I have found using an unsized lubed 45 cal 500 grain cast RN behind an old lyman 288 scoop of trail boss to be a fun beer can killer at 100 yds consistently off hand. And what a neat action - the daddy to the Martini Henry of british lore.

I built a 40-50 BN on an original action and really enjoyed shooting it. I sold it at a gun show (much to my regret) but it was fun while I had it.



JMH

Odd that the latter day Peabody family contributes greatly to the anti-gun crowd.

1. He had no descendants, so they are collateral if related at all.

2. Also, sour grapes- 


"A lifetime bachelor, when he died in 1903, aged 77, he left the bulk of his estate, comprised of the King Gay Farm in Norwood, Massachusetts, and some $350,000 (comparable to $12.25 million in 2024) to a trust whose purpose was to establish on the property, the Henry O. Peabody School for Girls. The school was to “furnish instruction to girls by teaching the various branches of art, science, and industry best calculated to enable the scholars to acquire an independent livelihood."

Family members protested the will, claiming that Peabody was insane to have left his estate to such a purpose. After nearly a year and a half of legal proceedings, the Massachusetts Supreme Court upheld the will, dismissing all claims in December 1904."

I shoot a very nice spanish peabody woth reformed 50-90 brass and jaminson .43 span brass. Has a pretty awful trigger and is accurate enough. I thumb seat a .442 400g bullet on 77g of 2f. That bullet does fine in the .454 groove bore. It prints about 8 inches high at 150 and I had to solder a brass shim on the rear sight to get the windage back center. It will hold on an 8 inch plate at 150 easily. Sights are rather fine. 

Its quite a dense feeling rifle with a strong action. The lever could be a bit longer I feel to aid in extraction. Most peabodys saw a hard life. Seems like the French contract ones faired very well if you can find one. Ive seen more than one orginal peabody with a barrel that was so loose you could unscrew it by hand. Check carefully if your looking at well used one. They were the 45-70 models and a few swiss peabodys.  You may he able to get it to turn by rotating the barrel at the sight base if you can take the forearm out. If you already own the rifle, the extractor needs to be removed to check if the barrel is loose enough to remove by hand pressure

I've collected Peabodys and Peabody-Martini's for nearly 40 years. I have original sidehammer sporting rifles in .45 RF, .43 Spanish (.433 Peabody, which actually chambers and shoots .44-77) .45 Peabody Sporting (commonest), and recently acquired one chambered in .45 Peabody-Martini Carbine (only one Ive ever heard of, and verified by chamber cast.) I shoot them all, on occasion. I have dies for most, but for some, I use a combination of various dies to produce a case that will chamber, then fireform, and final trim. Then from that point, neck size if required, with whatever die fits the task.  Duplex loads with SR4759/black powder, or just black powder alone. Also usable loads in smokeless with Unique or 4759, with a tuft of Dacron to keep the powder against the primer.   
The military Sidehammers in the Canadian .50-60 RF I've never bothered to work up cases for. The .50 RF Carbine is easy to shoot with .56-50 Spencer cases and a swapped out centerfire breechblock. The Romanian Peabody is a rather modern looking design case that can easily be worked up from .50-90 brass, the Swiss .41 RF from 8mm Lebel and a 300 gr Lee .44 cal bullet (swap breechblocks again).  The Connecticut variant is, of course, .45-70, but lucky to find with decent bore, as they were poorly cared for when in service.  And, commonest of all, Spanish models with Prussian proof marks, all in .43 Spanish/.(44-77)

Even though Providence Tool Co made somewhere around 115,000 side-hammer military rifles and carbines, they probably only made around 100 sporting rifles. Peabody Martini's? 650,000 military models, but only around 425 sporting and target models of all types.  So sporting rifles with the Peabody action are among the rarest of all American factory-made rifles. With all the records from PTCo that Ed Hull pored over doing research for his recent book on Peabody Firearms, he couldn't find a single invoice referencing  a Peabody sporting rifle, and only few references to invoices for Peabody-Martini sporting and target models.

Hello. I stumbled a sporter Peabody rifle at a ridiculous price. I'm not sure if this is legitimate or not. I'm still looking at it. Are parts available for original Peabody hammer guns? This rifle had been borne out to a smooth bore looks like a barrel would be necessary. Any sources for original or replacement barrels?

Nice. How did you go about getting a new barrel with the same profile?

Thanks for the response oneatatime.