Isaac Hollis and Son .75 Percussion Sporting Rifle

[TFoley]

Yes, but America had the Hawken boys, right?

tac

 

[Heelerau]

David, just checked then, not a single set unfortunately. I put 6 shots through it yesterday off hand, all the patches survived in one piece, the last shot was a flyer as the rifle was fouling. The bore is looking better again, so hopefully on the right track. I will just have to get used to the trigger.

cheers

Gordon

 

[smoothshooter]

Hawkens were nice, but no comparison to good English rifle stock architecture.

Not even close.

 

[52Bore]

Nice rifle, will be fun to shoot.
Looking forward to more of your results.
You might try some very fine lapping compound on your patches to assist with cleaning the bore.
The patch box doesn't look quite right to my eye as on my English percussion rifles, boxes are more toward to the butt and the lid itself is inletted into wood only.
You will also note the lack of blow out plug or vent, which can indicate an early gun.

 

[Heelerau]

52 Bore, have considered some fine lapping paste and will likely as not try that trick. http://vid1012.photobucket.com/albums/af241/heelerau/Clip27.mp4

gordon
Please excuse my mates exclamation !

 

[rdstrain49]

I generally have an opinion whether expressed or not. Regarding your weapon, all I can say is WOW.

 

[Rifleman1776]

I once had a CW rifled musket made in Austria. It was part of a batch of 2,000 such made in .72 cal. It had a Nock style breech and required a minimum of 120 gr. bp to I would not have an air gap between charge and ball. It used a .731" ball (I still have the Dixie mould). I forget the twist but, curiously, the bore had twelve round lands and grooves. It shot well (after close examination by Ole' Perfessor Shaw at Friendship) but the recoil was brutal. Should have kept it, would have been a good hunter.

 

[excess650]

It appears to be a very mild load, and prudent in such an old rifle.

More shots with PRB will help with smoothing the bore. I suspect best accuracy will be with a close to bore sized ball and thin patch.

 

[Heelerau]

Banged a few ill fitting balls down range today , 3 drams of Goex Fg, thick greased felt wad, and leather patch cut from worn riggers glove. The last few shots all in the black once the bore got a bit fouled. Will go much better with a proper fitting ball and greased linen patch, but that is some time away !!

 

[jmforge]

Can't lack of the platinum blowout plug also indicate a less expensive rifle? I recently posted a link to an 1832 Purdey "rifled musket"that they did "on the cheap" Even though they used their standard action and still used a stub twist barrel, it had an iron/steel blowout plug that was not ground flush. From what little I found,Hollis did not start producing guns until 1850. I am a rank amateur, but doesn't that lock look like an Enfield?

 

[Heelerau]

Joe, Hollis did manufacture Enfield rifles, I also have one of those as well. The lock is much the same as the Enfield, just engraved with Tiger and a different hammer. This rifle is a purpose built sporting rifle, of the period from about 1845 to 1880.

cheers

 

[varsity07840]

Shallow rifling, wide grooves with narrow lands is typical of Forsythe style rifling. They are usually slower twist for shooting heavy charges, but it appears that the muzzle on yours is quite thin. Being that it is 12 bore, I would start at 3 drams and work up.

I would say Forsythe, if the twist is slower than 1/72. I would think around 1/100 or so. I'd be curious as to what the breech thickness is relative to the muzzle. I owned an 18 bore Westley Richards rifle from roughly the same period that had 10 lands and grooves with a 1/66
twist. It was 1 1/16" at the breech. It was optimized to use around 70 gr of powder and a patched ball and was referred to as a stalking rifle. That muzzle looks pretty thin and I would have someone like Bobby Hoyt take a look at it. I did that with my WR.

 

[excess650]

Are we to assume that you're still using the 69cal balls? A closer to bore sized ball coupled with a lightly greased cotton patch might be an improvement.

If you have ffg Goex, Wano, or Schuetzen powder, you might want to try that at the same 3 drams. If Swiss powder, fg or 1-1/2 fg.

 

[Heelerau]

I have a couple of rifles I would dearly like to get Bobby Hoyt to sort out, the problem is getting the barrels back into Australia. I have Goex FFg and Swiss powder, but I won't really start working on this rifle till I purchase a ball mould of the correct diameter, not to far off hopefully. The recoil with 3 drams of Fg is pretty mild. Thanks for shewing interest.

Cheers

Heelerau

 

[BillinOregon]

Gordon, Bobby is a legend when it comes to "sorting out" barrels. Sorry to hear you might have difficulties bringing them home!
As far as your mate's use of rich and expressive language, I have it on good authority that when an Aussie swears, God doesn't hold it against him.

:wink:

 

[Heelerau]

I decided to fit a new cone to the rifle, the original cone is about a turn and a half shorter in the threaded section. In a nutshell I made one out of a bit of thick walled copper pipe that I sectioned lengthwise and flatted out. When I screwed the new cone in, I used some gas thread tape, I also snapped a couple of caps with the barrel pointed at a piece of grass, seems to be ok. Will see when I use the rifle next

 

[fleener]

when you say cone, I assume you mean what we call a nipple, that the cap goes on?

Can you get a platinum lined nipple in AU? Is it a problem getting them in the country?

Kim Atkinsen is coming I think in June to Friendship. I am coming to Adelaide in Oct for the world match. You have a friend on the AU team?

Cant believe AU restricts the carry of knifes, even pocket knifes.

Fleener

 

[Heelerau]

I have to import platinum lined nipples from the US, I only have one which is on my PH Volunteer .451, I just use the normal plain steel ones on all my rifle muskets and the Hollis. Nice to hear you are coming down under, I unfortunately won't come over for the world champs. I hope you have great success and a good time, if you get a chance go visit the Clare valley. That is where I come from originally, very historical area and great wines. Diane Humberstone is here in WA at the moment and we hope to catch up, the Nationals were held at the Perth club this year, I was at work as usual, one of these days I will make one of these championships.

Cheers

Gordon

 

[Blackfingers]

Sir, where did you get Platinum lined nipples for your Whitworth? It would be nice to have a spare better than the original. Randy

 

[Heelerau]

Randy I got the platinum lined nipple from buffalo Arms Co. About $56 US , I have found mine is lasting ver well.

Cheers