Custom H & A underhammer rifle.

[Colonial Boy]

Just received this after a fortnight’s wait; after a week I rang the gun shop and asked when it was sent; embarrasses apologies and it would be sent that day !
It’s a rebuilt H & A that a good friend built around 1996 and he fitted a new .50 cal Lithgow barrel as well as other alterations.
These barrels were made on special order by the Lithgow Small Arms factory which was the main Australian maker of military arms prior to, during and after WW2. The barrels are renowned for their accuracy.
Price was $A800, reduced to $700 and for old times sake I was interested; I enquired about the rate of twist as the best barrels were slow but some had been made 1 in 20 and were not what I wanted.
‘So I asked them to check the twist and they said that they couldn’t do that, so I offered $600 and it was accepted, that’s $426 US.
The rifle is in very good condition and this bore looks excellent, will have a chance to fire it next week hopefully._

 

[sheriff john]

Very nice piece ! 'Been shooting H and A's since the 60's, still have one and have enjoyed them very much. If the ignition is still "nipple and cap", you will enjoy shooting more wearing long sleeves in offhand firing. Also - original pin holding the barrel in the receiver is tapered, only goes in and out in one direction. (not exactly true, it will go in partly backwards for a short distance). REALLY like your rifle !

 

[cynthialee]

well....what did the twist turn out to be?

 

[Colonial Boy]

Well it didn’t turn out to be the 1 in 48 that I hoped but an intermediate rate of approx 1 in 33, thankfully not the 1 in 20.
Also the caliber is slightly less than the unused 1 in 48 Lithgow barrel that I have spare.
Possibly it’s not a Lithgow barrel as the first batch were made in around 1956 and the second a few years later, there were only the two lots made and over the years some confusion may have occurred.
I’ll see how things go next week!!

 

[Colonial Boy]

Next week was a long time coming, over seven months, what with Covid, my wife’s work roster and the fact that not many range days are suitable for black powder I didn’t get to fire the H&A till today.
Very pleasant to shoot and with a super crisp trigger, which I expected as the builder was really good.

Herewith the results.This was the first shots I fired since getting it, the sights as set when I got it.
Patching was old worn out cotton shirt, 0.015” Crisco lube, powder WANO 3f 40 grains
Range 50 metres

This is the first shots I’ve fired with it.

The second string and, belive me there’s five shots, I looked through the spotting scope and couldn’t believe it, but there were

Believe me there are five shots there, I’d put five charges out and five caps and the chargers were empty and no caps left!!

Not so good, maybe I should have given the bore a wipe or maybe it’s just me.

Lots of experimenting to do and load development, 40 grains of 3f feels a bit much, but the potential is there.
Something went wrong, there’s one extra photo.

 

[Colonial Boy]

Here’s a couple more pics.
I’m scared to add to thr above in case it all goes haywire.

The bench, very solid.

 

[Colonial Boy]

Somehow those two got in with the others even though it was a seperate post. Nice winter day.

Now they’re seperate. I’m going to have a drink of something stronger than tea, or maybe I’ll just do the dishes.

 

[LawrenceA]

Absolutely awesome!
Just bought one of the underhammers E A S has. An Australian made one. RFS I think
Hope it shoots as well as yours!

 

[hanshi]

I ordered an H&A .45 Heritage model back in the mid 1960s and still have it. I specified gain twist. Don't know if that makes a different but that rifle is as, or more, accurate than anything else I've owned. It's taken bobcats, deer and squirrels.

 

[Dale Lilly]

I ordered an H&A .45 Heritage model back in the mid 1960s and still have it. I specified gain twist. Don't know if that makes a different but that rifle is as, or more, accurate than anything else I've owned. It's taken bobcats, deer and squirrels.

I couldn't shoot that well from 20 feet. Polecat