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Following on from the which .451 thread I went to the auction to look at the Parker hale volunteer, it was very tired with worn woodwork and a defective lock but still went for strong money for a fixer upper. So I went to look at the Gibbs advertised locally, and was glad I did! The owner was packing up shooting so just wanted rid of stuff. I ended up coming away with a beautiful rifle, powder, sizers, some bullets and a whole bunch of moulds, one of which looks to be a custom job dropping an adjustable 500-600gn Pritchett style cruise missile for paper patching. Being relatively new to muzzle loading it seems I have a whole lot more to learn!


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That is a lovely, lovely rifle and one that I've coveted for some time! Excellent find!

Very nice.
It's not yours anymore though....looks like the dog claimed it!

That is a very good looking rifle, I look forward to a range report

Pedersoli turn out some very well made guns for the money.

Thanks for the comments, I'm still waiting for plod to knock on the door and accuse me of stealing it. Yes Lola seems to want a go with it, the white paw just visible is our pup Gunner, he wasn't as keen! I'll probably be shooting it next week for the first time there is a bit of ground work to do first. I was given about twenty paper patched bullets and some others along with the patching paper and jig but no template. The plan today is to try and unwrap one and transfer it onto some brass so I can cut identical patches then just measure everything so I can start turning out identical bullets. Then I need to get my head around the false chamber, pedersoli website puts suggested charge down as 72gn up to 100gn, the seller told me he used 67gn with the patched bullets, I just want to reassure myself that there will be no air gap between the powder in the chamber and the bullet sat on top of it. Here are the bullets (.303 for size comparison) and moulds.


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I wouldn't worry about a gap tween the powder and the bullet from the patent breech, it is not an issue unless you are using wads seated on the powder.

I would look to making a template that fits the bullet as the centre left bullet in the top photograph looks like it is badly patched with the edges not butting up that could just be the photo though.

legs748 wrote:I'm still waiting for plod to knock on the door and accuse me of stealing it.

OK, fair enough....

Right, you thieving little toe-rag! Get that wrapped up and sent my way before I have you I front of the Beak to get what you justly deserve!

Or worse, I'll send saddler to you for the weekend where your fridge will be empty, your bathroom unusable and Lola pregnant!

Go on, go get some suitable packaging!

Every day is a school day, you are right dromia, there is about 1/8" gap between the wraps. So, just had a look in "From musket to metallic cartridge" by oyvind flatnes (bloody marvellous book, would recommend it to anyone) he recommends making a strip of paper long enough to wrap the bullet three times and wide enough to cover the bearing surface plus 2/3 bullet diameter. Then make a cut down through all three layers and use the centre section as the template, he doesn't say but I assume the cut should be made in a helical fashion rather than straight? The seller did say he put the patches on wet, and the book says they can shrink if you do this, maybe this is what has happened.

Sim G wrote:

legs748 wrote:I'm still waiting for plod to knock on the door and accuse me of stealing it.

OK, fair enough....

Right, you thieving little toe-rag! Get that wrapped up and sent my way before I have you I front of the Beak to get what you justly deserve!

Or worse, I'll send saddler to you for the weekend where your fridge will be empty, your bathroom unusable and Lola pregnant!

Go on, go get some suitable packaging!

Sh1t they are on to me, I swear I gave him what he asked for it!