John303
(.300 member)
20/02/16 01:00 PM
Nepalese .577 Snider

Ran across a really nice (at least in my opinion) N. Snider in .577. Long story short it came home with me. It's still full length with 3 barrel bands, shiny bore with negligible rust, stock intact - needs a good cleaning. Now to scrounge some ammo, likely find the components and load up some loads. Any comments appreciated and All take care. --- John

DoubleD
(.400 member)
20/02/16 01:36 PM
Re: Nepalese .577 Snider

What makes you think it is Nepalese?

John303
(.300 member)
20/02/16 02:07 PM
Re: Nepalese .577 Snider

Well DD I'm just going by what I was told by the smithy & some script that I can't interpret on the action tang & butt-plate. The bands are held in place by "springs", after I take it apart for cleaning I may know more. What makes you think it's not? --- John

DoubleD
(.400 member)
20/02/16 03:30 PM
Re: Nepalese .577 Snider

I don't think anything. You said Nepalese, I wondered why?

poprivit
(.333 member)
21/02/16 01:05 AM
Re: Nepalese .577 Snider

A number of years ago the people who were sellers in Shotgun News (I think - could be wrong) bought a whole group of .577 Sniders from an old palace in Nepal. The were also some two-barreled guns similar to Gatling guns. My memory is bad, but I seem to remember there were quite a lot of guns, and they were advertised in SN for months.

DarylS
(.700 member)
21/02/16 04:59 AM
Re: Nepalese .577 Snider

Sounds like an conversion of an 1853 Enfield - the 3-band Enfield rifle.

Later-on, some were made purpose-built, but if the lock doesn't have the spring-catch-lock, it is probably a conversion(I think).

Bro has a couple Enfields - one early 2-band, one later 2-band.

Pretty neat, actually - Buffalo Arms & maybe trackoftheowlf has brass if you have a mail box States-side.

The Dominion brass is about 1/4" short so it would fit the US .58 Carbine of antiquity - very rare today.

There was a good Snider article in DEc. "Handloader"


Wayne59
(.400 member)
21/02/16 11:53 AM
Re: Nepalese .577 Snider

Brass can be made from 24ga magtec. Dies can be purchased from Lee. Bores are the problem. They run all over the place. A lot of them were in the .590 range. A .575 mini ball mold may fit the bill.

DoubleD
(.400 member)
21/02/16 03:07 PM
Re: Nepalese .577 Snider

Go to British Militaria Forums Snider board http://britishmilitariaforums.yuku.com/forums/2/SniderEnfield-Forum#.Vskx_rF3jIU

They will be able to tell you which Snider you have, English or Nepalese. Those guys are all about the snider.

I have two Sniders. both came from the Nepalese cache.

This one is a combination of British parts and Nepalese parts. It also bears British and Nepalese marks. There are also sniders in the cahe that are 100% Nepalese.







My second Snider is a JC Lord carbine. It is 100% english and also came from the Nepalese cache.



John303
(.300 member)
22/02/16 03:12 AM
Re: Nepalese .577 Snider

Thank you all for your input, especially about the ammo options and the Forum link. I would say mine is 100% Nepalese as I cannot find any British marks at all. DD that Lord Snider is very nice, my kind of firearm to be sure. I guess I'll need to find one already "converted" as I hate to take the hacksaw to the one I have, anything in good shape, not altered and of any age is getting harder to find. --- John

Marrakai
(.416 member)
23/02/16 02:50 PM
Re: Nepalese .577 Snider

This is going to look like a hi-jack, apologies, but I have one of those J.C.Lord sniders from Nepal. Mine is mint, and I mean that, appears to be unfired. There is a story attached, perhaps in a separate thread.

What DoubleD said about those guys over on Brit Militaria forums is spot-on.
Shooting Sniders is not straight-forward, due to the fact that the groove diameter is usually no larger than the outside case diameter at the mouth. Hollow-based 'Minie' projectiles didn't work because the skirt only expanded inside the case, and didn't take the rifling properly. Various tapered plugs were tried inside the hollow base to assist expansion as the bullet left the case, but results were not consistent.

In Australia, we use oversized bullets (carefully!) and the best I have tried is the 'Bumblebee'.
A friend of mine has a Bugg mold that throws nice slugs. At about .592 they will shoot clover-leafs at 50m from my 3-bander all day long.

The other option is to shorten the cases by an eighth of an inch or so, and custom-make (or modify) a mold for a heeled bullet, like the .22 Rimfire. Then the 'driving band' will take the rifling the instant the projectile starts to move forward on firing.

One thing's for sure, very few Sniders will shoot a conventionally-loaded .585 lead slug with any accuracy, hollow-based or not.

Hope this is of some interest.


John303
(.300 member)
24/02/16 02:21 AM
Re: Nepalese .577 Snider

No need for apologies Marrakai after all the is a conversation about "Sniders". Feel free to post your story here. I think that my rifle did not see any "action" it's just in too god a shape.

Oh! yes thanks for the heads up on the mini-ball - I was going to get some, I may have to rethink that. --- John



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