.577cal Pritchett rifle comes home with me today!

[tacfoley]

tac have you seen those wooden plugs on the auction site , they are tapered and squared ended so might be able to fit in your bullets with enough sticking out to expand
e@ay number 353367895949
i got some here somewhere so i try and find them

Mornin', Sir!!! Just received a couple of hundred tapered base-plugs in the morning mail!!!! Many thanks indeed! What a great-hearted fellow you are, to be sure! I must find a way to repay your kindhoodship somehow.

[loiner1965]

Mornin', Sir!!! Just received a couple of hundred tapered base-plugs in the morning mail!!!! Many thanks indeed! What a great-hearted fellow you are, to be sure! I must find a way to repay your kindhoodship somehow.

my pleasure....they might fit in the base of your bullets.....protruding enough to expand the skirt on firing.

[TALL]

HI TAC,
I have been following this with great interest and green eyes,
i have a .54 hollow base minie mould, my .54 Hawken is smooth bore, so i do not use this,
would it work paper patched to get yours shooting or is it to small,
you may even be able to drill it out to make your flat sided bullet,
just an idea, let me know,
yours if you want it,
regards,
T

[tacfoley]

HI TAC, I have been following this with great interest and green eyes, i have a .54 hollow base minie mould, my .54 Hawken is smooth bore, so i do not use this, would it work paper patched to get yours shooting or is it to small, you may even be able to drill it out to make your flat sided bullet, just an idea, let me know, yours if you want it, regards,T

That's a very kind offer, Tall, but it is sadly waaaay too small - no amount of paper patching would make that up. Thanks again for the kind offer, yet another example of why belonging to a great group like this can demonstrate such offers of help when required.

[mel h]

TAC. Among my varied collection of 'useful things' I have a nice original .577 mould which I'm told makes a Prichett bullet, I wouldn't mind casting a few for you to try if you wish. I do have the measurements somewhere, they're under .577 . The downside is that the only lead I have is old scrap stuff.

This is not a disguised 'selling' post

[WebleyWombler]

The downside is that the only lead I have is old scrap stuff.

Almost the only 'pure' lead available nowadays is old scrap lead pipe and roofing lead . It is perfect for making Muzzle loader ammo. Just cut any solder joints out and water that down with pure lead to make smokeless cartridge bullets. Only problem then is guessing the hardness.

Salvaged range lead should be sorted before use and often is only fit for plinking ammo

[DesG]

I'm just curious as I've never used wooden plugs. Didn't they decide that the gas pressure alone was enough to expand the skirt into the rifling? I have access to a longer range to play in now so would like to try my 577 ph musketoon out to 300+ and will experiment.

[tacfoley]

TAC. Among my varied collection of 'useful things' I have a nice original .577 mould which I'm told makes a Prichett bullet, I wouldn't mind casting a few for you to try if you wish. I do have the measurements somewhere, they're under .577 . The downside is that the only lead I have is old scrap stuff.

This is not a disguised 'selling' post

Mel, 'old scrap stuff' is exactly the right stuff to use. Especially if it is pre-Atomic age - ie, before 1945, as most of it is. My hoard of scrap is from a Victorian shop canopy and, legally-acquired, from a church re-roofing. The old stuff having been relocated by a bunch of itinerant lead re-locators, the parish council took the bold decision to stop funding the care-free/tax-free travelling lifestyle of the thieves by installing this new frawk 'lead' substitute. It is totally useless for anything else other than making into thin sheets of waterproof roofing, as it has a melting point even lower than Cerosafe.

I'd be VERY grateful to see a couple of your bullets - .577" is the nominal size anyhow, as they get paper-patched when making them up into the official Enfield cartridge.

You might even have my address? If not, please PM me when convenient.

[mel h]

Mel, 'old scrap stuff' is exactly the right stuff to use. Especially if it is pre-Atomic age - ie, before 1945, as most of it is. My hoard of scrap is from a Victorian shop canopy and, legally-acquired, from a church re-roofing. The old stuff having been relocated by a bunch of itinerant lead re-locators, the parish council took the bold decision to stop funding the care-free/tax-free travelling lifestyle of the thieves by installing this new frawk 'lead' substitute. It is totally useless for anything else other than making into thin sheets of waterproof roofing, as it has a melting point even lower than Cerosafe.

I'd be VERY grateful to see a couple of your bullets - .577" is the nominal size anyhow, as they get paper-patched when making them up into the official Enfield cartridge.

You might even have my address? If not, please PM me when convenient.

I'll make a few up for you when I get some time. I've just had a look at some notes I made a while since and they measured up at .565 which seems to be three thou less than the specification size for the Pritchett of this style with the radiused concave base as opposed to the plug base.
Mel.