Nipple Life, BIG Lead, BIG Powder Charges

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Idaholewis

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Nipple life test. First off, i have Platinum Lined Nipples for my SERIOUS Long Range Rigs. But i decided to do a Torture Test on these Treso/Ampco nipples that i have been using for several years, and Swear by.

What better test subject than this new .50 Cal, 1-24 Twist Rice Barrel, 610-615 Grain Bullets being pushed by 100 Grains of Swiss 2F Powder down 30-31“ inches of Bore 😀

I have always said that these Treso/Ampco Nipples are the Best, most Durable i have ever used. I will be measuring with precision pin gauges after each Shooting session, I will update this thread With How many Shots, and Show Nipple flash Hole wear

At this point, This Nipple has 27 Shots through it Total. These Treso/Ampco Nipples start out with a Flash Hole size of .028, They are very small, Designed for Real Blackpowder. After my Shoot yesterday, I thoroughly Cleaned the Nipple with my Steam Cleaner and Measured Flash Hole Size, The .028 Pin Gauge just BARELY Fit through. In 27 Shots, This Nipple shows ZERO Wear :lewis:

3OVBBbE.jpg
 
It will be interesting to see how the wear occurs. If the nipple just wears on one side or the other, or in an out of round pattern.
 
If it was me I wouldn't use them you don't know when they will go

I fully agree Bob, When they start to wear, they can go in a Hurry. The first sign (Usually) is the Rifle will go to Half Cock. I am carrying a Platinum Lined Nipple with me just in Case, one that i have Shot in this Barrel. This is just a Test, and nothing I would Depend on for my Long Range Shoots

What amazes me, is how BRUTAL a Small Bore (.358) pushing a 340 Grain Bullet with only 70 Grains of Powder is on a Nipple Flash Hole, My .358 Bore will EAT a Nipple Flash Hole in just 10-12 Shots, To a DANGEROUS Level. These Small Bores Build HUGE Pressure. But on the Contrary this BIG Bore .50 1-24 Twist with 100 Grains of Powder, pushing a HUGE 610 & 615 Grain Bullet down 30-31” inches of Bore Shows ZERO Flash Hole wear after 27 Shots?

Here is My .358 with 340 Grain Bullet after a Dozen or so Shots? I can’t remember now exactly how many Shots? But it was VERY Few. Here it is Beside a Brand New Nipple. Again, These Small Fast Twist Bores are BRUTAL on Nipple Flash Holes. I had NO CHOICE but to go to a Platinum Lined in this Barrel.

V2l8BQO.jpg
 
I fully agree Bob, When they start to wear, they can go in a Hurry. The first sign (Usually) is the Rifle will go to Half Cock. I am carrying a Platinum Lined Nipple with me just in Case, one that i have Shot in this Barrel. This is just a Test, and nothing I would Depend on for my Long Range Shoots

What amazes me, is how BRUTAL a Small Bore (.358) pushing a 340 Grain Bullet with only 70 Grains of Powder is on a Nipple Flash Hole, My .358 Bore will EAT a Nipple Flash Hole in just 10-12 Shots, To a DANGEROUS Level. These Small Bores Build HUGE Pressure. But on the Contrary this BIG Bore .50 1-24 Twist with 100 Grains of Powder, pushing a HUGE 610 & 615 Grain Bullet down 30-31” inches of Bore Shows ZERO Flash Hole wear after 27 Shots?

Here is My .358 with 340 Grain Bullet after a Dozen or so Shots? I can’t remember now exactly how many Shots? But it was VERY Few. Here it is Beside a Brand New Nipple. Again, These Small Fast Twist Bores are BRUTAL on Nipple Flash Holes. I had NO CHOICE but to go to a Platinum Lined in this Barrel.

V2l8BQO.jpg
I think reason is you have larger area over a smaller bore pressure is more concentrated
 
Hey Lewis, what kind of velocity are you getting from the .358 with those loads? I’ve got a .358” barrel laying around here somewhere. I’ve been curious about building a prairie dog rig with it... probably use a lighter bullet under 300 grains. Prairie dog being thin skinned and all... :elmer:
 
Hey Lewis, what kind of velocity are you getting from the .358 with those loads? I’ve got a .358” barrel laying around here somewhere. I’ve been curious about building a prairie dog rig with it... probably use a lighter bullet under 300 grains. Prairie dog being thin skinned and all... :elmer:

Sorry about the late reply here, i missed this Somehow?

I was around 1500 Fps, 70 Grains of Swiss 2F. It shot good :lewis: But For such a HEAVY Rifle, Recoil was fairly Sharp, and it COOKED a nipple in just a Few Shots. This thing ABSOLUTELY requires a Platinum Lined Nipple. I pretty much lost interest in the Project, The barrel has been sitting. The other problem i had, This thing would CHOKE itself out in just 2 Shots, If I forgot to pop a Cap straight through after Swabbing Shot #2, The Rifle would FAIL to Fire. These Small Bores, Fast Twists are WAY MORE trouble than they are Worth in my opinion. I had this Barrel Cut at 1:15 Twist

It’s not legal to hunt with here so I didn’t even bother having an Under Rib and thimbles installed. Kind of a “poor mans” Gibbs Rifle :D
Km8fkpi.jpg


Kcghx3m.jpg


Ea17936.jpg
 
It will be interesting to see how many shots it takes to go through one with those bullets.
 
I had some trouble with a Platinum lined nipple. When installing it the nipple just didn't screw in well. In this picture you can see how much longer the one on the left is. That is the Platinum lined nipple. The one on the right is a Hot Shot. I found out that The platinum lined one was hitting the clean out screw in the Green Mountain Snail. Then after inspecting the other nipple I found out it was hitting the clean out screw too. But the shorter one was just grazing it. You can see the damage from the set screw. And that was the problem a set screw was used instead of a flat nosed screw. I took the set screw and shortened the nose so it would not interfere and the problem was solved. Unfortunately the threads on the platinum nipple were messed up enough I have a very hard time getting it to thread in. Some day I need to find a die to fix it.
When guys are replacing the clean out screws keep it in mind.

9ix6MdD.jpg
 
I dealt with that as well Ron, the Platinum lined nipples have a Longer Thread Journal. The simple solution i found was to Shorten the 8-32 “Cleanout Screw” and as it’s being Shortened it’s also becoming Flat if it wasn’t already.

I found that Some of these GM Barrels Brand New from GM Came with Shorter “Cleanout Screws” and some with Longer (To long), some are Flat at the end, and Some are rounded, So they used Various lengths, and Shapes of the ends of those little Cleanout Plug Screws from the Factory.

I simply hold the little “Cleanout Screw” in the Proper Allen Head Key, And Shorten them with my Dremel tool using a Medium Grit Grinding Wheel, It is a Simple process that takes just a Few minutes. The other thing i do is Replace those 8-32 Plug/Cleanout Screws with Stainless ones, and they make a Really Short one that Doesn’t need anything done to it :lewis: I get them from Ace Hardware, i have a Bag of them here in my Parts stuff
 
I used a belt sander to shorten mine. I found only one of mine had the short screw. The rest were long.
 
Sorry about the late reply here, i missed this Somehow?

I was around 1500 Fps, 70 Grains of Swiss 2F. It shot good :lewis: But For such a HEAVY Rifle, Recoil was fairly Sharp, and it COOKED a nipple in just a Few Shots. This thing ABSOLUTELY requires a Platinum Lined Nipple. I pretty much lost interest in the Project, The barrel has been sitting. The other problem i had, This thing would CHOKE itself out in just 2 Shots, If I forgot to pop a Cap straight through after Swabbing Shot #2, The Rifle would FAIL to Fire. These Small Bores, Fast Twists are WAY MORE trouble than they are Worth in my opinion. I had this Barrel Cut at 1:15 Twist

It’s not legal to hunt with here so I didn’t even bother having an Under Rib and thimbles installed. Kind of a “poor mans” Gibbs Rifle :D
Km8fkpi.jpg


Kcghx3m.jpg


Ea17936.jpg
Your .358 looks a lot like my .40... poor mans Gibbs indeed! I’m getting fond of the look.
 

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