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Posted: 2/21/2011 5:06:24 PM EDT
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Well, I just ordered an untouched .577 Snider from IMA:
http://www.ima-usa.com/deal-of-the-week/british-p-1864-snider-type-breech-loading-infantry-rifle-with-short-socket-bayonet-untouched.html Anyone else have experience with these? I know a lot of guys have cleaned them up & restored them and ended up with some nice shooters: 
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Looking at a gehendra myself....Might try to make it a shooter, but will likely be a wall hanger. I remember the prices when they came out..in 2003..I was like
now with the untouched guns selling for around 180-300$ range...I'm sold  Good luck with your new snider
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Thanks, I do plan to shoot this one assuming I get one with a good bore. I don't think I would shoot a Gahendra either, but I've thought about picking one up as a wall hanger also. I'm not planning on refinishing anything, I'll just clean it up and keep the natural patina. I don't know why, but to me the best part is that it comes with the bayonet. That just makes me grin...I can't wait to pull it out at a BPCR match with the bayonet fixed. If I can't hit that *#&$! chicken I'll stab him to death!
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| I have some I brought back from Afghanistan in 2008. They are a raging pain to reload for- finding a suitable bullet that shoots well without costing an arm and a leg finding cases- jamison are usually the best but have thicker rims than original and don't chamber in all guns, loading dies are cheapest from lee and work ok.black powder is the only way to go for propellant. I have mine shooting about 4 inches at 100 yards. |
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Well, I found a good deal on some used but like new Lee dies on evilbay. I already have black powder, so now I just need to slug the bore and figure out what size of mould to buy. I'm going to resize 24ga brass shotgun shells for my cases, so I need to buy some of those too. Oh, and buy a press that takes 1 1/4" dies. Those are some big freaking dies.
I cleaned the gunk out of my barrel and the bore looks like it's brand new. Assuming I find a bullet that works it should be a shooter. Now to get the gunk off the outside..... 4 MOA out of a gun like this is pretty good shooting. The sights are just horrible. I hope mine shoots that well. |
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I have 3 Martini Henry's from IMA, a Gahendra from atlanta cutlery and a Francotte from IMA. The British Martinis are top notch, the gahendra was handpicked by me at AC and the Francotte was a basket case from IMA.
I have a bunch of videos up on youtube of the guns, case forming and even a video where I machined a mold. Once you get your brass, you'll need a .468-.470 dia. bullet for the British guns at .480 gr. CBE makes a nice bullet mold also. For loading the Brit. guns, the standard load was 85 gr. of black powder by volume. I use 75 grains of pyrodex by volume now. Last year while shooting, I noticed that I I got a blown primer using 85 grains of pyrodex by volume. From what I've read, the pressure curve of pyrodex follows black powder up to 80 grains, after that the pressure rise is sharper. Maybe that explains why I got a blown primer. If you use pyrodex, remember to use a little vinegar in water to clean your brass. If you want to try to shoot the Gahendra, slug the bore they vary in size from .456-.459. To quote one online site, the locally made guns in nepal like the Francottes and Gahendras had a large number of failures while shooting. No wonder condidering the difference in bore sizes. The ammo was provided by the Brits. My user name on youtube is ginsboy2003 There are a lot of other videos here, hope you can see this page. http://www.youtube.com/my_videos?feature=mhum Here is my case forming video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rDRnSOrPbho |
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I've gotten a couple of Sniders from IMA. So far, I've shot one and have to wait until I return from deployment to shoot the other. http://britishmilitariaforums.yuku.com/topic/10549/New-IMA-Snider-Lots-of-photos-now That's my clean-up thread. The Britishmilitariaforum is the ar15.com of old British weapons. Enjoy your gun, don't clean it up too much and have fun! |
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Update on this gun...I got it all cleaned up and put back together. The bore looks like new, all the metal is in good shape with some patina. The wood has a lot of stains and dents. I just cleaned it up and gave it several coats of oil since it was extremely dry. I did have to order a new sear & sear spring, I got reproduction Enfield ones from Dixie Gun Works that worked fine with just a little hand fitting. I don't know how accurate it's going to be, but it looks like I have a shooter.
Dixie also is closing out some old aluminum .58 caliber moulds at 3/$20. I picked up a .580, a .582, and a .585. I'll try them all and see what it likes best. |
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Quoted: Update on this gun...I got it all cleaned up and put back together. The bore looks like new, all the metal is in good shape with some patina. The wood has a lot of stains and dents. I just cleaned it up and gave it several coats of oil since it was extremely dry. I did have to order a new sear & sear spring, I got reproduction Enfield ones from Dixie Gun Works that worked fine with just a little hand fitting. I don't know how accurate it's going to be, but it looks like I have a shooter. Dixie also is closing out some old aluminum .58 caliber moulds at 3/$20. I picked up a .580, a .582, and a .585. I'll try them all and see what it likes best. Got pictures? As for the bullets, folks over on the british militaria forum find that bullets in the .59 to .60 size tend to work the best in the Nepali guns. I use .60 round balls in mine. |
| Shot it last weekend, just 4 rounds at 25 yards. It put all 4 through the same hole, but about 4" to the left and 12" high. After looking at the sight it appeared to be tweaked a little to the left, so I gave it a little gentle persuasion back to the right. I'm going to try again this weekend and see what happens. |
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Quoted: Shot it last weekend, just 4 rounds at 25 yards. It put all 4 through the same hole, but about 4" to the left and 12" high. After looking at the sight it appeared to be tweaked a little to the left, so I gave it a little gentle persuasion back to the right. I'm going to try again this weekend and see what happens. Impressive. Folks have made clamp-on front sights out of PVC/ABS pipe that seem to give solid results without any permanent mods. Others have soldered a taller blade onto the front sight as well. It's all up to you. |
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You are probably gonna want a .590 or so projectile..........
There was a group buy on two different designs on the forum here a couple years back: http://britishmilitariaforums.yuku.com/ If I remember right the 3 band like your likes the heavier one. Try the forum there for a used one and lots of Snider info! |
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Quoted: I've had so-so success with .60 round balls with mine, mostly because I don't cast.You are probably gonna want a .590 or so projectile.......... There was a group buy on two different designs on the forum here a couple years back: http://britishmilitariaforums.yuku.com/ If I remember right the 3 band like your likes the heavier one. Try the forum there for a used one and lots of Snider info! And the BMF is the AR15.com of antique British weaponry. There are some old codgers over there who are treasuretroves of knowledge and skills. |
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Quoted:
Well, I just ordered an untouched .577 Snider from IMA: http://www.ima-usa.com/deal-of-the-week/british-p-1864-snider-type-breech-loading-infantry-rifle-with-short-socket-bayonet-untouched.html Anyone else have experience with these? I know a lot of guys have cleaned them up & restored them and ended up with some nice shooters: http://i104.photobucket.com/albums/m170/gotmailnow/Snider%20Carbine/Completed/PICT0130.jpg I think you should be asking this question over here. A lot experience of IMA Nepali sniders from these guys. |
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