Welp, now I know why my home cast round balls were hard to seat in my Rogers & Spencer on Saturday. I measured a few of them with my micrometer today and they mic at .456 - .457. There must be a little tin in the lead that I used. I'll therefore reserve the rest of the batch for my Ruger Old Army, which takes .457 balls.
The rest of the lead will be used in casting bullets for my .44-40 rifles or ~.690 balls for my Brown Bess.
I'll have to order some 99% pure lead from Rotometals.
Showing posts with label rogers & spencer. Show all posts
Showing posts with label rogers & spencer. Show all posts
Monday, April 15, 2019
Saturday, April 13, 2019
Got the Rogers & Spencer Out to the Range
Tonight I got the Euroarms Rogers & Spencer percussion revolver out to the range.
The load I used consisted of .454 balls that I cast last weekend, the wads I made last week lubed with neatsfoot oil, 30 grains of Swiss FFFg black powder, and Remington No.10 caps. This has mild recoil and good accuracy in this gun.
Accuracy was good. Here are my first 18 shots fired one handed at 7 yards:
My point of aim was at 6 o'clock on the bull. The dark spots on the cardboard backer are from the felt wads.
And this was my final 6 shots:
The sights on the R&S suck by modern standards. The rear is a V-notch milled into the top strap, while the front is a small brass cone. Seeing the front sight under florescent lighting is a real challenge with middle aged eyes. I'm happy with these groups.
The wads lubed with neatsfoot oil appeared to work at least as well as wads lubed with 50/50 beeswax/mutton tallow. I examined a few wads after firing. The side toward the powder was black and they were dry to the touch, but they remained intact. I could probably rinse them out and relube them after they dried, and reuse them at least once.
One thing I was disappointed in was the balls -- they seemed harder to start than Hornady .454 swaged balls. I cast them from lead I bought off eBay. While the lead was soft enough to scratch with my thumbnail, they may have a bit of tin in them. This wouldn't make a difference with balls to be shot in a smoothbore but it makes loading a caplock revolver more difficult, and places more stress on the loading lever.
Cleanup of the gun was quick. The nickel plating of this revolver allows fouling to wipe right off, and the neatsfoot oil apparently kept the fouling soft in the bore. Shooting Swiss powder helps. In my experience it's not only more energetic than Goex, it's noticeably cleaner burning as well.
The load I used consisted of .454 balls that I cast last weekend, the wads I made last week lubed with neatsfoot oil, 30 grains of Swiss FFFg black powder, and Remington No.10 caps. This has mild recoil and good accuracy in this gun.
Accuracy was good. Here are my first 18 shots fired one handed at 7 yards:
My point of aim was at 6 o'clock on the bull. The dark spots on the cardboard backer are from the felt wads.
And this was my final 6 shots:
The sights on the R&S suck by modern standards. The rear is a V-notch milled into the top strap, while the front is a small brass cone. Seeing the front sight under florescent lighting is a real challenge with middle aged eyes. I'm happy with these groups.
The wads lubed with neatsfoot oil appeared to work at least as well as wads lubed with 50/50 beeswax/mutton tallow. I examined a few wads after firing. The side toward the powder was black and they were dry to the touch, but they remained intact. I could probably rinse them out and relube them after they dried, and reuse them at least once.
One thing I was disappointed in was the balls -- they seemed harder to start than Hornady .454 swaged balls. I cast them from lead I bought off eBay. While the lead was soft enough to scratch with my thumbnail, they may have a bit of tin in them. This wouldn't make a difference with balls to be shot in a smoothbore but it makes loading a caplock revolver more difficult, and places more stress on the loading lever.
Cleanup of the gun was quick. The nickel plating of this revolver allows fouling to wipe right off, and the neatsfoot oil apparently kept the fouling soft in the bore. Shooting Swiss powder helps. In my experience it's not only more energetic than Goex, it's noticeably cleaner burning as well.
Sunday, May 08, 2016
Slow Motion Video of Rogers & Spencer Being Fired
Dad took some slow motion video of me shooting the Rogers & Spencer percussion revolver last night. I edited it down to one shot.
The load was a .454" round ball, lubed felt wad, 30 grains of 3Fg Olde Eynsford black powder, and a Remington No.10 cap.
The load was a .454" round ball, lubed felt wad, 30 grains of 3Fg Olde Eynsford black powder, and a Remington No.10 cap.
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