shut. I talked it over with the RCMP tech and he said threading a plug, or fitting a plug wouldn't be enough since it could be undone by hand. You would want to call and get a hard copy confirmation for yourself just to cover your butt though.

I would only consider doing this to a gun that's too buggered to be properly restored (IE shortened barrel, stock, and missing/broken magazine assembly).

 

[biggles]

hollow point Snider

The wood plug (& later hollow cavity), moved the mass of the bullet further out from the longtitudinal centre line & affected the spin rate to help stabilise it...at least that was what I understood when reading about the Snider bullet design a few months ago. Gyroscopic principles?

Peter (Burlington, Ontario)

My impression was that the hollow nose remained hollow but had lead rolled over to obscure the cavity. One reference said the base plug at one point was bees wax and clay but the two originals I dug up, it is the consistency of brick.

I think the critical things for me was the thicker skirt and the flat base at the top of the cavity and filling the cavity with bees wax/bear grease lube and compressing the powder ahead of time. It also probably does not hurt to increase the bullet diameter as well.

cheers mooncoon