1859 sharps pedersoli .54 cal

[DD4lifeusmc]

Well the wind finally died down so could test fire it.
A buddy and I first fired about 30 rounds each thru our .44cal new Army replicas.
Mine are 30 years orld Navy arms replicas, traditional blued steel 8" barrels.
we were shooting fair groups off hand at 10 yds. But you could tell neither of us had shot a while. I caught myself flinching and pulling. Also the grips are too small for my hand.
So will work on some new grips later.
His is a brand new Pietta stainless. His #10 caps kept falling off.
Any ideas? I was thinking a better set of nipples.
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Onto the Sharps. Didn't try for groups or distance. Today was test fire and see what's what.
Mostly calm but a little breeze. Can't believe how wobbly I've gotten since I'm a lot older, so used a make shift bench.
We did a measured 20 yards just to start be on paper and not so far to walk.
Aiming at 1 1/2" bulls 1st shot 6" high and 3" right.Probably jerked.
Was expecting a lot more kick.
this was paper cartridge 80 grains fffg real BP.
Next two were even with the bull elevation and 1 and 3 inches to right.
Next one clipped the bull at 10:00.
I had lubed the sleeve with a dab of antisieze beforehand and lubed the block assembly sides with lubriplate 105. After 6 shots could just feel the stiffness coming on, but not bad.
Bullets were lubed with homemade lube.
However the first 3 caps misfired. Caps went off but not the charge.
Closing breech did tear the paper, but not very good, and noticed there was a fair gap between the powder and end of breech. So poured a little bulk fffg in the back.
Happened one more time about 3 rd or 4th round.
Manual calls for 80 gr real fffg. But appears I need longer bullet, or filler or more powder.
Realizing a soldier in field may not have anything but more powder, leaves a question.
So will do some more firing to determine.
After 3rd shot tried loading a brass cartridge, it would not go in. Hopefully it was just the powder residue from previous. As a before firing test, the brass alone would fit.
Maybe do more testing later in the week..
As far as pleasure goes. It was fun to shoot.
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I dug a 8' wide trench in edge of hill on my property. Dug about 15' into hill. The target end is about 18" deep and the removed dirt is piled up so total height is about 4'
Target bottom is resting on ground. My backstop is bales of hay.
2 bales end to end left to right two bales deep. Next level is 4 bales left to right, and one bale deep ( bales are about 18" wide x 16" high by about 36" long) My stack is 6' wide and 3' deep. top row is 2 bales end to end left to right. Behind the bales is a sheet of 3/4 wafer board and the dirt wall.
Only 4 of the .44 cals penetrated the wafer board. He was using 777 I was using real BP. Mine were the ones penetrating. All of the Sharps penetrated the wood. 3 hit the wood sideways. The straw caused them to tumble I would guess.
Here's a pic of the straw backstop. Going to have a couple dumptrucks of dirt delivered this week to add to the backstop height.
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Question how do you insert a fullsized image into the post.

[arcticap]

Originally Posted by DD4lifeusmc

His is a brand new Pietta stainless. His #10 caps kept falling off.
Any ideas? I was thinking a better set of nipples.

Perhaps it was the blow back from the 777 powder or recoil, and not their fit that was contributing to the #10 caps falling off.
#10 Remington caps usually fit the blued factory Pietta 1858 nipples relatively perfect.
He should at least pinch the caps that he has until he gets new nipples or tries different caps.
Sometimes powder fouling accumulating on the cones will help the caps to stay on, but in this case that may not be a factor.
The CCI #10's are usually the tightest fitting caps but that doesn't mean that they will fit his nipples any better. And I don't know which brand that he's using, or if they were being properly seated.

There are several different brands of nipples that can be tried based on the size and brand of caps that he intends to use, and how much that he wants to spend.
Someone found these stainless Rydon nipples below for the Pietta 1858 that are said to fit #11 caps, and they're about the least expensive compared to most others. But there haven't been any actually reports about how well they work and fit #11 caps.

http://www.buffaloarms.com/Detail.aspx?PROD=714717

As mentioned there's also the factory blue nipples.
And then there's Slix-shot nipples which reportedly take #11's, or Treso nipples, both of which will cost twice as much as the Rydon nipples.
The more expensive nipples have smaller flash holes which shouldn't allow as much blow back.
But who knows if that's the problem.
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Thanks for the range report.
It's nice to hear that you enjoyed shooting the Pedersoli Sharps.
And sounds like you put a lot of effort into building your backstop.
If fouling is a problem perhaps Swiss or another black powder won't create as much.
Once you get more familiar with the rifle I'll bet that everything will pan out just fine.