Went to the range today, taking my new 1851's I got from SIXGUN and my .50 cal Shiloh Sharps 1863 Military 3 band rifle. I started with the Colt 1851's at 25 yards. Load was 32 grains, wonder wad, and a .454 ball. What fun!!!!!! The short front sights present a problem. I have read that most SASS guys send these guns off for some mods, one of them being a taller front sight. I can see why because one pistol shot dead on line but 18 inches high, and the other shot 12 inches high but a bit to the left. At 25 yards, groups were about 4 inches. One of the pistols loading ram arm kept coming off the barrel after each shot. Not a function of the loads, just a weak spring. I will have to send both off for some SASS gunsmithing before I consider carrying them for sure.
Then on to the .50 sharps where I started at 100 yards. Got to admit that my eyes are struggling to see the proper sight picture on these sights. Half way through the shooting I put on my reading glasses and things got a lot more fun. Generally the groups with this rifle, which shoots a 435 grain bullet behind 58 grains of fffg and lit off by musket cap, run about three inches at one hundred yards. The guy next to me came over as I was shooting and was talking and I could tell he wanted to shoot it so I loaded it up and passed it to him. He shot at a white piece of target paper above the targets and hit high but really liked the rifle. My next shot as he was watching the loading process was a direct hit on the paper and it blew over the berm. This 1863 has been modified by having tool steel powder cases made which I load the powder in and seal with a cork. I load the bullet to the rifling, insert one of the cases, seal the chamber and prime the nipple and let loose.
Once I got the glasses on and the wind calmed down a bit, the groups closed in. Below is my last 6 shot group at 100 yards.
my loading set up for this rifle::
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anyway, loving this rifle and couldn't be happier with its performance
blessings[/img]
Range day with my 1863
- Mike Johnson
- Posts: 171
- Joined: Wed Dec 12, 2007 10:11 pm
- Location: York, Pa
Range day with my 1863
Shiloh 1863 .54 MR