My CS Richmond "Sharpshooter " Rifle

[Stantheman86]

I rigged up a shim with a piece of leather, to use the Pedersoli "Sniper Sight" I've had laying around.

Also had an old tang sight for what looks like a .22 that I probably got at a gun show forever ago, I screwed it right into the wood of the stock. It has 2 peeps, the top one put me onto to 200 yard target backer so at least I can hit that.

The factory sights on this Armi Sport CS Richmond apparently are just for cosmetics, because it hits feet high and probably a foot to the right using the issue sights.

Using 555 gr Minies from a Parker Hale mold and .570 round balls, I was able to slightly move the Sniper sight to adjust for windage.

It hits low at 100 now, and it was hard to do good target work with that 40 lb trigger but I enjoy a challenge. I think with heavier Minies it may hit higher. I was happy just to hit something, basically. The trigger on this rifle is tough, you basically just kinda squeeze it slowly and at about what feels like a rough , spongy 30lb the hammer will fall .

It may not be the prettiest but it's an ArmiSport I picked up relatively cheap, and I'm trying to have fun with it.

There's nothing at all wrong with an ArmiSport but once I picked up my Parker-Hale 3-Band P53, that drives tracks and has a nice trigger, and a couple P-H Musketoons, they have spoiled me so if I'm going to go whole hog and roll cartridges, bring cartridge boxes to the range etc. I usually do it with those.

I have Pedersoli Hawkens and a Tryon for serious target shooting , so stuff like my ArmiSports kinda fall into range blaster status and things to mess around with.

 

[dave951]

The factory sights on this Armi Sport CS Richmond apparently are just for cosmetics, because it hits feet high and probably a foot to the right using the issue sights.

Uhhm. No. The issue sights were set up to hit about 18in high as the soldiers were taught to aim (when they did aim) at center mass of the opposing soldier. That would put a bullet that is 18in high center punching the chest area. Issue sights were not designed for "sniping" or precision shooting.

As for the windage, maybe Luigi had a bit too much vino with his spaghetti during lunch break.

 

[Stantheman86]

I know they hit high to account for a 0-200 hold, I can deal with that.

Being way off to the right, makes the stock sights unsuitable for anything other than taking the rifle out and beating up target boards and blowing smoke. Also the floppy leaf sight that comes up after every shot and has a mm of side to side play doesn't help much. It would still do it's job , if it were an original, and put rounds in the direction they need to go but not so good for shooting groups

I bought a used Pedersoli 1863 and the rear dovetail is way off Center , and the last owner took leaf blanks and drilled holes way off the right in an attempt to hit something with it. The Italians probably feel most of these go to Reenactors or people that will blow off 50 rounds per year and just be happy it fires. Pedersoli makes the stuff like the Lorenz and Mauser because the European market loves them and they are made for target shooting.

It's a manure shoot, you may get one that hits dead nuts for windage or one that is basically an off the paper Kentucky windage rifle. All my Parker-Hale rifles are dead nuts for windage. They spoiled me.

This is why my next pick up is going to be a Cook and Brother rifle , they are beautiful rifles and you get a windage adjustable block rear sight. Set it and forget it, then just presumably hold low. I can deal with that for range fun.

I may take the Armi Sport out again tomorrow and try some .58 REAL bullets that a member here made for me

 

[MountainSmoke]

Looks like fun and that's what counts. Even shooting low like it is I sure as heck wouldn't want to be standing down range with one of those 555 grain slugs coming towards me. I would definitely try to work on that trigger if it can be done. Precision shooting is almost impossible with a 40 pound trigger! Best of luck

 

[brazosland]

The point of aim was the belt buckle.
Armisports are just heavy due to the barrels being thicker. Good shooting though.

My round ball guns are all easy to get shooting right. These ACW guns are a real challenge.

The Italian guns just aren’t all “right”. I have a Mississippi that I had defarbed and mounted with a Benton screw sight...but it needs to go get a new set of lands and grooves to shoot well.

I have a two band CS Richmond armisport that shoots very well that has a Hoyt barrel.

 

[Stantheman86]

Looks like fun and that's what counts. Even shooting low like it is I sure as heck wouldn't want to be standing down range with one of those 555 grain slugs coming towards me. I would definitely try to work on that trigger if it can be done. Precision shooting is almost impossible with a 40 pound trigger! Best of luck

I have a blast just being alone at the range and doing load and projectile development

I realized my bore probably runs a little big because .575 Minies were a real loose fit.

Put together a 3 shot cloverleaf with 3 .570 balls but it was off the paper

It seems like it needs that magic combo and it will come alive , I just haven't found it

I may fluff and buff the lock internals with Mag Polish , that trigger is horrendous.

My goal was to use this to shoot round ball, looks like it may work that way because it groups well with .570s

 

[Stantheman86]

The point of aim was the belt buckle.
Armisports are just heavy due to the barrels being thicker. Good shooting though.

My round ball guns are all easy to get shooting right. These ACW guns are a real challenge.

The Italian guns just aren’t all “right”. I have a Mississippi that I had defarbed and mounted with a Benton screw sight...but it needs to go get a new set of lands and grooves to shoot well.

I have a two band CS Richmond armisport that shoots very well that has a Hoyt barrel.

I bought a defarbed Euroarms Mississippi that has a long range sight , but the last owner left the brass front blade.

It's scary accurate with .534 Minies , hits high at 100 but is dead on for 200 just by sheer luck , windage is dead on, very nice shooting rifle and the .54 doesn't beat you up with recoil.

I enjoy the challenge of getting a rifle to shoot, can't wait to work it out tomorrow

I'll probably get a Pedersoli Richmond at some point in the future.

 

[brazosland]

The Benton sight is supposed to be zero’d at 200 with the bottom notch, so you are there where you need to be. Belt buckle POA solves the high impact but it serves as the battle zero.

The 1903 had a battle zero of 450 yards when using the belt buckle as a POA. 0 to 450 yards you got a center mass hit by holding at the buckle.

Doesn’t make sense to us now, but it worked really well for them back then.

 

[Stantheman86]

I also solved a lot of Enfield issues by learning you're supposed to "Half Sight" the sight picture, not put the tip of the blade even with the top of the rear sight.

My P-H P53 hits dead on at 100 with more like a "Quarter Sight" with just the very top of the blade visible but it works

I'm bringing my 12" steel swinger to the range tomorrow because if I can hit that I'll be happy, I don't think this rifle can be a "ragged hole at 100" rifle like that P-H but it's really not designed to be. I'm sure if I used a Minie sized .001 less than the bore , and tweaked powder charges etc. it would help but it seems like it does good enough with .575 or patched balls

That cheap tang sight really gives a good sight picture so maybe it will surprise me. I removed the rear sight because I think it was cluttering up the sight picture in the peep, I was really making progress today getting it all together but the recoil pinched a nerve in my shoulder or something and my hand went numb lol

 

[Stantheman86]

I removed that Sniper Sight and used the rear tang with the front sight.

Tried round balls again, Minies, some REAL bullets a member made for me , and .58 Maxi Balls

Round Balls were good, but I figured I'd check out the REALs and the Maxis.

The REAL bullets did really well, with Old Eynsford 2f, I ran out and switched to WANO and the wheels came off, hitting all over the place. Not sure what happened there.

Minies remained consistently "good enough", almost like they are a little too small for the bore but they will hit the target.

The rifle seems to come alive with the Maxi Balls, final 5 shots of the day was this 5 shot string at 100, 60 gr of the WANO 2f with Maxi balls from TotW , lubed with SPG.

I believe that being off the target to the right was me "pulling " because of the trigger pull. I dropped the hammer a few times on a piece of leather while looking down the sights, and the front sight definitely wanders over to the right. Pulling the trigger almost feels like shooting a Double Action revolver.

If you're sighting in a rifle definitely rule out "human " factors first.

I did bring a PAST recoil pad to wear because getting thumped with .58 bullet recoil with just a T-Shirt on for 40 shots is not conducive to accuracy for me. The recoil pad helped a lot .

I'll need to keep working with it, I'm happy with what it will do so far so when I'm done playing with all the other rifles I've had for a while and haven't fired, I can work with this one again. If the sights are off, and it's not me pulling I can just slightly enlarge the rear peep to the left. I'm not looking for precision, just maybe a 200 yard rifle that can pepper a silhouette.

 

[brazosland]

Hitting a hog with a 500 grain Williams ball is very rewarding. Flattens deer if you hit them on the shoulder and really doesn’t ruin meat like modern guns do.

Nice shooting.

 

[Stantheman86]

PA doesn't let me hunt with these , it's Flintlocks only , unless maybe I can use one of my .58 rifles during inline season. I'll have to look into it.