Burniside Question

[Dave Fox]

I rarely shoot my Burniside. Preparatory to taking it out this weekend, I note most of my brass does not have the dished-out base around the primer pocket. How harmful is it to shoot a Burnside with flat base cases? Can one judiciously dish-out the primer pocket in flat base cases?

Thanks!

[Lou Lou Lou]

Is it a percussion gun? Are you saying that the area around the touch hole is not chamfered?

[gmkmd]

I've seen the Burnside cases made both ways; flat-based and with the slightly dished out area around the flash-hole. As long as they fit in your gun, it shouldn't matter much.

[John Holland]

The internal shape of the moveable breech block comes to a point to fit into the dished out shape, or inverted cone, of the original Burnside case. The center part with the tip, or pointed part, is made of Platinum. If you shoot flat faced Burnside cases the Platinum tip will be flattened and damaged beyond repair. Platinum was used because it wouldn't burn out. You really want cases with bases shaped exactly like the original Burnside case.

[ms3635v]

Lodgewood sells the white nylon cases. A team member uses them with his Burnside and the work very well.

[gmkmd]

Question for John;
What happens if the platinum insert does become flattened? Does it effect the firing reliability, or just the gas seal? If one is purchasing a Burnside (for shooting), is it then important to carefully inspect the flash hole area for such damage?
I wonder if we could then extrapolate to say that if your Burnside does already have a flattened flash hole insert, it would perform better with the flat-bottomed cases as they would fit better against the flash hole.

[Jim Brady Knap's Battery]

I had a Burnside way back and played with it some. One thing I noticed was that with the flat based cases the rear part of the block was not pushed fully to the rear and caused some leakage and also kept the hammer from striking centered on the nipple.

Jim Brady
2249V
Knap's Battery

[John Holland]

In addition to what Jim said, which is correct, flattening of the Platinum tip can eventually seal off the ignition channel. The Burnside also has gain twist rifling which, in my opinion, is very finicky as to powder charge and bullet combinations.

[Dave Fox]

has anyone tried to modify flat base Burnside cases by grinding a 'dish' around the flash hole?

[Eggman]

I would place a 1/8" drillbit in my handy dandy portable drill and apply it to the touch hole until a nice recess is carved out. I assume there is enough of a base there to do this. Try not to let it slip thereby drilling a 1/8" hole in the side of your finger.

[Dave Fox]

Just finished taking a chance of flat-base Burnside brass and creating craters around the vents. 3/8" bit did a reasonable job of matching the craters in brass that came properly shaped. There's plenty of brass thickness in the bases of those Burnside rounds. Just hope I've not already ruined the platinum teat in the base if the carbine's chamber.