Is anyone out there shooting a .577 Snider?  I am seriously considering it for a varmint cartridge and would like to discuss it with someone with experience shooting one.  Thanks.

VARMINT: anything you want dead which you leave lying where you shot it.

ps I think I might have put this in the wrong section. Sorry.
 

Thank you, Harry.  Here is my reasoning: Most of my hunting is for unwanted critters (possum, coon, woodchuck, stray cats, stray dogs) and most of them are closer than 50 yards.  Since black powder cartridges all have about the same velocity, the only way to get instant shock to the target is to have a bigger, flatter bullet with a terrible coefficient. My 45-100 just drills a hole and is pretty awful on smaller game.  My thought is to use a large caliber, nearly full wad cutter hollow point that will put the brakes on right away when it hits.  Round balls are fairly good at this, but I am hoping for more extreme terminal performance--closer to a high velocity rifle (like a .222) with a frangible bullet.  I would begin by loading one of Lyman's .575 hollow based bullets upside down (for a full wadcutter, hollow point boattail!) 

I would be happy with  2" to 3" at 50 yards, since that is within the vitals of most varmints and is about as far as I usually shoot them.  In your experience, is this an unreasonable expectation?   

What is a "stop gap rifle"?  and what do you mean when you say, "the Snider is not the fastest of single shots to reload"?

Thank you very much.  I really appreciate your response.

Sounds interesting.  I hope someone can find the article.   

Has anyone tried shooting a hollow based bullet backwards?

Hello Whistlepigger,
A stop gap weapon is one that is pressed into use as a temporary measure whilst a better, cheaper and hopefully a more efficient rifle was sought and tested. 
At the end of the Crimean War the British Army had tens of thousands of .577" Enfield Muzzle loading service rifles, they were also distributed throughout the British Empire which at that time ruled one forth of the world. At this time Breechloading cartridge firing weapons were being deveoped the great majority of the larger of the worlds powers.

Britain not wanting to be left behind opened a competition to find an economical way of converting the Enfield Rifle ftom a muzzle loader to a breech loader. The competition was won by an Jacob Snider an American who designed the Snider Breech. This required very little alteration of the original rifle and it was cheap to manufacture. Vast numbers of Enfield rifles were converted. The Snider cartridge was designed by a Col Boxer and consisted of coiled brass foil and cups rivetted together and to an iron base by a hollow copper rivet which held the primer, proper brass drawn cases were not available at the time.

Whilst  the conversions were taking place developement of the Martini Action married to a Henry rifled Barrel was one of several new breechloading designs considered to replace the Snider. The Snider was then relegated to service with colonial and coloured troops around the world.

To load a Snider half cock the hammer, swing up and over to the right  the breech block,  insert a cartridge into the chamber, close the action cock the hammer and discharge the rifle. Then bring the hammer back to half cock, swing the breechblock up and over to the right, then pull the breechblock to the rear to extract the fired case which will then lie in the channel behind the chamber. It's difficult for mans sized fingers to remove it so it was recommended that the rifle was turned over so the case could drop free so you could reload. 
Harry

Not to pick nits with Mr. Pickup, but the Snider was developed and introduced in 1866, after the Civil War, as a conversion of the Enfield muzzleloading rifle-muskets to breechloading.  Later versions were new arms...much like the earliest Trapdoor Springfields were conversions of the U.S. Springfield rifle-muskets using the Allin conversion parts.  This is why on early Sniders and Allin Conversions you will run into lock plates dated before the action was introduced.

David

Lee makes (made?) a hollow based wadcutter bullet they call the trash can design that, with a card wad between it and the powder, should work for what you want to do.  I'll have to look, I might still have one from when I was punching paper in the Civil War Skirmish Association...that's the western equivalent to the N-SSA located east of the Mississippi.   

David

By Golly, Screwloosetc, I think I'll go load up some in my 45-100 this evening.  I was thinking of a short bullet, but you're right--what's it matter? I'll try the same bullet and load that does well for me and see how it works.  Now, this'll make the OAL rather stubby, but I don't suppose that'll matter in this long case--I'm more or less shooting 45-70 loads anyway.

He he HEEE!  Maybe I don't need another gun after all.  (Ooops--don't tell my wife I just said that.)

You fellows are mighty helpful.

Guy shoots one at our club gong match from time to time.  He has a good time figuring out loads and all.  Performance is not quite up to a Trapdoor.  When he hits a gong you know it's been hit though.  If somebody wants a challange  .577's  are good ones.

Boats