Snider enfield

[1965tinman]

Wasnt sure where to post this but this rifle started as a frontloader and due to age should always be loaded with blackpowder. It is in 577 snider.

This rifle shoots high and I am curious about a front sight. I dont want to kentucky windage it.

Are there replacement sights available? Maybe something that pinches on. Trying not to alter any collectability.

My 41 swiss vetterlis i soldered on a ramp but they were low cost

 

[gobsauce]

Have you worked up a load for it?

 

[1965tinman]

Have you worked up a load for it?

I have dabbled between 70 and 75 grains 2f. Have a round ball and a conical mold. Some 577 cases and some 24 ga cases. Lee dies.

 

[tachelberry]

I had one a few years ago. I did buy snider dies but never used them. I also thumb pressed a round ball into a 24 ga case. The accuracy was not great but I could hit a pie plate at 25 yards.

 

[Bob Meyer]

I had one about 40 years ago. I used to press a 577 cal minie ball into a plastic 28 gauge shot shell hull. I don't remember how much black powder I used.

 

[Roverguy]

There are no original sights that are going to achieve your objective. Remember that the original sights were designed for an age when massed volley fire was still very much the state of the art. At distance, set sights to yardage and send the rounds in. Closer range, aim at the knees to bollocks zone and, depending on distance, they got skidders into the midsection or hits as high as upper thorax.

So, options are: work on load development to deliver a load that shoots close(r) to the sights you’ve got, or get some custom sights that allow for greater adjustability and fine tuning.

On another note, I like this fellow’s videos. You may have already seen them:

 

[vintovka]

I have seen a home made clamp on affair with a tall front sight filed down to bring groups down . IIRC the original front sight was used to center and steady the clamp on.

 

[Zygodactyl]

My experience with Sniders is that they all shoot high. You can either put an aiming spot below the target or make a new front sight. For years I just put an aiming spot below the target. My brother made me a couple of cast caps that fit over the front sight of a Martini Henry. They also shoot high. I took one of them and put it on my Snider. Point of aim became point of impact. Well, with a Snider, the general vicinity.

The best accuracy is usually with a solid base bullet of .60 caliber in fire formed cases. Once you fire form your case to the rifles chamber you don't need to use your dies anymore. Just press in the bullet. I modified a REAL mold with a .592 reamer and got decent groups at 50 yards.

 

[vintovka]

I have have 4-7 Sniders over the years. 3 band, 2 band and numerous carbines. Still have the 2 band (Sargent's Model?) and a very lightly used Saddle Ring Carbine. which have been my favorites. None are target rifles but much fun to shoot with "hand loaded "28 gauge brass shotgun shells and minie balls. When i say "hand loaded" i mean it as used to push ball into case with just my hand. The SRC will go to RIA as its so nice.

When .577 Sniders are shot or discussed i am reminded of Rudyard Kiplings Poem

"The Grave of the Hundred Head: There's a widow in sleepy Chester/Who weeps for her only son;
There's a grave on the Pabeng River,/A grave that the Burmans shun,
And there's Subadar Prag Tewarri/Who tells how the work was done.

A Snider squibbed in the jungle,/Somebody laughed and fled,
And the men of the First Shikaris/Picked up their Subaltern dead,
With a big blue mark in his forehead/And the back blown out of his head."

Makes you think doesn't it????

 

[1965tinman]

I read that the zourve sniper sight from dixie gunworks might work on a snider. Its a clamp on