Whitworth Rifle

[bryan davis]

To All:
I have been thinking about possibly buying a Whitworth rifle and hae been doing some reserach, but seem to be getting no where with some parts of the research. My main questions are as follows:

1. For those who shoot the Whitworh, what bullet has the best results for you?
2. Is the bullet that you shoot a precast bullet or a mould? (I would prefer a mould)
3. What load combinations are you using?
4. From what I have read, many shooters of the Whitworth say celaning between shots is vital,
what type of jags are you using? (since it is a hexagonal bore)

Any thoughts or suggestions would be appreciated!

Thanks,
Bryan Davis

[Pat in Virginia]

Bryan,

For that kind of information you want to visit these two sights associated with long range muzzle loading shooting:

http://www.researchpress.co.uk/cgi-bin/yabb2/YaBB.pl - LRML Forum, UK

http://www.researchpress.co.uk/targetrifles/index.htm - Long range target rifles

also the MLAGB Forum had some good info:

http://www.mlagb.com/cgi-bin/forum/Y...?board=muskets - MLAGB - UK

If you do a search on "Whitworth" on each sight that might prove helpful.

I have made several posts recently on those sights that included information on the Whitworth.

Let me know if you have any problems.

My name is "Pat in Virginia" on all of those forums.

Oh, yes you should also try:

http://sports.groups.yahoo.com/group...m=1&m=p&tidx=1 - It's the LRML e-Mailing list collection of posts.

And, yes you need a hex jag. I have recent posts that tell you how to make one.


Pat in Virginia


Here's something that I posted just about 4 down from your post. It's burried in there as that post really isn't focused on Whitworths, but take heed because this is a person who knows whereof he speaks. For ten years he was NZ's champion for ML musket rifles. All that's in the post about four down from yours.

Hi Pat

In ALL the Whitworths (WWs) that I have owned and shot, the BEST thing I did to make them ‘go’ was to use a ‘Triple wad’ sandwich:grove dia hex card wad, beeswax-castor oil lubed hex felt wad no less than 1/3” thick, (engineers wool felt) and then another hex card wad.An excellent ‘bore scrapper, gas-check, lubricator’!!

Anything less than that wad column used to see wads being pinched under/in-between the bullet base and the bore in the ‘corners’ of the rifling; Flyers! LWith out any wads, fouling was bad, velocity was terrible (low and inconsistent), and accuracy was NOT a word that was often used. Gas-cutting was (is) chronic. L

Tim

Also, here are the instructions and a picture showing how to make a hex jag from locally available parts:

How to Make a Hex Jag

1. Start with the purchase of a brass air-hose adapter (found where they sell pneumatic (air-driven) tools). The kind of adapter you shove into the end of a rubber hose that has a hex nut on the end of it (probably .5 inch nut) and a 1.5 inch long tail that actually slides into the hose (approximately . 3 inches in diameter for a .25 inside diameter hose).
2. Have a machinist (gun smith) mill the hex flats of the nut down to what works in your Whitworth. Take multiple adapters with you as the machinist may have to go through a learning exercise to get it right. I have a .416 flat-to-flat jag (really tight fitting with a patch, maybe a bit too tight) and a .404 (for a sloppy wet patch) jag. If it isn’t exactly right for your rifle you can carefully take a little more off each flat with a hand file or equivalent, but be careful to leave the corners sharp. In a pinch, you can do this with a hand file.
3. The inside of the hex nut has treads. I drill them out with a drill bit just large enough to remove them. You need to have enough metal left that the hex exterior is well supported.
4. Notice that the adapter has a hole running through it from end-to-end. Mine is about .2 inches. You are going to shove a .22 caliber bronze bore brush through that hole to give you the thread you need to attach the jag to your cleaning rod. Ideally you want only the threads of the bore brush protruding from the small end of the brass adapter. I used a rifle bore brush and trimmed it to length. I left a little extra length on it so I could splay the ends (where I made the trimming cut) just inside the cup of the hex nut just to make extra sure the brush wouldn’t pull out or push through. I used epoxy (Brownell’s Acraglass Gel) on the brush and inside the bottom of the cup to secure the brush firmly to the adapter. I don’t want that brush to shove in or pull out when it’s down the bore.



Another thing, you can't make hex bullets like they used for the 1000 yard matches in England in 1860s. Those were very hard bullets and swaged so there were no internal voids left by shrinkage. They were expensive and even then they used conicals (round bullets) at 600 yards or less. So go straight to cast conicals. Buffalo Arms (BA) sells a conical Lee Shaver designed for ML target rifles. They come in .001 increments around .450. Measure your WW's bore and go with one that is about 001 less. The diameters are specified by BA assuming a 20:1 alloy. You need to use soft lead so they will drop about .0005 smaller than what is quoted for 20:1 by BA. The 575 and 535 grain variants have long bearing surfaces and that is what you want. Cast in soft lead. Use Tims advice on what to put under it. Start with 70 grains of Swiss 1 1/2 and go up from there. I have the 575 but haven't tried it yet. Another fellow I helped who was having trouble getting his Volunteer rifle (also with very deep rifling) to shoot used the 500 gr at 100 yards and was able to place third against experience shooters his 1st time out. Needless to say he was delighted as was I. He posted his results, the topic was "Performance" on either the MLAGB or LRML forum.

Hope this helps. You can personal message me with any questions. I am like you a seeker after performance on target. We both have a ways to go.


Pat

[Pat in Virginia]

Bryan,

There is another site that has a lot of information about shooting the Whitworth:

http://britishmilitariaforums.yuku.com/

It is a UK site as the name indicates and they do a bit of Whitworth shooting in the UK.

Once on the site (and you will need to register) you will be on the home page.

Click on the 4th topic down:

British Flint and Percussion Long Arms and Single-Shot Pistols

It is for the discussion of the P51 and P53 Enfield rifle and other British military muzzleloaders. [Including Whitworths]

When there:Click on Advanced Search in upper right hand corner
Check the above forums name and the “Topics” only boxes
That will give you 21 topic threads to look through that have a good deal of “Whitworth” content. Almost all, but not all are focused on Whitworth shooting.

Pat in Virginia

[B-Davis]

Thank you!