Just wondering I shot my 54 cal Underhammer rifle today for the first time. I had some preloaded tubes with me that had 80 grains of 777 and 425 grain Great Plains conicals. I now know why most of the short light rifles they make now have rubber buttpads on them. Or straight shotgun syle stocks. That curved brass buttplate on these guns is brutal with such light weight. The rifle weighs just under 7 pounds the shotgun is at 5 and 3/4. No way am I going to shoot that 12 guage until I come up with a pad to fit over the curved butt plate. Does any Co make one to fit over a Kentucky style stock or do I have to come up with one. I know they make them for standard shotgun stocks but these stocks are smaller so I am sure they would not fit. On a positive note the gun shot well I just shot it off hand at a target to get the peep sight on paper. On Sat I will go out and shoot it at the range to really dial in the sights and try for a group. I think I will start out at 60 grains for starters since I am using 777 which is a bit hotter than black. Ignition was positive using standard #11 caps and a very fast lock time. Looks like I got a winner here just got to tame the recoil down some. I can handle a lot of recoil with most guns but shooting this let you know you were shooting thats for sure. I showed them to my gunsmith and he liked them. Said the trigger pulls were just right on them. Jim
The biggest problem is that the gun is just too light for that type of buttplate I think. I know the older lever guns ect had curved butt plates but they did not use that heavy of a powder charge. I would guess that the origional Kentucky rifles and others of their ilk were 45 and under and did not use as much powder either as I suppose powder and shot were harder to get and they only used what they needed to get the job done.
