New Toy

tabs · 02:56 PM

Yep my new toy...Made by William Lawerence in MA from 1852 to 1868. ML Target with period scope .36 caliber, heavy Barrel, double set triggers, German Silver Mountings, excellent condition...30 inch barrel.

Looks like I am winding up where I started off with guns...only now I am buying the real deals....instead of repros...

The difference between the Percussion guns and stalwarts of collecting...Colt and Winchester it is as Art is to Coin Collecting....as described to me by the author of several books on the subject.....meaning each one of these guns unique...one off...

JavaBrewer · JavaBrewer's Garage

You'll shoot your eye out kid.

Jeff Higgins · 04-27-2005, 01:20 PM

Hey Tabs, the link to the photo doesn't seem to work. So is this a slug gun? I assume from the very small caliber it probably is.

dd74 · 04-27-2005, 01:41 PM

Just giving Tabs a hand here...

I'm not into guns as much, but this does look pretty cool.

Tishabet · 04-27-2005, 01:50 PM

How much did that set you back?

Steve 82SC · 04-27-2005, 01:51 PM

Unless I'm mistaken, this was a highly coveted rifle during the early part of the Civil War. I believe that this was an extremely accurate sniping rifle up to distances of about 1/2 mile. There was also a made-in-Kentucky counterpart to this rifle, also used by Confederate snipers, but the name escapes me.

Steve

dd74 · 04-27-2005, 02:04 PM

Steve - what's inside the sight? A glass of some sort, I assume.

tabs · 02:53 PM

The CSA used the English made Whitworths for sniper rifles, and they were used for 1000 yard TGT Matches in GB and are still used today with accuracy comparable to modern rifles...

There is an Austrian Gunmaker at Ferlach that still makes these rifles...Carl Heinz Klein...

My rifle is too fancy to be a CW sniper, and .36 is too small of a caliber...but ones similar were used to great effect by the Union

dd74 · 04-27-2005, 02:26 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by tabs
and...hmmm overhaul a 911 motor or....

...or in my case, buy a Lufkin pumpjack.

Just in case there's oil beneath my house.

FrayAdjacent911 · 04-27-2005, 03:50 PM

Ahh.. ye olde front stuffers...

I prefer this for launching lead with black powder:

Jeff Higgins · 04-27-2005, 04:11 PM

Nice. Looks like the Tryon style back-action lock. Did Lawerence make it, or purchase them from some other source? I just don't see that many rifles with that distinctive lock, so I'm kind of curious. So did it come with a false muzzle and all the accroutements? Are you going to shoot it?

tabs · 04-28-2005, 07:15 AM

Oh yes I shoot...no accroutements....it is a back action, I will have to take it apart to see who made the lock...

tabs · 04-28-2005, 07:19 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by FrayAdjacent911
Ahh.. ye olde front stuffers...

I prefer this for launching lead with black powder:

Shiloh Sharps...percussion or cartridge? I have owned a number of those in the past...Now I prefer the orginals if and when I can find them and afford them.

Jeff Higgins · 04-28-2005, 10:17 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by tabs
Shiloh Sharps...percussion or cartridge? I have owned a number of those in the past...Now I prefer the orginals if and when I can find them and afford them.

Definitely cartridge; all the percussion guns are slant-breach and the lock plate is different at the top. I heard Shilo was going to start making percussion guns again. Might have to grab one if they do. Rumor also has it they are looking at a Borchardt.

FrayAdjacent911 · 04-28-2005, 02:19 PM

Yep, it's cartridge. .45-70. And it's a Pedersoli, not a Shiloh.

It's still a great rifle. Very accurate, very pleasant recoil even with 530gr lead bullets over 68gr of FFg.

Shiloh does manufacture breechloading percussion guns, as does Pedersoli and a few other manufacturers.

FrayAdjacent911 · 04-28-2005, 02:20 PM

tabs · 04-28-2005, 03:07 PM

Love the Paper cartridge guns...have Shiloh NM 1863 Rifle...bought it years ago for $275.00...also have REAL Borchardt Long Range in 45/100....

Jeff Higgins · 04-28-2005, 04:52 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by FrayAdjacent911
Yep, it's cartridge. .45-70. And it's a Pedersoli, not a Shiloh.

It's still a great rifle. Very accurate, very pleasant recoil even with 530gr lead bullets over 68gr of FFg.

Shiloh does manufacture breechloading percussion guns, as does Pedersoli and a few other manufacturers.

Looks like the bullet in your photo is the old Saeco 745. I shot that one for awhile in a couple .45-70's, one an original Ballard Pacific and the other a C. Sharps '75. I've been using a Jones Creedmoor for just over ten years now as my match bullet, in both of those rifles and a C. Sharps '74 in .45-2.6". Do you compete at all? We are fortunate here in the Pacific Northwest to have a pretty busy match schedule, with everything from silhouette to paper target matches, all the way out to 1,000 yard.

FrayAdjacent911 · 04-28-2005, 05:00 PM

I haven't competed yet, but would like to try to do some silhouette. The bullet is a 550gr Pedersoli-Gunn-Trenk mould made by Victory Moulds. Not actually my mould, an aquiantance sent me 50 bullets to try. They're reputed to be very accurate out of Pedersoli rifle. I only got to test at 100 yards, and it didn't show much difference from the Lyman 457125 that I use.

I've tried a couple different bullets, and they all seem to like a charge of 67gr of Goex FFg compressed with a .030" poly wad.

Jeff Higgins · 04-29-2005, 05:24 AM

I understand there are some very active BPCR clubs in Texas, so you should have no trouble finding matches when you are ready to make the jump. It sure adds a whole new dimension to all of it. You'll have a lot of fun.

Another very good Lyman mold is their new Postel. I forget the number, but it might be 457132. My Jones Creedmoor is virtually identical to it. It actually goes all the way back to the original Sharps 550g tapered paper patch bullet; the original Lyman Postel was meant to duplicate it in a grease-groove design. Their original Postel tapered right off the front driving band and had no bore-riding section to the nose at all. The first generation Jones Creedmoor copied this. Back in the early '90's when I talked to Jones about cutting a mold for me, I asked him to include a .200" non-tapered section in front of that driving band at bore diameter (.449"-.450"). It worked great for me, and soon quite a few folks around here were ordering them that way. It is interesting to see that when Lyman re-introduced their Postel after about a 40 year absence they copied this and provided a similar bore-riding section. Anyway, it's a great bullet, and seems to drift a good bit less in the wind at long range than the round nose 457125. You can't beat it for an off-the-shelf mold.