Original Gallager bullet mould

[Richard Hill]

Does anybody know where I might obtain a bullet mould for an ORIGINAL .52 Gallagher? thanks...

[Eric A. Savickas, 08663V]

Rapine makes a 540 dia. Gallager mould.

[ms3635v]

The original Gallagher carbine shot a .520 diameter projectile. See Dean Thomas' book "Roundball to Rimfire." I know shooters who are using .520 bullets sized to .518 in the Gallagher and are having excellent success.

[Eric A. Savickas, 08663V]

If you get all the lead out of an origional Gallager and slug the barrel you will find that the grooves measure .540. Poultney and Trimble sold the Federal Govt. a bill of goods when they supplied .520 ammo! If you fill the grooves with lead, you will get .520. The reason Gallager carbines got such a bad rap during the Civil War is that their ammunition had undersized bullets. You can run a .516 down the lands without even engraving the bullet!

[Richard Hill]

The original Gallagher I now have is in excellent condition, with a really nice bore. When I took it out to the range for the first time I brought along a tray of Rapine .54 Gallagher rounds I had loaded for my Erma Gallagher. I had to really force the barrel closed, and upon removing the fired brass I found a lead band around the outside of the mouth of the case. This was true for all 10 rounds I fired. After cleaning at home I slugged the bore and measured about .523. I had bought some .525 Spencer bullets at the Nationals for another project, so pushed one of those down the barrel and it's just a little too big. I sized another to .520 and pushed it down. It was about right, but a bit bigger seems to be wanted. The mouth of the brass cases, which fit either gun, measure .523. I cast some Rapine 515320 bullets at high heat and pushed one unsized down the barrel to the muzzle. It fit the lands but not the grooves. I could see a sliver of light around the bullet at the grooves.

Next trip out was with the Spencer rounds sized to .520, loaded into the cases with drilled out flash holes (for the Erma). There was too much leakage at the back of the case, but no lead ring. I then used some new, undrilled cases and got very little leakage and fair accuracy. Also, I had no ignition difficulties with either case, very different from the Erma. The gun is .52 caliber. The books I have state .50 to .52 caliber for the gun. I should have read first!

Starrs rule and Maynards drool!

[RaiderANV]

Had ta go check my early (serial Number 67) Gallager to see, and it sized at .525

[Eric A. Savickas, 08663V]

The slivers of lead is an flaw with the design of the barrel. The Gallagers lacked any throat at all. The Rapine bullet is basically a round ball with a ring to fill the very deep grooves.

[ms3635v]

After reading several sources on the Gallagher, the major reason the carbine was disliked was due to the fired cartridge case being too difficult to extract. An extractor tool was issued to the troops, but these tools would often get lost or were discarded by the soldier. Also, if you read Dean Thomas's book you will see that the projectiles that were manufactured by different sources ran about .525" in diameter, with some as large as .535" in diameter. 50 Union officers were surveyed regarding the Gallagher cabine and 40 reported that they disliked them. You will also note that there was a great disparity in the powder charge weights, which may account for some of the accuracy problems.

[WV SCROUNGER]

You might try contacting Val Forgett. I bought a .52 Smith mold from him a few months ago. His ebay seller name is : mod 88 man
his address is 219 Lawn St. Martinsburg WV 25405