Dixie Jaeger rifle

[Renegade Dan]

The local gun shop has a Dixie Jaeger rifle made by pedersoli for sale for $350.00 The gun is in good condition.I looked in the Dixie catalog they go for $995 brand new. I was wondering if anyone has any experience with these rifles and what there thoughts are on it's accuracy and if it is a good sparker. it has 1:24 twist and dixie recommends 95 gr. with .015 patch. Seems like a fast rate of twist for shooting patched ball, what do you guys think? other than a little pitting on the frizzen it Seems like a good deal on the gun. L&R makes a jaeger lock, I e-mailed them to see if it's a direct replacement

 

[zampilot]

That's a fast twist but the price is right if it's a good reproduction.

 

[varsity07840]

The local gun shop has a Dixie Jaeger rifle made by pedersoli for sale for $350.00 The gun is in good condition.I looked in the Dixie catalog they go for $995 brand new. I was wondering if anyone has any experience with these rifles and what there thoughts are on it's accuracy and if it is a good sparker. it has 1:24 twist and dixie recommends 95 gr. with .015 patch. Seems like a fast rate of twist for shooting patched ball, what do you guys think? other than a little pitting on the frizzen it Seems like a good deal on the gun. L&R makes a jaeger lock, I e-mailed them to see if it's a direct replacement

I'd buy it and have Rayl or Hoyt fresh it out to .58 with a more appropriate roundball twist and groove depth. Even with that exspense, I think
you'd come out on the plus side.

Duane

 

[cowrustler]

I've owned one for some time now and it's a very nice rifle- accurate and dependable. It's also handy to carry hunting. I use round balls with target charges with no problem but use Lee REAL bullets for hunting. Both shoot fine. I doubt you can shoot round balls with heavy charges but the original users of Jaegers most likely didn't use round balls either.
Some HC/PC addicts may find fault with the rifle but for most of us it's close enough and these rifles are shooters. I've got several custom guns but a reasonably priced Dixie Jaeger is what I carry up the mountain.

 

[Mike Brooks]

but the original users of Jaegers most likely didn't use round balls either.

What did they use?

 

[Stophel]

Smooth rocks picked up in the creek bed.

 

[Stophel]

And arrows. Short wooden arrows with iron tips and little wood "fins" that fit into the rifling grooves.

 

[Stophel]

Driven down with an iron ramrod....

 

[wulf]

And using a hammer to blunt the point till it is
shapped like a round ball.

 

[cowrustler]

Judging from the fast twists in their rifles and the purported time it took to reload, probably some sort of elongated, bullet like projectile. It wouldn't take 15 minutes to hammer a round ball down the bore.

 

[Stophel]

The Germans used ordinary patched round balls in their rifles. :wink:

And no iron rods or mallets. :wink:

..or arrows... :haha:

 

[Mike Brooks]

Judging from the fast twists in their rifles and the purported time it took to reload, probably some sort of elongated, bullet like projectile. It wouldn't take 15 minutes to hammer a round ball down the bore.

You're pulling our leg right? :rotf:

 

[Muskeg Stomper]

Cowrustler,

Please tell me that you don't think that original Jaegers had a twist rate similar to modern Pedersoli reproductions that are made with a fast twist to shoot conicals?

 

[Zonie]

Many of the original Jaeger's had a rate of twist that matched the barrel length. This was common with many of the early guns.

Because many of them had rather short barrels like 26 1/2", 28 1/2", 29" (data from George Shumways, "JAEGER RIFLES") they had fast twists.
The rifling was usually quite deep, unlike the Pedersoli Jaeger.

These were used with patched roundballs.

 

[cowrustler]

Yes, they did have fast twists. I'm not sure that they shot patched round balls- I think they shot a bullet-like chunk of lead and until I see some sources from the critics, I'll continue to think that.

 

[Stophel]

"I've done absolutely no research, and I refuse to believe those who have"

:grin: Ok, so I'm feeling cocky tonight... :haha: Sorry.

This is from an essay of various handworks, this section being "The Gunmaker and Gunstocker" by P.N. Sprengel, 1771, Berlin

"...Dis werden aber Kenner sogleich eingestehen, dasz das Pulver in den gezogenen Büchsen dadurch einen gröszern Wiederstand findet, dasz man die Kugel in einem parchenen Pflaster gewickelt in den Lauf hinein stöszt. Das Pflaster preszt sich in the Züge ein, und vermehrt hiedurch den Wiederstand, daher musz auch eine stärkere Wirkung erfolgen..."

(I just felt like typing it in German! :grin: )

"...But experts will quickly concur that the powder in rifled guns thereby finds a greater resistance, (since) one pushes the ball into the barrel wrapped in a fustian patch. The patch presses itself into the rifling, and thereby increases the resistance; therefore, a stronger reaction must follow..."

 

[Stophel]

The same work also briefly discusses ball moulds:

"A special ball mould for every rifle, (so) the purchaser can pour properly-fitting balls; he purchases it with the rifle from the rifle maker. The ball mould itself is well-enough known in everyday life, and therefore its manufacture will only be shown in a minimal fashion....It is quite evident that each cavity must be hollowed out for half of a ball, and this is done with the ball cherry. The entire head of this tool is cut with incisions, like file cuts, with the edge of a file, and these incisions will hollow out the ball-like cavities of the ball mould......"

There is a plate picturing a normal looking ball mould and a typical round ball cherry.

:wink:

 

[cal.43]

und weil dem so sein muß wurden ja auch
Jaegerregimente aufgestellt die dann mit ihrem Hirschfänger gekämpft haben :grin:

sorry I can´t translate because I´m
rotfl
:grin:

 

[Supercracker]

And no iron rods or mallets. :wink:

At least not til later on. By the late 19th century wasn't it common for rifles to include a small mallet for hammering a slightly oversized ball down the muzzle?

 

[ebiggs1]

Just because it has a 1/24 ROT you concluded it won't shoot Patched Round Ball's. :hmm: OK!