anybody else here a fan of the old British 577 Snider? I got into it by accident(inherited my Great-Grandfathers Snider-Enfield) and fully restored it(it had 2 broken parts and was rusted shut) That was 3 years ago now, and it's the rifle I put the most rounds through in a year. I also use it as my main hunting rifle, and it even can use shotshells for the bush chickens and rabbit's I may see!! Very versitile old rifles...

When I was just out of school, a firend of my older brother had a Snider...aren't exactly a common rifle in this area. BAck then our only chance for brass was to find 24gr. brass shot shells and trim them back to length (even though expensive today, it's nice that .577 cases can be bought). 24ga. isn't the most common size, and bras shotshells of any type of hard to find, but he managed to assemble something like two dozen of them for conversion. 58cal. minis were the only bullet close to the right size (they'd still be a decent choice...is pretty much what the round was designed for). Pretty simple loading process, but it worked and the rifle shot well enough that he took it hunting.

They are fun....somthing about a .58cal chunk of lead ambling along at about the speed of sound, folowed by an amazing amount of smoke and a yard long jet of flame from a carbine barrel that just makes a person smile.

yes they are a hoot. I have used 24 gauge hulls as well and currently have about 72 brass 577cases. I use .590 and .600 diameter bullets(work even better than the undersized minies) I have started enjoying black powder so much that I got into flintlocks this year as well !!!

A shooting Snider (as opposed ot a collecting Snider) is on my "want" list...just aren't that many of them locally...and not the time of year for on-line spending, but one will come my way eventually. Agree about the larger diameter bullets...we used what we had and the results wsere at least "fair". Back then, few people were shooting the BP cart. rifles, so we'd get some looks and a lot of questions at the range when that little Snider lobbed a chunk of lead.

Do have a couple of rolling blocks, one in 45/70 and the other in 50/70 that are fun...just not so drastic as the carbine Snider.

I just bought a Snider Carbine, have to see how that goes. My other one is a full length one, but sporterized. I hope to eventually get a complete 3 bander(non-sporter)

I like rolling blocks, there was one in .50-90 I saw at a gun show a couple years ago. Too much $ for me at the time.

Regional variation...are a lot more Sniders the farther north (in North America at least). Lot more rolling blocks on this side of the border. Getting to be more of a trans-national market in antique rifles, but there are still place-to-place variations.