Shooting the Martini Henry Sportster .450/.577 and Mauser 1871 single shot black powder rifle

[Sarg]

Nice, is that at 50yds ?

 

[fourfive8]

Nice, is that at 50yds ?

Yes, 50 yards off the bench. Original sights with front sight “saddle” added to lower point of impact for practicality. Fairly soft .465” diameter 440 gr ACC mold, grease groove cast bullet of 10.5 BHN with gas check. SPG lubed. “Russian duplex” load with 6 gr black powder under 28 gr 5744. CCI large pistol magnum primer. Lightly compressed Dacron fiber filler over powder. Muzzle velocity 1150 fps with SD of about 10 fps.

 

[Sarg]

Here is my bitza I bought in a box of parts & worked up some impressive Nitro loads for, has a small firing pin block in it.

Shoots very well with jacketed .458 bullets 300gr 350gr to 400gr I’ve tried so far.

Even with these crappy old sights .

 

[fourfive8]

I like it! “Artillery carbine”. Yes, the sights leave some for precise shooting. Same sights as on mine. I epoxied a blade on front which slightly helps sight picture and lowers POI.

 

[fourfive8]

Here’s a “visual” of the load I’ve settled on. I use long tweezers to tease, kind of pull the Dacron down into the case. Many sources show larger smokeless charges of powders like 4198 to get muzzle vel up to approx original vel of 1400-1450 fps. But I’ve found igniting smaller, reasonable smokeless charges in huge volume cases like the 577-450 and the 577 Snider leads to inconsistent ignition. I’m always cautious about pushing old BP originals too far so settled on about 1150 FPS and the Russian duplex of 6 gr BP and 28 gr 5744 under 440 gr cast bullet. The small BP charge along with the Dacron ensures consistent ignition. These Magtech 24 gauge cases use large pistol primers.

 

[fourfive8]

To add “saddle” to original front barleycorn sight on M-H, use piece of mild steel stock, hacksaw and file… shape to fit. Pics of fitted saddle and finished epoxied-on front blade. Easy to remove if desired so original is not altered.

 

[Sarg]

To add “saddle” to original front barleycorn sight on M-H, use piece of mild steel stock, hacksaw and file… shape to fit. Pics of fitted saddle and finished epoxied-on front blade. Easy to remove if desired so original is not altered.

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Haha that’s exactly what I did to my sight but I soldered on as a fair bit of recoil in that little rifle, would you believe while dressing (why I have green masking tape on barrel) down & sighting I took one rub too much & it’s high again !

Martini’s are very strong rifles & action type (unlike a Snider) you can easily match powerful 45/70 loads & really beyond, as long as you have strong brass & small diameter firing pin.

When I started years ago I lost interest in the 577/450 as too messy in a Martini to clean BP (for me) out but put more effort in as I like this little commercial sporter, with this new load never one miss fire or hang fire, well until I thought I was very smart & reloaded some old military & Kynoch Berdan primed brass & I immediately remembered on firing (or trying to) them that my berdan primers won’t be Magnum primers which is essential in this huge case.

CBC/Magtec brass is very thin & huge ballon head so only suitable for BP or very light Nitro loads, a great pity as a God send for most shooters of 577/450 - 577 Snider & with the 32ga brass many other cartridges to.

 

[fourfive8]

Parallel thinking

One thing I learned with these older rifles is that many have generous chambers and most sizing dies are often “smallish”. They over-work the brass which will lead to split necks, reducing the lifespan of the brass. Annealing necks and shoulders helps extend case life. My next project is honing out the neck of the 577-450 sizing die a few thousandths, to more closely match the chamber on my rifle. Usually an hour or two job.

 

[fourfive8]

Even though the 6 gr BP primer “boost” charge is relatively very small, both the bore and cases require special cleaning to prevent BP corrosion. I use moose milk, Hoppes 9 and oil for the bore. I decap the cases, clean the primer pockets and wash cases inside and out with hot soapy water using a test tube brush. Dry on rack.

Was able to shoot a 5 round group and a 4 round group early this morning before the rattle battle and muzzle brake rangers usually show up. 5 round group wa 1.3” and the 4 round group was .92”

 

[Grumpy gumpy]

With cleaning the brass, I drop my fired cases (at the range) into a plastic wide mouth bottle of detergent and water, this keeps the fouling soft and makes it easier to remove at home. Some times I will even de-prime the case before dropping it in the bottle
Gumpy

 

[fourfive8]

Yes, sometimes I’ll decap at the range… if I have the chance. I made this portable decapper for that purpose. It’s fairly universal and works for several BPCR cartridges. Works so well I use it at home. Also handy because I normally remove the decapping pins from all my sizing dies so use a universal decapper or this homemade one for the larger BPCR cases that won’t fit into the universal decapper.

 

[fourfive8]

After carefully checking my load data for the last two groups shot yesterday, the only difference between the two was the type of gas check used. The 1.3” group bullets had Gator checks. The .9” group bullets had Hornady gas checks. All other load specs were identical.

The copper stock thickness used for both checks is the same. The Hornady checks are slightly smaller in height and width. Pic of Hornady checkm on right, Gator on right. I’ll have to shoot a couple more groups off the bench to confirm that the Hornady checked bullets shoot better. I have a bunch of Gator checks so may have to use them in my 45-70 Trapdoor and reserve the Hornady checks for the 577-450 M-H.

 

[Grumpy gumpy]

Have you recovered any projectiles with the different gas checks? I’m wondering if you are loosing any when shot. I was given some 25 cal checks of a different brand to the ones I normally use and they were looser to fit. They crimped on ok
Gumpy