Parker Hale Enfield P53 rifled musket.

[dromia]

Various ways of getting a barrel slug on a muzzle loader.

Me I use an oversize slug long enough to be driven into the muzzle at least 1/2" with at least the same sticking out, the slug is then withdrawn gently with a set of vice grips.

The other method is when I only have a small slug, lengthwise. I drop a 1/2" x 9" of brass rod down the barrel tap the slug, in this case an 8 bore round ball, into the muzzle and then knock it out by putting the rifle muzzle pointing to the floor and shaking the rifle up and down so that the brass rod knocks the slug out.

Bore needs to be clean and lightly oiled as does the lead slug.

Co2 bullet pullers are good too but tend not to work too well with progressive depth rifling as the slug doesn't seal at the breech end and they really need seating down there for it to work..

Bullet pullers can also be used but it is best to pre drill the slug through the middle to help the puller bite.

[matdoodson]

Ah ha! That sounds like a much cheaper method than some of the bore measuring tools I found via John Google!

I need to get me some lead...!

Cheers

[dromia]

You will obviously need a set of decent callipers to measure the slug with.

[matdoodson]

So I finally got to shoot my P53! Under guidance of a more experienced black powder shooter at the club.

I bought the P53 off Dirtbag on here. He had never fired it, so it was a total unknown. We put a bore scope down the barrel and it looked pretty good, no blockages. We removed the nipple, cleared out some guff and checked we could blow through in to the barrel, all good. We offered up a number of projectiles that my associate had brunged with him, .571, .575 and .579. I think we went for the .571 Pritchets in the end - I'll have to check that and find out which mould he used.

On to the firing... on the 50m range...

Test fired with just a top hat - all good.
Test fired a top hat with a paper ball - all good.
Test fired with a 40grn load no projectile - all good.
Test fired with a 40 grn load and the .571 projectile and we did this:



Then we upped the powder to 50 grns and did this:



Then it got dark so we stopped.

But what a top result. Amazing that 154 year old gun that hasn't been fired for an unknown period of time can do that first time out. A really enjoyable first play with black powder as well.

Now, can anyone recommend a good supplier of replacement parts for the P53? I'm after some nipples and band bolts...

Onwards into the world of black powder we go......

Cheers,
Mat

[snayperskaya]

I think Minsterley Ranges have one of these for sale, also a shorter carbine version.

[dromia]

Good start but the rifle will do far better than that, I'd up the load to service level 2 1/2 drams or 68 gns, I use 69 as thats what my measure drops, you need to get enough oomph to expand the skirts reliably, whereabouts down the barrel was the combustion ring?

Which version is it and what rifling does it have.

Dysons, Tanners, Kranks, and many others all do nipples, I like the beryllium nipples in the Enfields and platinum lined ones in the Whitworth/Volunteer.

If buying nipples for an original be sure they are Imperial not that bloody metric. Pedersoli have a new line in Enfields so you may be offered these parts which all the bits are in that bloody metric, you wouldn't think we kicked the s*** out of the French 200 years ago, so their parts don't match up well with proper originals

What paper were you using on the Pritchetts?

[matdoodson]

Cool.. I look forward to further testing. 68 gns here we come!

Excuse my ignorance, but I'm not familiar with the term "combustion ring" and cannot see anything obvious on the barrel.

It's the 3-band version - I'm lead to believe it's progressive rifling.

Cheers for the nipple tips - I'd heard about the Imperial / Metric gotcha!

No paper used - maybe that means we were using minie's instead? I've asked my black powder man to clarify what projectile we used. I noticed the Group Buy for the original Enfield pritchett mould on NOE has progressed - I'm still up for experimenting with that!

[dromia]

Combustion ring is the ring of fouling in the barrel after each shot where the expanding combustion chamber caused by the bullet travelling down the barrel exceeds the capacity required for the powder to burn efficiently and it fouls the barrel at that point.

If you wipe between shots then each time you put the patch down you should feel this ring somewhere in the barrel, it is quiet subtle but still noticable if you are feeling for it.

As you increase the powder charge the position of the combustion ring will move towards the muzzle, ideally you are looking for a charge that completes its efficient burn at the muzzle just afore the bullet exits.

Theoretically at least that should give best accuracy as it makes for the most consistent combustion, black powder is not a very efficient propellant only up to 50% of it gets consumed when ignited the rest is left as fouling and smoke, so anything that gives a consistent and efficient burn should help accuracy.

That said it is a bit like velocity standard deviation, the smaller that is then the more accurate that load should be, however the smallest SD loads are not always the most accurate, same applies with the BP combustion ring, however the most accurate loads are usually found when the combustion ring starts getting close to the muzzle.

[legs748]

Last week I shot a 13 round card , off-hand at 50m. The first 5 shots were in one ragged hole in the 10 ring. The next 5, the group opened up to 3". The last three were all over the place.
I attribute the deterioration to me being 73 years old - I am still stronger than most people but my endurance, particularly that of my eyesight when concentrating, is not what it was.
Fred

I'm 5 years younger than you, Fred, but have similar problems; even a 24 inch varmint barrelled .22 is more than I can hold steady, in the standing position - even though I go horse riding twice a week and work as a signalman on a steam railway.

(and, for those of you who have never taken a 16.2 stallion for an hour's work out in a school - no, the rider does NOT just sit there, while the horse does all the work! Sometimes I think it would be less effort for me to carry him . . . )

Left bicep starts to twitch, and the muzzle goes all over the place. In theory, a 20 inch standard barrel ought to be far less accurate - but I can hold one of them steady for a full card. Unfortunately, my days of being able to hold an P.1853 on target (like my days of firing steam locos on the Kent & E. Sussex Railway) are gone. But I'd love to get my hands on a 1970s Parker-Hale P.1858, or a Musketoon . . .

Jack

I was in Henry Kranks the other day and there was about four or five s/h parker hale artillery carbines (musketoon), I didn't check serial numbers to determine vintage as I was in there picking some bits up for my gorgeous 1981 PH 1858.

As to the quality of lee moulds, mine casts really easily but drops out of round .575 across the cavity and .577 depth from the split line, when I get the time and can manage to get the bloody thing apart I'm going to stone a thou of each shut out face and blue the split back in and see what happens, cos size on size is a sod to load. I'm also looking to get hold of a .575 sizer just to make sure.

[matdoodson]

Re: combustion ring... that makes sense, however, rightly or wrongly we didn't wipe between shots!? Nevertheless an interesting measurement / variable to observe.

As to the quality of lee moulds, mine casts really easily but drops out of round .575 across the cavity and .577 depth from the split line, when I get the time and can manage to get the bloody thing apart I'm going to stone a thou of each shut out face and blue the split back in and see what happens, cos size on size is a sod to load. I'm also looking to get hold of a .575 sizer just to make sure.

Is it just because I'm new to this that I have no idea what most of this post means? A .575 minie is tight to load so you want to try with .573?

Obviously lots to learn in the world of black powder...!