Ugly Sauce
Member
- Joined
- Oct 26, 2020
- Messages
- 6,239
Tried to put some balls through a tough old 3" block of wood. Well seasoned and hard as a rock. Nope, didn't go through!
Well, getting to know "Big Daddy". First time I shot it was with 40 grains of 2fg Swiss, and he seemed to like that. Real nice and low "BOOM", good but slow recoil, and lots of fire and smoke. The next day I tried 40 grains of Schuetzen 4fg, since the Swiss gave me no indication of being a too heavy load. The Scheutzen seemed to recoil less, didn't seem as stout, and was quite a bit more dirty burning. No surprise there, but I found it curious that it did not feel more powerful.
So, I think I'll go back to 2fg Swiss for some accuracy testing, which I've not done or attempted to do with the previous shots. As few as they are, so far. !! More interested in what the chambers will hold, what powder it seems to like best, and does she go off every time? (yes) Does it jam? (NO!) etc.
A curious thing: 40 grains of 4fg Schuetzen is difficult to seat the ball over. I does not like to compress. 40 grains of 2fg Swiss puts the ball right where I want it, and you can feel it crush more. I say curious because usually the same volume of a finer grain powder will fill the chamber less, compared to a coarser grain. In this case, the Schuetzen seemed to fill it more, and crush less. At any rate, to use the Sheutzen I'd have to reduce the charge by at least three grains, which I don't want to do since it already felt like a reduced load. If you wonder why I'm not using 3fg...I'm almost out, and the 1860 likes it so she gets it for now, until I pick up some Swiss 3fg.
Lube over the ball. A million years ago, I tried lube-over-ball. Used Crisco like everyone said, and it was a MESS. Not too long ago, I got to thinking, what if the lube was more solid? So I made up a thicker mixture of Wonder Lube 1000 and bee's wax, and have been experimenting with it with the Remington, 1860, and the Little Brat. (1862PP) It works great, does not splatter all over everything when you fire the gun, and makes a dramatic reduction on fouling in the bore. Two patches will almost clean the barrel. That will be a big plus in the field. Oh the drama!
On powder capacity, we had a discussion about Blackie's claim that it holds 50 grains of powder under a ball, but that does not seem to be the case. I think 40 is the max, and with the Schuetzen that was pushing it, as two balls seated so high they kissed the barrel on rotation. Unacceptable in the field, that could ruin your day. 40 grains of the Swiss 2fg was just right, and left some room for error, or a high seating ball for any reason. On examining my chambers, I do not see how another gun could be machined any deeper, certainly not enough to make a ten-grain difference. So..???
The Rogers & Spencer has not disappointed. The high hammer spur, and stout mainspring make it a bit harder to cock, but not "too hard". I'll be using my left thumb to cock it, but if I need or want to cock it one handed no problem. But, it's not for everyone, and most females would very likely not be able to cock it one handed. I don't plan to lighten up my main spring, but I did look at it, and it is not finely finished, so I will polish it up to remove any possible stress points, or stress risers. Will do that at it's first deep-cleaning.
This pistol has a superb trigger. Nice and light. I'm impressed with the pistol, handles good, feels light in the hand, much lighter than it's actual weight. That's all for now, it's a winner and a keeper.