a few grains of powder - just enough to shift it out of the barrel. By this time I had gone off the whole idea and was seriously considering taking up tiddlywinks instead!
On sober(?) reflection I wondered if 50gr. was too much but the ramrod goes almost all the way home with this load, so it must be about right - back to the drawing board.
Act1, Scene2. This time, I wore an NSRA shooting jacket with a whopping great recoil-pad. I decided to reduce the load to 30gr. and, in order to make up the shot column, I added a card over-powder wad and two .44 greased felt wads which I used to use with muzzle- loading revolver - before I discovered a new and novel use for semolina. Some careful measurements (and some guesswork) proved the bullet seated all the way, avoiding any possibility of an air gap. Recoil was much milder, but the bullet went in sideways!
The only way to get the second bullet down the barrel without getting a hernia was to swab the bore with baby-wipes. Now, I must admit I have great difficulty trying to imagine a Swiss quartermaster in 1850 issuing troops with baby-wipes. I also find it difficult to believe troops had to hammer each bullet down the barrel.
Notwithstanding its double set-trigger, this is a military rifle and its primary requirement must have been ease of loading. Originally these rifles were bored 10.5mm but later models were bored 10.4mm - only a politician could have been stupid enough to have thought up that one! It is possible that I am using a 10.5mm mould in a 10.4mm rifle, although I would not have thought that one tenth of a millimetre would have made a lot of difference.
Unfortunately, there is a degree of ‘windage’ in the mould, so the bullets are not completely round but I would expect the rifling to size them to uniformity. Whatever, these bullets do not fit the bore (patching is out of the question) without a fair degree of hammering and incidentally, they all went in sideways. It might be possible to load them if the rifle had a false muzzle and starter but this would have hardly have been practical in service. From the information I have gleaned, this is definitely the right shape bullet, if not quite the right size.
Scene 3. For this experiment, I used 40gr. of Triple 7 powder, an over-powder card wad and two felt wads cut with a .410 wad punch (the .44 wads were oversize
43
Black Powder... THE WIND
by Chris Risebrook
and tended to jam in the bore). I then loaded a 97gr. .40 ball with a linen patch lubed with Neatsfoot Oil. Eureka! At last the shots are on the target but, after three rounds and vigorous scrubbing with baby wipes between shots, the inevitable happened - a stuck ball! Oh, Bother!
I tried the usual trick of removing the nipple, trickling in some powder and replacing the nipple, but to no effect. In desperation and with much profanity on my part and muscle power of Club members, we (well, they really - thanks guys) managed to ‘worm’ it out. Phew!
A post mortem examination showed the probable cause. Swabbing with baby-wipes with the rifle upright effectively drives water down the barrel and, even drying out with a 4x2 dry patch must leave
some moisture in the chamber. I had been using a long drop-tube to try and make sure the powder went straight into the chamber but, on cleaning this tube, I discovered the end was solid with caked damp powder. Back to the drawing board again.
Scene 4. As will be seen from the photo above, I have invested in a sort of work-station which carries the ever increasing amount of paraphernalia needed for this rifle. Apart from this gadget, I have invested in a proper nipple-wrench, a proper cleaning kit which enables me to use brushes without the fear of losing them down the barrel and the long drop-tube (which has so far proved to be a disaster). The idea of the work station is to enable me to swab the barrel in a horizontal position.
So, with the recipe the same as before, I now scrub with a bristle brush between shots, wring out the baby-wipe before introducing it into the bore to reduce the amount of moisture and then dry out with a dry patch. Needless to say, the rifle is then returned
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