Search results

"Cold bore" shot out of the group is not unusual with any rifle modern or otherwise. But you may be able to mitigate this with changes in patch lube. Something like Neatfoot Oil or Tallow may help but requires testing, these may not be as accurate as teflon but they are plenty good enough for...

The 48" twist is a patched RB twist and was nearly a standard back in the day. All known original Hawken rifles have 48 twists. The problem occurred when mass produced MLs with button rifled barrels with very shallow grooves by PRB standards since bullets do not need or particularly like deep...

Conicals will also skip out and they will travel much, much farther. A RB that strikes much of anything will land within 200 yards. Given that the maximum range at best elevation is only 1000 yards or a little more for a 54 rb I don't worry about ricocheting RBs much. As we enlongate the...

Shoot patched round balls. The Maxi Ball is a poor design for anything but shooting paper. The 48" twist is marginal for the bullet for best accuracy. Its "problems" greatly out weigh any perceived advantages. Dan

Parts for firearms were imported and made into firearms. It was the import of raw materials, as your state, unworked brass for example. The British, for the most part, wanted finished articles shipped to the colonies, candlesticks rather than brass bars to cast into candlesticks. Since iron was...

IF you can get to the americanlongriflesorg site it has good information. Dan

Try typing americanlongriflesorg/forum/index.php?topic=31393.0 Trying to get this site to allow access to another site is a PITA

This is a certainly a spurious date and marking. IE a forgery. The rifle pictured is far later probably 1790 or later. See the discussion I linked in previous post. Dan P.S. attempted to link.

I would also point out that the Schreit rifle was modified at one time to make it less Germanic. It was originally a stepped wrist rifle and apparently has had at least 3 trigger guards. The current one being the second known replacement. Dan

So far as anyone knows this is the earliest dated Kentucky that people generally accept. There are spurious markings on rifles put on to deceive people. Here is a discussion that you might find interesting and informative. Dan Rifle discussion

Prevent leading and to soften the fouling, this last only if its formulated properly. It needs to be a soft lube so it comes off the bullet at the muzzle. Hard/high temp and/or synthetic lubes not only do not soften the fouling they tend to only partly come off the bullet. Dan

Smoothbores do not shoot as well as rifles, even at 50-60 yards. Will they kill deer at this distance? In most cases sure. But at 50 yards a good rifle can do head shots on deer. A rifled pistol will kill deer at 40-50 yards too. Traders did not like rifles because their sales of powder and lead...

The teens? Sometimes we see single digits. Its in the 20s right now but they are calling for showers. Dan

If you wipe and push fouling into the vent then its going plug. This can be the result of its position AND/OR the use a TOO TIGHT a patch. When wiping between shots use a patch that is not too wet, heavily damp I like to call it. Use a jag that is a loose fit in the bore so the patch will ride...

Not the "they could not have had rifles thing again"..... Gus, honestly you really need to read the books. Win/loss figures have been in published form for years in "The Frontier Rifleman" by Richard B. LaCrosse, Jr. There is a great summary of the Riflemen and their various triumphs and...

Yet at Saratoga we find that when Morgan's Riflemen arrived virtually all the British scouts, natives and Canadians, went home. That they were so effective that anyone going outside the pickets suffer death since they were considered dead anyway. Then there was the success of Dearborne's...

I did a recreation of the shot that killed Frazer at Saratoga some years back. I shot 3 shots at 285 yards from unsupported prone (Frazer said the man that shot him was in a tree). One would have killed or wounded the horse of broadside, one was a clean miss and one So I pronounce it "doable"...

The Mills rifle was certainly a PICKET RIFLE in both cases given the time frame. A 36 RB will not do this at 400 yards, nor will a 50 or 54. Round balls get increasingly random past 150 yards due to weather conditions. So far as the Revolutionary War stuff. First nobody did serious shooting...

Unless the rifle is improperly breeched and vented it should be possible to work enough FFFF through even a 1/16 vent to blow the ball out. This is easier on the shooter and the rifle than pulling the ball and only takes a couple of minutes. The the vent is too far forward of the breech face...

Shock does not work in animals much larger than a Prairie Dog. Been repeatedly proven. Bullets that may kill by shock in limited circumstances are deficient in penetration so trying this route on on large or dangerous game is a no-no. Look up 280 Ross which killed extremely well. But shooting a...