35-30 Maynard

[R Moritz]

Hello Kenny,

Nicely stated. The reference to thimbles was a nice touch.

Rick Moritz

[Steve Rhoades]

Kenny,
I'm humbled by your friendship quote!

[Woody]

Rick,

Where have you been? Lurking in the background?

Woody

[Jim Kidwell]

Rick and Steve,

Kenny does have a way with words when he's fired-up. Nice post Kenny, right to the point. As a Scott friend of mine used to say, "Ay, that lad's not got more than a wee dram for brains."

Dan,

It is amazing what a little morphine added to an IV will do. Hang in there Kenny. .........................................Jim

[Jim Kidwell]

Jimmy Joe Bob,

More than a few famous, dead, white men...famous for their literature...wrote whilst under the influence of morphine and/or opium. Maybe that will help my writer's block.

You were what gave me the idea. .......................................Jim

[Domino81]

Hello,

My name is Dominik, and recently i have decided to purchase old Percussion Maynard Sporting 1865 Rifle with 26 inch barrel matching the serial number of Reciever being 25917. I know that it is chambered for 35-30 cases.I have already checked that SS firearms and Rocky Mountain Cartridge have these thin rim cases in their offer... and I plan to order them as soon as possible.

http://www.ssfirearms.com/proddetail.asp?prod=CC1B
http://www.rockymountaincartridge.com/i ... stomer.pdf

Once I await for the delivery to appear, I started wondering about the bullet - books mention 165grain bullet. Till now I have only identified that accurate moulds might have a design I would be looking for?
http://www.accuratemolds.com/bullet_det ... 175M-D.png

Did anyone shot rifle like that before and has any information about the rifling, twist, bullet and the load I could start from?

Shoot Straight,
Dominik.

[John Bly]

Dominik, congratulations on your decision on the percussion Maynard. The bullet mold you want to get is the Accurate 37-153M and it is on page 7 of their on-line catalog. Slug your barrel when you get it to determine the size you need. Accurate will make it whatever size you request. Most original molds cast a bullet .373" diameter but most barrels measure .367-.368" groove diameter. You want your bullet about .001 over the groove diameter of your barrel. Military barrels were three groove and most sporting barrels were six groove with twists running about 1 turn in 30". I know one shooter who shoots a 180 gr bullet and he does OK at 50 yards but his bullets are starting to tumble at 100 yards That's why I recommend the 153 grain bullet.

Lodgewood Mfg in Wisconsin will also have cases. Cases from different places will have different capacities. Most will hold from about 25 grains of powder up to 35 grains or more. Shoot a case full of powder no matter how much it will hold. If you wish to shoot less powder then use a filler such as cream of wheat, grits or corn meal to take up the space. Be sure to use a black powder lube such as SPG or DGL on the bullets. Good luck with your shooting endeavors with this rifle.

[mdeland]

I shoot my Martini Cadet .357 Max every month in our iron matches and will be doing so again this Saturday. I like and use the round nose 200 grain plain base from Lyman at about 1600 fps. It is one of the most accurate and pleasant rounds I have ever used for steel targets.
I've not yet run any 3f loads over the chronograph to see what the BP potential of the case is . The smokeless load uses a bit over half the case.

[SSShooter]

Most enjoyable thread. Especially the last 2-3 pages. Too bad DanT self-redacted his input on this and so many other threads. Though likely not 'match-ready' should have my 35-40 shooting by the end of Feb. Am not having much luck trying to cast with an aluminum mold.

[Domino81]

Thank you kindly for all remarks!

I simply can't wait - this will be my first oryginal, I used only Repros so far, so dealing with 152 years old gun will be like christmass for me

First I need to get the rifle into my hands and clean it properly and as per John's suggestion slug the bore with 37 cal to determine the size. I will probably ask accurate to build 2-cavity mold having both 153 and 175 grains bullets - both were designed for Maynard 1873 35-30 as I recall. Once I will determine the size in grooves, I will order custom sizing die adjusted to 0.001 over to fit into Lyman Lubrisizer. For what I understand, both bullets would drop around .675 from the mold.

I have never found official information about the alloy. A friend of mine mentioned that the official Maynard catalogue suggested pure lead for the alloy.

In general, It looks like my rifle comes from late 1865 production. I have found another Sporting 1873 on Gunauction centerfire, that has Serial no. 25943 1865 marked on receiver, where in case of my rifle both the receiver and barrel have the same 25917 Serial NO. Seems like the factory was using the same barrels long after the Civil War.
http://www.gunsinternational.com/guns-f ... =100785144

On top of that, ex-owner reports that the gun is slightly loose on the face - so I will need to look into that and try to find spare parts if possible.

I will also need to look at ignition channel and check for wear and possible cavitation. Most probably I will have to fix it with platinum or white gold & re-drill for further protection.

I wonder which of the 3 companies producing cases : ssfirearms, rockumountain or Lodgewood have the largest possible Black Powder capacity? Does anyone know? None of these companies share details on the dimensions of these cases for easy comparison?

I plan to shoot case full of powder with a card wad on top and place the bullet with SPG with a bullett starter that I will need to re-create from pictures on bpbase:

http://www.pbase.com/halp/image/69976536

I only wonder if grease in one groove will be enough.. would that be the right way?

I realize that it will not be the most accurate rifle even for mid-range. All the reports I have read so far indicate that the rifle should be accurate to 200-300 yards max as reported by Major Ned Roberts in "The Shuetzen Rifle" book that a friend borrowed to me. I will then maybe consider purchasing spare barrel for 40-70 cases with some modern twist rate that would give some more long-range potential.

[John Bly]

Dominic, I sent you a PM. ALL Maynard frames were made during the Civil War. The serial numbers ran into the 27,000 range. 20,002 carbines were delivered to the Gov't up to 1865 when the contract was cancelled. Martial marked ones show up in the 22,000 range so there are about 2000 missing ones. Sporting guns were sold during the war and they are serial numbered in the War production range. '65 and '73 models run together as far as serial numbers go. I guess if they sold a percussion gun or a cartridge gun they grabbed any frame and finished it up. Some '73 and all '82 models were built on carbine frames from guns bought back from the Gov't. They were converted from percussion with a wedge riveted into the top of the frame.

I think an alloy like 30/1 or with more tin would be preferred over pure lead. The single grease groove should work OK for the 35/30. It worked well in the 1800's. A shooter I know in Ohio really likes shooting his 35/30 rifle. I'll have to pick his brain for you.

[Domino81]

Hey Folks!

After a few months I have finally managed to pick up my Maynard! It spend a whole lots of time on customs in my country with Police involvement, but finally I got it!

It seems the bore is in fine condition.. seems 6 grooves one turn in 28 inches, so it does neraly whole one turn in this 26 inch barrel. The bore measures .368 in grooves just as John suggested.




The gun itself had this niece 150 years old box that held some accessories - 2X oryginal case, Oryginal 2-cavity mold, a device to fit the bullet into brass case, powder measure and some other device that I do not know the purpose of..




The rest however needed a bit of de-rusting treatment and polishing with sand paper, so that now it can be re-oxidized for black colour. The wood is also good, It has been treated with solvent, than oiled and waxed. The pics below are before oxidation..
It is my first rifle restoration.. So there might be some mistakes...




It looks like the oryginal Platinum ingnition channel fitting is long gone, so I will need to talk to Goldsmith to re-fit it with gold-platinum alloy to prevent further cavitation.

I have gotten some re-pro parts from SS firearms including 20 oryginal cases, forend stock to fit on the barrel and 2 new nipples.

That Accurate 37-153M Mold is also on the way, as the oryginal is a bit beaten, I have dropped some test bullets and it seems not to keep temperature equally stable, besides that the base of the bullet is a bit damaged, so in order to make it accurate, It needs a new mould. This one will (hopefully) drop .369 (one thousands of an inch more than groove diameter) bullets from 30:1 Tin alloy

I have also ordered some globe sight and rear signt from Red River at Buffalo Arms.

I can't wait to see it back on the range again! These are the old letters from oryginal Maynard catalogue from 1880's that indicated some of Maynard .35 capabilites.. Seems like the Rifle could be even capable of 500 yards..

[mdeland]

I'm curious not having ever worked with a percussion gun and brass case. How is the case set up to hold the powder and yet be ignited by a cap flash?

[Woody]

Just a small flash hole too small for the powder to leak out. If you are concerned about moisture etc., you can place a disk of waxed or lacquered paper inside the case. The Percussion cap is a musket cap and has more than enough power to instantly burn through to the powder charge. I've had a number of original CW percussion ignition system cartridge carbines. The concept works extremely well.

Woody

[John Bly]

I'm pleased that you finally have it. The bore looks quite shootable. Your mold choice should work well for you. I would have left the original finish intact but it's your gun now and you can do with it as you wish. If you restore the flash hole in the breech face the original size was about .040" or 1 mm diameter. When I repair one I make the new hole .046" as it is a bit easier to drill. I currently use Niobium for the insert but platinum was used originally on sporting models. Keep us posted on your progress and shooting.