Snider Enfield

[AR22]

HuntingSoCals thread got me to thinking about my Egyptian Snider Enfield project I put together about 6 months ago.

It is a smooth bored Firearm likely for Shotgun use mostly, at Prisons and such. Barrel is marked For Ball though. I shoot it occasionally Hand Loading round Balls in .577 Snider Cases. Has a excellent bore. Just no Rifling. It is really pretty accurate though for smooth Bore.

Just for some that may not know. These are a Breech Loading conversion invented by a fella named Snider from New York I believe. To add a little longer life to to the old antique muzzleloading Enfield.

All it was when I bought it cheap. Was a barrel, receiver, Breech Block, Sights, side lock mechanism only missing Hammer, and one barrel band. Breech Block had no Firing pin. Made that. Also made the cleaning rod.

Scrounged the rest of the parts, And fitted a repro stock.

Have more in it than it is probably worth, but it is Fun to shoot with 65 grains of 1F or 2F Black in the case.

Here is a crappy pic that goes with my crappy Camera.

I am curious about something. I never see Snider/Enfields on here. Is this maybe because of the Bore size over 50 Caliber, is not allowed in CA?

https://imgur.com/a/zfg1DmV

[yuccales]

I am curious about something. I never see Snider/Enfields on here.

Yours is cool looking. Here's my old wall hanger.

[saki302]

They're out here, just most folks can't or won't bother reloading for something like that.

My 1870 snider sees the light of day once in a while when I feel like reloading for it.

I also had an Egyptian police carbine like yours (smoothbore), but ended up selling it. Using my rifle loads in it made me nervous, though it would put paper patched minie balls into the black at 25 yards- with just a front sight, no rear!

I mostly shoot light smokeless loads in the rifle- Trailboss with a tiny bit of filler so I don't have to use mush (16gr if I remember right). Contrary to most things, filler is known to slow down trail boss combustion. Sounds good to me.

-Dave

[saki302]

BTW- yours looks nice. My Egyptian looked sketchy.. thin barrel, in the white, with a really abbreviated wood stock. It also did not have the button lock on the receiver hatch like my 1870 does.

[AR22]

Yours looks OK for a Egyptian. Yours is a Egyptian right? Do you have a rear sight on yours? I cannot tell.

The Egyptians are usually found in rough condition across the board. Many missing parts like mine. My Bore is magnificent though, no rust or pitting whatsoever. Thick walls. It is just a parts fantasy Snider.. Fun to shoot nonetheless.

Like I say, I load real black, do it all by hand. Prime/deprime the cases by hand, put in 65 grains of powder, filler and just seat the ball with my fingers. Can reload them in a few minutes that way. No dies needed. Only have seven cases, but those will last a long time.

My Breech Block is held shut with just a detent ball and spring coming through the rear of the receiver. I Have always believed the Snider system to be stronger than a Trapdoor Springfield. Though the Trapdoor Springfield system has never worried me either.

Cases are almost 4 bucks apiece from Track of the Wolf.