Romano maynard model #1 question

[wrench]

I am interested in buying a model 1 Romano Maynard, and would like to know what caliber would be best, the .36 or the .50. I know he also makes bullet moulds for both calibers. I am thinking about becoming a member and like the style and quality of this firearm.

[John Holland]

From my experience you can have too much wind drift at 100 yards with the .36 caliber Maynard.

John

[Mike McDaniel]

I've got both, currently use the .50 cal. That being said, I know other high-end shooters who swear by the .36 due to higher muzzle velocity. I'd like to try it, but am having problems getting a reliable bullet to cast. In both calibers, Romanos seem to prefer heavy charges. I'm shooting 35 grains of 3F in mine.

Try the balance, too. That .36 barrel is heavy.

[hp gregory]

when they first became available i purchased one of romanos model ones. the sights were the main reason i was interested. a good peep sight is a big help for aging eyes. the 1st model has the best set of sights on any skirmish gun that i know of. as with most new repro guns there were some teething problems but with some fine tuning it shot well. i have had the best luck with the 50 cal barrels for skirmishing. the 36 barrels i have had also shot well but they can be a little hard to deal with as far as fouling goes. the bullet mold that romano makes for the 36 seems to go a long way towards solving the fouling problem. it seems to me that with any skirmish gun the smaller the bore the more problem you have with fouling. the 50 cal barrels not only seem to shoot well but are pretty user friendly. if you use a decent lube fouling is pretty much a non issue. the top loads seem to be between 22 and 26 grains of 3f goex in a reduced cap case. most of the smith and maynard bullets weighing between 300 and 380 grns will do a good job if properly sized. a musket conversion nipple guards against fouled rounds. another down side to the 36 is that they can sometimes shoot through a bird without shattering it. you realy have to pay attention. one current concern with the romanos is that the prices have gone up from 1550 to over 3 grand. thats geting pretty close to what you can buy a rough original for. of course in this day and time nothing is cheap anymore. think back a few years at what caps and powder cost. repo muskets now cost as much as what some originals will run you. its sad reality that ours is not a cheap sport. you will most likely be happy with either 36 or 50 cal barrels but for skirmishing the 50 cal has an edge in my humble opinion.

hp gregory

[Jim Wimbish, 10395]

I originally bought a 50 caliber First Model Maynard with the 26 inch barrel and switched to the 36 caliber since I much prefer the additional weight of the smaller caliber barrel. I use Romano's 36 caliber mould and about 25 grains of 3f powder with good results. By the way, this is the load that Larry Romano recommended to me and it worked great. My barrel has a gain twist and fouling has not been an issue during team events. I got my cases from Lodgewood and they are very consistently made and shoot well.

I concur with HP that this gun has the best sights of any skirmish gun and has a significant advantage in sighting over other carbines. I have not noticed wind drift to be a problem and there is very little drop from 50 to 100 yards. Bullet weight is comparable to a Henry and the ballistic coefficient of the bullet is qulte good. I have noticed some yaw with this bullet at 100 yards and do not recommend using any lead alloy. Pure lead is the way to go.

I still have the 50 caliber barrel, but I cut it down to 20 inches, which is the more typical configuration used during the War. I never cared for the 50 caliber with the longer barrel even though that is by far the most popular configuration among NSSA shooters.

[Mike McDaniel]

That's odd...as Romano was recommending heavier charges with full capacity charges before. He may have changed to twist of the barrels.

I will concede that ~25gr is right for an original. My father was shooting about that much.

[hp gregory]

mike i have had 3 romano model ones in 50 cal. they all shot between 24 and 26 grains of goex realy realy well. oddly enough the 36 seems to take a couple of extra grains to do its best. i think you will find the lighter loads much more pleasant to shoot as well as being just as accurate. its also easier on the gun. i read once that recoil from the standard issue load was one of the very few complaints the soldiers had with the maynards. so keeping the recoil down is certainly a plus for what we do.

hp

[Eggman]

I finally got super accuracy with my original .50 cal Number 2 Maynard with the original service load of 40 grains (I use fffg) and a very light bullet similar to the original. I believe the originals like high velocity (sounds like Romano's maybe do too). You know those New England gunsmiths really knew their stuff so sometimes I don't think it hurts to duplicate their original intentions. By the way the light bullet (as opposed to say a .50-70 monster) produces negligible recoil for me.
ALSO - I use a ton of lube - you know what kind.

[Mike McDaniel]

I'm shooting a relatively heavy bullet. My carbine was originally my father's, he was getting it worked up when he passed away. The load he was using in originals was the normal light bullet in front of about 25 grains of 3F - but that load just didn't work in the Romano. I'm shooting a heavy bullet in front of a heavy charge. It works.