hi folks,

I have been getting several emails from Snider rifle owners lately. I will always answer and try to help as best as I can, however the experts on these rifles are on another board.
http://pub182.ezboard.com/bbritishmilitariaforums
I am Carignan Salieres over there.

One thing I have learned is a slightly oversized round ball works wonders in a slow twist Snider. The 1:78 twist is perfect for that, these are generally the 3 band long rifle, but there are cut down sporters and converted carbines with the same twist.

The fast twist(1:48) 2 bander will stabalize a big bullet, the norm is around 480-530grains but range from 430 up as high as 750(yikes) Minie balls with the hollow base do not always perform really well, but there is some variation. Most rifles have their own favourite load. I know a guy with 3 Sniders and he does not feed any of them the same bullet and/or powder charge.

I have a rifle and a carbine, my project/parts Snider is almost all sold off. I had planned a relining to 45 Colt but it was too much $$. The other option was a Howdah pistol, but the barrel is not safe to fire and that's a lot of gun for one hand and a 9" barrel. So just my 2 old Sniders. The carbine is working really well.

here is a good site to read for basic Snider history.
http://www.wasaranch.com/articles/art2/snider.htm

As I understand the original load was a .573" hollow based bullet(480 grains), with a basswood plug, lube cookie and roughly 70grains of black powder.

Bullets that give better performance for hunting and targets are at least .585", .590" is the norm and up to .600" for more worn barrels. That's a generalization. Loads with up to 110grains of FFg or Fg black powder, depending on the case capacity. Basically the action(if in good condition) will take any black powder load(pressure wise) as long as it will fit into the chamber(has to make the bend) keeping overall length down to 2.5" or there abouts works.