Range Report 31JUL2022: Mk. III Snider Enfield Rifle

I shot 45 rounds (five of  which were for sighting in) today in four tables of fire using my Nepalese Mk. III Snider Enfield Rifle from 1867.

Conditions
Clear and dry.  Wind ~10 mph from S-SE (which caused my hits to be slightly left).  36% humidity.  Range:  100 yards.  Firing position:  Seated unsupported.  Sight Picture:  Fine Sight, 6:00 hold about 6 inches low.

Ammunition
All ammunition was made with the X-Ring Services .600 bullet in Magtech brass over 65 grains of Swiss 1.5F powder with corn meal filler and a card wad.  For detailed information about how the ammunition was loaded go here.

Muzzle Energy
I chronographed a representative sample of today's shots, getting an average muzzle velocity of 1,036.1 fps, for a muzzle energy of 1,253 ft-lbs.  Compare this to the stats for the government-issue Mk. VII ammunition with a 480 grain bullet over 70 grains of RFG powder with a muzzle velocity of 1,240 fps for a muzzle energy of 1,666 ft-lbs (see Skennerton, Ian. .577 Pattern Rifle Musket & Snider-Enfield. Self Published, 2005, p. 16).  I believe that increasing the charge in my cartridges to 70 grains would bring me very close to these historical numbers, but my rifle is somewhat frail and I am loathe to stress it.

Table One.

Table One
(Note that this table includes two of the five ranging shots I fired first.  Once I saw from the first three where I was hitting, I elected to shoot the other two for score.)
String Test:  48 in./12 rds. = 4.0 in./rd.

Table Two.

Table Two
String Test:  44 in./10 rds. = 4.4 in./rd.

Table Three.

Table Three
String Test:  40.5 in./10 rds. = 4.1 in./rd.

Table Four.

Table Four
String Test:  33.5 in./10 rds. = 3.35 in./rd.
Note:  This table was fired using a 1/3 scale version of the actual Snider 3rd-class target of the sort used for closer range scoring in period in order to simulate shooting at 200 yards instead of 100.  Using the 3-2-1 scoring system used for Snider qualification, I scored a 25/30 points.

The String Test
This is a method of gauging accuracy dating to the American Civil War.   I find it to be  vastly superior to simply measuring the group size since it takes both the group size and the distance from the mean center of the group to the bullseye into account in the same number, so it is a much more meaningful way to gauge your accuracy despite being incredibly easy to do.  All shooters, and certainly all historical shooters, should be using this test.  You can learn more about the String Test here.

Conclusions
This was my best-scoring day so far with my Snider, and I am extremely pleased.  Yes, my 25-year-old self armed with his 7.62 NATO Remington 700 rifle with Leupold scope shooting at 800 yards is laughing at my current self, but I honestly don't care much.  For this rifle, which has some problems, and given my shaky hands and the fact that I can barely see the target at that range, I am really happy, especially with Table Four.  I am also pleased to see that the Muzzle Energy is at least comparable to the original cartridges, especially since I strongly believe I could match them if I were willing to stress my piece a bit more.  I know I can do better, and hope to do so with more practice, but I think I have "dialed in" my rifle as best I can at this point.

Range Report: 16 July 2022. 1860 Colt Army Conversion and Remington New Model Army

Conditions:  Wind moderate from 3:00.  87 degrees.  23% humidity.
Shooting Position:  Seated supported.
Sight Picture:  Full Sight with 6:00 hold.  I did not attempt to aim off, I always aimed the bottom of the black circle.
Range:  15 yards.
Revolver 1:  Pietta 1860 Colt Army with Kirst conversion cylinder firing hand-loaded .45 Colt cartridges.  The cartridges were made using Starline brass and were primed with CCI large pistol primers.  I cast the bullets from pure lead with a Lee mold, and they came out of the mold at .452 inch.  I am new to the fine art of loading revolver metallic cartridges, and I believe I can make them significantly better; in particular, I have not been crimping them enough and have been informed by those who know far more than I that doing so is important with black-powder cartridges and will result in tighter groups.
Revolver 2:  Pietta Remington New Model Army.  All rounds were made into combustible paper cartridges; for more information about how I make combustible cartridges go here.

I only fired three tables of fire with the Colt Conversion even though I went to the range fully intending to fire at least five tables of fire with this revolver.  Unfortunately, I seem to have acquired one of Pietta's rare lemons, and the revolver got worse and worse as I shot until I could no longer get it to function--not because of fouling, but because the revolver is simply mechanically flawed.  It will have to go back to the gunsmith for more work to see if it can be saved.  At the same time, I am quite pleased with the results I did get, with an average score between the three tables of fire of 2.9 in./rd.  This is not a fantastic result, but the groups were fairly good and I used the same sight picture every time.  Now that I know where the groups print I can aim off to bring the Mean Point of Impact closer to the Intended Mean Point of Impact (the bullseye), which will reduce the String Test measurement considerably.

Colt 1860 Army Conversion Revolver

Remington New Model Army

Replica Frankford Arsenal .45 Colt cartridge pack.

Replica .44 combustible cartridge cartridge pack.  Note that the label is incorrect and these were Kerr bullets, not Johnston and Dow.  I need a better label but have not yet found what the Kerr package labels looked like.

For those interested in learning more about the String Test, it is a method actually used during the Civil War and is vastly superior to simply measuring the group size since it takes both the group size and the distance from the mean center of the group to the bullseye into account in the same number, so it is a much more meaningful way to gauge your accuracy despite being incredibly easy to do.  All shooters, and certainly all historical shooters, should be using this test.  You can learn more about the String Test here.

Table 1:  Colt Conversion
Load:  .45 Colt 250 gr. Lee bullet with 35 gr. Schuetzen 3F
String Test:  12.5”/5 rds. = 2.5 in./rd.
Muzzle Energy:  Average velocity of 798.8 f.p.s. = 354 ft. lbs.

Table 2:  Colt Conversion
Load:  .45 Colt 250 gr. Lee bullet with 35 gr. Schuetzen 3F
String Test:  16.25”/5 rds. = 3.25 in.rd.
Muzzle Energy:  Average velocity of 769.5 f.p.s. = 329 ft.-lbs.

Table 3:  Colt Conversion
Load:  .45 Colt 250 gr. Lee bullet with 35 gr. Schuetzen 3F
String Test:  14.25”/5 rds. = 2.85 in./rd.

Table 4:  Remington NMA
Load:  20 grs. Swiss 3F with 225 gr. Kerr bullet
String Test:  15.0”/5 rds. (1 misfire) = 3.0 in./rd.

Table 5:  Remington NMA
Load:  25 gr Schuetzen 3F with 225 gr. Kerr bullet
String Test:  17”/6 rds.=2.83 in/rd.

Table 6:  Remington NMA
Load:  25 gr Schuetzen 3F 225 gr. Kerr bullet
String Test:  17.25”/6 rds. = 2.875 in./rd.
Muzzle Energy:  Average velocity of 850.7 f.p.s. = 362 ft.-lbs.
This table of fire was extremely interesting.  If you look at the picture below showing a closeup of the group, there was one round in the black and four rounds literally through the same hole, then there was one flyer.  I remember experiencing a muscle tremor as I fired, so I clearly pulled the shot.  Thus, although the String Test is fairly good, without that flyer the results would have been a result of 2.6 in./rd., a much better result.

Table 6 closeup.

Table 7:  Remington NMA
Load:  20 gr. Pyrodex (Old!) with 225 gr. Kerr bullet
String Test:  22.5”/rd. = 3.67 in./rd.
NB:  These cartridges were quite old, more than two years old (before I started noting the date on my cartridge packs).  I have not used Pyrodex in quite some time and this cartridge pack was stuck in the back of the box where I store my ammunition, so I wanted to shoot them off.  These results are quite poor, and I strongly suspect the age of the cartridges may have been part of the cause.  This is quite interesting because we often see discussions about how long ammunition lasts.  Note that in the past I have achieved much better String Test results with Pyrodex, so it is not that Pyrodex is inherently less accurate.  Note, too, that the rounds discharged flawlessly, with no hang time or any other ignition problems despite being more than two years old.

Tables 1 and 4.

Tables 2 and 3.

Table 5.

Tables 6 and 7.