Ammunition for a .69 Dutch Snider

The Dutch had .69 caliber rifle muskets hanging around their armories since 1848. By 1867, they were doing what the rest of Europe was doing….converting their obsolete muskets into breach loaders. The US used the Allin system for converting their CW muskets, but the Europeans did their conversion based on the Snider patent. Jacob Snider was an American inventor who came up with an idea on how to modernize the surplus muzzleloader rifles when cartridges became a military necessity.

The measurements of this cartridge are 17.5 x 29mm. A chamber casting shows that the dimensions are similar to a 16 gauge shotshell around the base. So I started with a brass 16 ga brass hull from MagTech and cut it to the appropriate length.

Using a bullet mold I ordered for this project, I’m able to cast .69 caliber Minie balls with a hollow base. My particular load is 80 grains 3fg powder and a couple of overcard wads between the powder and bullet. Instead of grease, I’m able to paper patch the projectile and bump up the diameter just a bit. I do the paper patch to prevent grease melting and running down in the case and contaminating the powder charge.

The first ammunition I made utilized plain grease grooved projectiles.

The Snider conversion was pretty straightforward. A section of the breech was cut away at the back of a musket, then a swinging block with extractor was welded in place. There was no provision for an ejector. You empty the loading tray by tipping the gun over on its side and let gravity work.

Subsequent ammunition I’ve made for the gun now has a paper patched projectile lightly greased on the paper to fit the bore even tighter.

The new cartridges are a perfect fit in the breech. The extractor pulls them out after firing.

This old gun is a lot of fun to shoot. It’s sort of like shooting a shortened 16 gauge slug gun