The Goose
NES Member
I posted about this rifle when I acquired it 4 or 5 years ago. I just installed a new front sight on it which has rekindled my interest in it and also a good excuse to post again. First the rifle. It was made by I. Hollis & Sons in Birmingham, England in the 1880's and was retailed in South Africa. It has been well used and equally well cared for. The bore is excellent and it is a great shooter.
It has a series of leaf sights and a tall volley sight. This was a common sight design in South Africa at the time. The leaf sights were good for hunting and the volley sight was useful when civilians were called upon for defense. Some have stated that this sight was a requirement at that time, but that may be just legend.
It is chambered in 577/450. For those unfamiliar it was the British service round from around 1870 until the late 1880's. It is a quite powerful round. Watch the movie Zulu some time. When the US government was doing trials and adopted the 45/70 this round was considered. It had much greater penetration then the 45/70, but also much greater recoil. It was rejected. I load a 480 gr. lead bullet over 85 grs of Goex 2F. Makes a lot of smoke and noise. I form the brass out of a 24 gauge brass shotshell. If anyone is interested in the process do a search in the reloading section and I give a detailed write up.
This rifle has always been a good shooter, but the front sight left a bit to be desired. It is made of brass and looks home made. Very rough compared to the rest of the rifle. It is also tall and thin and slightly bent to one side. Despite that I have shot 2" - 3" groups at 100 yards, but as my eye sight continues to age it has gotten harder to see. I wanted a different front sight, but hesitated to alter this old beauty. However, I am primarily a shooter and not a collector. I decided that since the sight was not original I would change it out. I could always re-install the old one. I wanted something to period. I had a Beech sight that I took off a rolling block. Although it is unlikely that this front sight would have been seen in South Africa it is correct for the time period. The dovetail was too small for the base so I sat down with a small triangular file and slowly filed the base to fit. Took a while. There is no putting metal back if you go too far too fast. In the end I think this sight looks quite good on this rifle. I am not shooting it any better, but at least I can clearly see it. I suspect that a better shot with better eyes could really make this old gal hit.
It has a series of leaf sights and a tall volley sight. This was a common sight design in South Africa at the time. The leaf sights were good for hunting and the volley sight was useful when civilians were called upon for defense. Some have stated that this sight was a requirement at that time, but that may be just legend.
It is chambered in 577/450. For those unfamiliar it was the British service round from around 1870 until the late 1880's. It is a quite powerful round. Watch the movie Zulu some time. When the US government was doing trials and adopted the 45/70 this round was considered. It had much greater penetration then the 45/70, but also much greater recoil. It was rejected. I load a 480 gr. lead bullet over 85 grs of Goex 2F. Makes a lot of smoke and noise. I form the brass out of a 24 gauge brass shotshell. If anyone is interested in the process do a search in the reloading section and I give a detailed write up.
This rifle has always been a good shooter, but the front sight left a bit to be desired. It is made of brass and looks home made. Very rough compared to the rest of the rifle. It is also tall and thin and slightly bent to one side. Despite that I have shot 2" - 3" groups at 100 yards, but as my eye sight continues to age it has gotten harder to see. I wanted a different front sight, but hesitated to alter this old beauty. However, I am primarily a shooter and not a collector. I decided that since the sight was not original I would change it out. I could always re-install the old one. I wanted something to period. I had a Beech sight that I took off a rolling block. Although it is unlikely that this front sight would have been seen in South Africa it is correct for the time period. The dovetail was too small for the base so I sat down with a small triangular file and slowly filed the base to fit. Took a while. There is no putting metal back if you go too far too fast. In the end I think this sight looks quite good on this rifle. I am not shooting it any better, but at least I can clearly see it. I suspect that a better shot with better eyes could really make this old gal hit.
![[sad]](/xen/styles/default/xenforo/smilies.vb/004.gif "Sad [sad]")
