Shiloh '63 carbine

Support for the 1863 shooter. Discussions of powders, loads, bullets, etc.
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loophole
Posts: 179
Joined: Thu Mar 25, 2004 4:15 pm
Location: asheville

Shiloh '63 carbine

Post by loophole »

Some folks might be interested in an update on my progress with my Farmingdale 54 cal carbine.
I've taken it to the range a couple of times over the past two weeks. It is becoming my favorite rifle. I first decided on a load of 62 grs. of FFg behind a 475 gr. X-mas tree bullet. Some sources list this as the military load for the carbine.
I have my own range out to 180 yards, and my club range extends to 200. I have no opportunity to shoot gongs or silhouetts at longer ranges, and I was disappointed to learn that the rifle was sighted to shoot 7" high at 50 yards, making it difficult for me to hit any thing at 50--100 yards.
I had a machinist cut a 1/16" slot in the base of the front sight, then soldered in a brass blade about 1/8" higher than the original front sight. I then shot and filed down the front sight blade till it hit dead on at 100 yards (about 4" high at 50.)
The original front sight was .429" above centerline of bore--now it is .431. With a 22 inch barrel it doesn't take much to raise the point of impact.
I've got to get back to range to be sure, but I think I now can shoot into a 4" circle from 25--125 yards sighting center.
I was shooting yesterday in a gusty wind and shot a 3"' group at 100 yards. Long range shooters will scoff, but remember, this is with 69-year-old eyes, notch and post sights, a very short sight radius, and a stock with a comb much too low for benchrest shooting.
I tried .535 dia speer swaged roundballs. They shot about 4 inches higher than point of aim at 100 yds. 3-1/2" group.
A 315 gr Minnie ball put its group about 1-1/2" bellow the round balls.
I used SPG lube with the bullets and my own beeswax/neatsfoot oil lube on a card wad behind the roundballs. No leading with any load.
All these loads were loaded bullet first, pressed into rifling with short starter, then loose powder from brass measure.
I cleaned the chamber with a patch on a pistol cleaning rod after every 5 shots. ran a damp patch down the barrel after 15 shots.
The action opened easily all afternoon. No sign of gas leak.
Lessons learned:
--My eyes are too old for barrel sights. An MVA tang sight is on order. I'll have to drill and tap the tang--the carbine has no provision for a tang sight.
--The lock came from the factory in a terrible state of tune. The trigger pull was terrible. requiring stoning the sear notch. I need the sear portion of the mainspring lightened, but I don't trust myself to do this. The sear notch is also too deep in the tumbler. This can be fixed rather easily however.
--Most of the people who post on this site are serious target shooters. They want rifles too heavy for almost anything but target shooting, heavy
bullets for the best BC, shot at known distances with sights that cost almost as much as a good rifle, etc, etc. these folks are to be admired
for their mastery of what must be a very challenging sport. A few of us are much less driven to hit small targets at long range. A short, light
rifle, targets at ranges we learned to shoot in the east, the sense of history evoked by a sharps--these are things hat draw a different kind of shooter.
I'm thinking about trading one of my 45/70's for another percussion gun. . . .
Steve K
If at first you don't secede, try, try again.
holdover
Posts: 38
Joined: Sun Dec 26, 2010 11:23 am
Location: SW VA

Re: Shiloh '63 carbine

Post by holdover »

Steve,

good luck with your Carbine. I shoot both my rifle and carbine at N-SSA in Winchester with great results. I use the Charlie's tubes with the rapine sharps bullet. In the carbine I use the 1.2" tubes with 50 Gr FFFg, in the rifle 1.875 tubes with 64 gr FFFg and a bit of corn meal filler (different chamber length). both shoot groups in the 10 ring from a bench, I use the rifle for 200yd long range competition also. From the bench the rifle shoots 2 1/2" groups at 200 yds. Don't visit this site as often as I should, but i'll look for your posts when I come back from Winchester Monday.



Also my eyes are also 69 yrs old. What I do with the sharps is I built a insert for the sight out of brass about 1/16 thick and 1.5" long that slides between the uprights, it is drilled for 50 & 100 yds , I just flip it, a peep sight works better for me. I hold it in place with a piece of electrical tape, been doing this for over 15 yrs.
Tony2
Posts: 10
Joined: Fri Feb 12, 2010 9:39 am

Re: Shiloh '63 carbine

Post by Tony2 »

My eyes are not as good as they once were but a friend told me about the Merit optical attachment that has an adjustable iris that stick to your glasses. I bought one and using iron sights it works great.

meritcorporstion.com

Hope this helps.

Tony
Tony2
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