first time shooting parrott rifle

[mike t]

I have a new to me 2.9" model 1861 parrott rifle I want to live fire for the first time.  I purchased some bolts with bronze sabots from PBO.  The carriage is PBO, the tube is South Bend, the rifled liner is PBO.  I have built a backstop, 20' thick 14' tall,  at 350 yards with 500 yards of forest behind the backstop.  There is a removable breech sight and the front blade.  Does anyone have experience with the sight settings for 350 yards---i just do not want to miss the back stop!!.  I  believe the charge is 1lb.  I had thought to use Cannon grade powder but have had F grade recomended to force the sabot into the rifling.  Any experience out there with this combo? 

[Cat Whisperer]

mike t -

Welcome to the board!  No experience with that one, but if you HAVE to hit the backstop it sounds like an iffy place to shoot.  Might be inferring too much, I hope.

Post some pictures when you make smoke and flame!

[gary michie]

Hi
your sight should  seat in the holder, it's taperd and keyed. My sight is marked in 100 yards inks. put slide it up between 300 and 400 then you may have to compensate for the natural curve of the flight of the round and the wind and olay bulleye.

and my parrott uses 1 and 1/4 lbs. I use 2f Goex

[subdjoe]

Hey, Mike.  The standard charge back in the day was, I believe on pound of powder.  Get yourself a table of fire for the Parrott: http://lassengunsmithing.com/AOPCatalog.htm That will help you with your elevation. 
As others have told me here, you may not want to go with the standard service charge - you are not trying to pound something into oblivion.  Reducing the charge to half a pound will change the point of impact some, but at "short" range like that, I don't think it would be significant.

[GGaskill]

Reducing the charge to half a pound will change the point of impact some, but at "short" range like that, I don't think it would be significant.

Plus it will lessen the wear on the carriage and get two shots for the price of one.

[mike t]

You guys are right I would like to shoot a reduced powder charge.  Bernie at PBO where I bought the bolts told me it needs the full 1lb. to blow the bronze sabot out to engage the rifling.  If I  can find someone to make me a mold for the trash can or pellet style reduced weight projectile like the N-SSA fellows use in competition that is what I would  prefer to use.

regarding the breech sight, it does fit into the tapered keyed recepticle properly.  I just do no know what the scale represents: degree of angle as in 0--10 degrees, or yards as in 100 to 1000.  The scale slightly increases in width as the numbers go up---i thought to compensate for the angle of the staff as the breech in lowered.  And should the peep hole, or the upper or lower border of the band around the staff that hold the peeps, be used to line up with the scale markings?

Regarding safety, I had originally planed to shoot the gun on the surface of the moon, but realized that recoil would be a problem, and what if the shell circumnavigated the globe it could end up in my back pocket.  So I will try it on my farm that in it's longest deminsion is about one mile.  I am leaving 500 yards of woods to stop the shell should I miss the backstop.  I do shoot a mountain rifle with 4oz of powder and a 2 3/4 lb  bolt, non of which have immigrated off the farm.  I would love to hear from anyone who has shot a parrott with the service load as to how to use the breech sight and whether or not it seemd the scale to be accurate.

[subdjoe]

IF your stadia sight is calibrated the way I think it is, each mark is the tangent of 1/4 of a degree (each whole number being one degree).  The gunner called off the range, the people at the limber chest called back the elevation needed for that range, extrapolating as needed.  The gunner then set either the upper or lower peep at the mark needed. He then aimed the piece. 

Just pulling numbers out of the air - say the gunner calls out "Counter Battery, Shell, Range - 1500 yards."  Back at the limber they would check the Table of Fire, call back "Shell, 1500 yards, 3 7/8 degrees, 4 3/4 second fuse"  The gunner would set his sight for 3 7/8 degrees and get his piece aimed, the guys at the limber box would cut a bit off a 5 second fuse (they came with cut marks printed on them) and put it into the shell.  Round comes forward, is loaded, final check on the aim in case the gun moved during loading, prick & prime, fire.  Then get ready to do it again and make any adjustments needed.

Oh, about that taper - I think that is so that the slider can't be pulled off the top of the post.  The ones I have had my hands on, that slide can only come off by sliding it down. 


And about the powder, remember that using Fg will give you somewhat higher pressure than Cannon grade powder.