First shooting with the Shiloh

Support for the 1863 shooter. Discussions of powders, loads, bullets, etc.
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'63 Shiloh
Posts: 36
Joined: Thu Sep 25, 2008 4:38 am
Location: Australia

First shooting with the Shiloh

Post by '63 Shiloh »

Well, the planets must have aligned and the Police allowed me to pick up my Shiloh.

Been doing a lot of reading on the forum and taking many notes, cast up some pure lead bullets, 535gn Ped design for the .54 Shiloh.

Made my nitrated paper and forming dowel, got working on my paper carts. Ended up with the bullet and paper cart that held 55gn of Wano PPP. Had to source some caps from another shop as they are not a high demand item where I live.

The Shiloh is a 'Sporter' as I now know, with a barrel of 30". It is an early model with a three digit serial number 8xx, it was made in Farmingdale, NY.

It has a patch box and the standard sporter sights, there is some wear to the barrel finish and the lock could do with a case hardening touch up, but its mine!

Went to the range this arvo with a sense of trepidation, this was to be my first BP loading and firing that I had assembled myself. Got to the range and found I was the only one there, 'bugger, who would call the paramedics if I stuffed up?' :oops:

Anyway, fired off a couple of caps first and all looked good, the blast from the cap was making the grass move that I pointed the barrel at. I have read here that this is a good thing.

I had also read about applying some lithium grease to the back of the pressure plate, I didn't have any of the silver coloured stuff that has been recommended, so I used some Penrite high pressure grease; applied with a Q Tip.

OK, target set up at 50 metres, I used two A4 sized targets on the target board and decided to just aim in the centre and see what happens.

Inserted my first 'roll your own' cart into the chamber, closed the block and the cutter sheared the excess paper and some powder off as expected. I blew this excess off and adopted the Standing Unsupported Position, then a cap was pushed on the nipple with the hammer at half cock.

At this stage I had thoughts of setting the rifle up on a bench and holding it down with sandbags, then attach a piece of string about 30ft long and fire it remotely. Realising that I should be wearing a skirt thinking like this, I thumbed the hammer back and aimed. :wink:

The trigger was smooth and crisp, there was a 'Boom' and a lot of smoke! I stood there for a few seconds thinking 'How bloody good was that!' An inspection of the target showed that I was hitting high and to the left. I already had the elevation down as low as possible so I made some adjustments to the rear sight and continued. My smile just got bigger and bigger with each shot!

Once I had settled down I started shooting for groups, I managed an average of just under 2" with 4 groups of 5 shots at 50 metres. Just for a my own curiosity, I took aim at a large tree at approx 200 metres and fired, I saw my shot hit as it blew bark off and even a few small branches fell!

As my confidence grew I wondered about 'loose loading'. Using my bullet starter I seated a bullet right into the lands and then filled my brass measure with 80gns, I poured this in only to discover that it was well short of filling the chamber :shock: In the end, my chamber swallowed 125gns of powder. Now, this did cause some concern! Remembering some talk of recoil being stout in some loads I knew I was about to find out first hand. Ka-Boom! Yep, there was some recoil there alright, not as bad as I thought but enough to get your attention.

Needless to say I am very, very happy with this rifle, looking forward to shooting some vermin with it.

So, that about wraps up my first time shooting the Shiloh, what a great way to spend an afternoon! I fired a total of 70 rounds, most of them paper cartridges. I has no problems at all, the block slided easily throughout the session and I experienced no misfires. I brushed the Chamber out every 5 rounds and gave the entire bore a clean twice. I used a can of Ballistol to spray the sided of the block periodically, very happy with the performance of the rifle.

Next time out I will get serious and take my benchrest along and start shooting out and up to 300m.

Looks like I have some more casting and paper carts to roll up as this is very addictive!

Many thanks for all the knowledge from this site Fellers.
Mike.
1stregtengr

Shiloh

Post by 1stregtengr »

Welcome to the faternity!
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snapcap14
Posts: 279
Joined: Thu Sep 21, 2006 10:07 am

Post by snapcap14 »

Welcome to the world of the 63's
Standing on the ROCK
14th VA. Cav.
N-SSA
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