PowderCharge/Bullet ratio for Volunteer Rifle

[B-Davis]

To All (Especially Pat in Virginia):


I have been trying to figure out/justify a powder charge I have in my head for a Parker-Hale Volunteer rifle and I want to see if my math makes sense. If I am totally wrong, please tell me, because I son't want to waste my time, and any input would be greatly appreciated!
First, the rifle is a Parker-Hale Volunteer rifle with Henry rifling which is a 1:20 twist. The bullet is a Lyman 457121bm Whitworth bullet sized to 452.
When I looked at the bottom of the barrel, the charge indicated by PH is 90.5 grains of powder, with a 560 grain bullet. Now the bullet that I am firing is 475 grains. If I calculated it correctly, it is, 90.5 grains/560 grain bullet (90.5/560)=xgrains/475 grain bullet (x/475) which when calculated out x=76.76 grains.

Now, on a standard .58 caliber PH, the measurement under the barrel is 3.5 drams of black powder. Which rounding off, a dram of powder would be 27.1 grains. Whn multiplied by 3, this would be 94.85 grains of powder. I shoot a 500 grain RCBS Hogdon bullet with 46 grains of powder out of my other PH's and they ALL shot great with that charge.
Taking this as a refrence point, I came up with the ratio of 500/46= 475/x, solving the equation gives me x= 44 grains.

Would this make sense?....If I went by the old "rule of 10" Where the powder charge should be about 10% of the bullet weight, would this be right? 10% would actually be 47, so would 46 grains be a good starting point? I am looking at only shooting from 50 yds to 200 max, but most shooting would be about 100 yds maximum most of the time.


Any thoughts about the formula woudl be greatly appreciated!

Bryan M. Davis

[B-Davis]

Almost forgot, the bullet is SOFT LEAD! No tin or other materials to harden it!

[Pat in Virginia]

Bryan,

I don't think many of us worry about formulas too much, I certainly don't. Every rifle, even consecutively made rifles are a law unto themselves. You just have to start at a reasonable place and try various things only changing one of them at a time. Your rifle will tell you what it likes via the target.

I would simply start at 70 grains of Swiss (and I do mean Swiss BP) and work up at five grain increments. Per Cap'n Heaton's book of 1864, 85 grains of Curtis & Harvey #6 and 530 gr bullets is the load many of the ML target rifles were designed to use (Whitworth & Henry, e.g.). I don't think you need or want to go beyond 85 grains with a PH-Volunteer, if you do get a PAST recoil shield to protect your shoulder. Back to the powder, you can try Swiss 1 1/2 or 2F. The 1 1/2 matches the ballistics of the Curtis & Havey #6 available to the UK shooters of the 1860s. Think of the Swiss 1 1/2 as being the coarser grains in the 2F range and the 2F as being the finer. This is one of the reasons Swiss powder provides less velocity variation in the 2F range. With your lighter 475 gr bullet you can drop back to 60 or 65 grains as a starting place and try that at 100 yards and I don't think you'll need go to 85 gr of powder. If you find a charge that seems to work well using five grain increments then go up or down in 1 grain increments about that charge and see if the groups improve. (As the bullet increases in weight you can go to greater amounts of powder (and recoil) and the powder will get ignited and not just blown out the end of the barrel (ejecta).

With your short bullet and a heavy or moderately heavy load the bump-up may turn the bullet's profile into that of a trash can. I haven't tried Tim Busby's approach yet, but I think using a sweeper wad, a 1/3 of an inch of felt wads, and another wad under the base is a good idea for the Volunteer as well as the Whitworth, but I haven't tried it yet. With the deep Alex Henry rifling of a Volunteer (unless yours has the early Rigby rifling P-H used initially in the Volunteer), you can easily get a lot of gas cutting at ignition if you don't protect the bullet's base. Tim's wad stack should take care of that as well as doing a good scrubbing/lubing job.

I think the 535 grain shaver bullet should be ideal for the Volunteer, but I haven't ordered mine yet, but we know from the gentleman in NSWales, Au that the 500 grain one works very well at 100 yards. When I talked Dave Gullo (Buffalo Arms owner) into doing the 500 grian one that Lee Shaver had suggested, I ordered the 500 grain one myself along with the 575 version. I'm definitely going to get the 535 grain one sized for my P-H Whitworth and Volunteer which probably means ordering a .452 version (looking for a .4515 drop) if they offer the 535 that large. Otherwise I'll be stuck with the .451 version. A .451 will easily slide down the WW bore where .450 is almost too large for the Volunteer.

I don't know if you have seen it but there is a pretty good article on bedding a Parker-Hale at:
http://www.researchpress.co.uk/firearms/british/enfield/management09.htm The other sections of the treatise on Managing the P-H is also worth your time.

Do you know the condition of your nipple? I replaced mine with a platinum lined one made by Rick Weber. I had him make it with a rifle nipple and musket threads. If your current nipple is shot out from heavy loads (85-90 grains 1/ 1/2 and/or 2F), don't expect to get consistently good accuracy from you rifle.


Pat

[le piaf]

Hello , i have two volunteers PH , one rigby rifled and the other is henry rifled , at 110 yards , I shot with 56 gr of Swiss N°2 (FFFG) and a 457121 lyman I sized the bullets to .451 , I have lapped the lower grease band of the mould to get a more strong base . In the rigby I use a greased card box .
Accuracy : 1 MOA ....and no cleaning is needed in MLAIC events !

and don't forget that all will be ruined by a low quality nipple .

[B-Davis]

Thank you!
It sounds like for starters, I will go with 60 grains of 3f. This should be a good starter point.
Bryan

[ken chrestman]

I shot mine with excellent results at 50/100 using the Lyman bullet mold included . I shot 70 FFg Goex, a Oxyoke 44/45 cal felt wad and only sized the bullet till it was flush with the top of the sizer and then pushed it out from the bottom, this aligned the bottom in the bore when loading but allowed groove contact to the top part of the nose end, (if all that makes sense). Also an old gunsmith advised to only lube the "sides" of the wads otherwise if dipped might stick on the back of the bullet and effect accuracy. I did this by making a U shape out of sone metal banding strap to hold the wads 10 at a time from the side and dip in melted lube, worked great. Altoids tin holds a lot and keeps clean. Also I seated the wad on the powder than the bullet not together. Old felt hats can also be used.

For the Whitworth I got some 1/4 in felt, cut into 3in strips and put in lube, held up to drain, placed on waxpaper and place in freezer to harden, then cut out with punch, cutting then lubing does not give sharp corners and will not seal the best. I saw thick wads in an original cased Whitworth owned by Turner Kirkland in the 80's, it had a hex headed cleaning jag that rotated. I made mine using a .50 cal. jag, marked it with the hex punch and ground the flats and filed the grooves deeper, worked good.

Warmest Regards;

Ken Chrestman, FEC Tennessee