hooter every time but it was worth it! Been there, done that - box ticked.
My last outing with the Beuret started out very well, shooting off hand at 50 metres. The first five shots were two 8s,a 9 and a 10 - with one flyer. Then disaster struck - a stuck ball. The trouble with MLAGB comps is that you only have 30 minutes to fire 13 shots, the best ten to count, with no sighters.
I shifted the ball eventually by endlessly unscrewing the nipple, trickling a few grains of fresh powder into the breach and replacing the nipple but by the time it eventually went ‘bang’ most of my 30 minutes had gone and I was considering taking up tiddlewinks instead. So I have put it away for a few weeks until I have recovered my composure.
old stock. The result is a well balanced and - to my mind - very attractive rifle, especially with its tiger- stripe walnut stock (wood like that that would cost a few bob today). The barrel is excellent and the overall condition is very good. Although officially a ‘short’ rifle, it is actually exactly the same size as the Swiss Beuret (above), but only just over half the weight.
Instead, I have been trying the rifle shown above. It is a delightful hybrid, being a 577 Ordnance issue Pattern 1856/58 muzzle-loading short rifle for issue to native troops, built on a New Zealand naval brigade issue Snider stock and using a three-groove P56 ordnance barrel. Phew!
This was built out of surplus naval Snider rifles and Pattern 1856 barrels for issue to native units in India and other parts of the British Empire. The conversion involved the filling of the breach cut-out for the Snider block (I can’t see the join) and the retro-fitting of a three- groove 1856 short rifle barrel.
When the army adopted the Martini Henry, the Sniders were rendered obsolete but, of course, armies never throw anything away, they just put them into store. Since the government was understandably nervous of issuing colonial troops with breach loaders after the Indian mutiny, this idea of ‘back-engineering’ got round the problem nicely and used up some (very)
75
Having no 577 Minie bullets to hand and being impatient, I found some 550 round ball which I patched copiously and loaded with 40 grains of Triple 7. Not surprisingly, accuracy was not spectacular but ignition was superb, with none of the ‘hang-ups’ I experience with the Beuret.
Disassembly is by way of two barrel-bands and one bolt at the tang. As it came, all the screws were
Black
Powder by Chris Risebrook
locked solid but once freed and greased, stripping for cleaning is easy and, to my relief, the bands do not mark the stock when slid forward. Cleaning, using near boiling water and Henry Kranks black powder solvent only took a few minutes and now I have a dedicated bucket with funnel, solvent and hedging gloves, I have this down to a fine art. Far less trouble than cleaning a revolver. Can’t wait for the Minie bullets to arrive.
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