A very interesting little Side-Lever Rook Rifle - 300 Long Shot caliber

Hello All,

In addition to Big-Bores. I also have a fondness for the little ones. I especially like the little Rook Rifles that were used by the British.

This one is a Mariette with Belgium proofs. It is a Side-Lever Take-Down rifle. This rifle shows very high quality having excellent workmanship. There is some remaining case color, and it has a Mint Bore.

It also has an ejector-assist mechanism. The pistol-grip stock has fine checkering, and it even has heel & toe plates with checkering in between. The chambering is an extremely rare 300 Long Shot caliber. I could not find any information about this cartridge any where, nor could I find any loading data. In order to shoot it, I had to contrive some from scratch and experiment. I did a chamber cast and made a drawing and had custom cases made by Rocky Mountain Cartridge Co..

As always, comments are welcome ...

well? where are the pics? And maybe one of the cartridge too.

Sounds interesting enough.

I know nothing about this type of loading so here's the rookie question...
if you put the paper wad in before the powder doesn't it block ignition from the primer?

RR, sometimes this is done to "soften the primer's flash, and also to make it more uniform. Not uncommon among BPCR shooters. Others use large pistol primers instead.

You'd be surprised by what a primer can burn through.

Like Sgt Schultz, "I see nothing."

link to pics:

http://forums.accuratereloading.com/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/9421043/m/9481094362

Hello BrentD,
Thanks for the reply.

Not sure why you can't see the pics.


Hello Recoil Rob,
Thanks for the reply.

In this case I use the paper "pill" to keep the powder from shifting around inside the case. Without the pill, the case was position sensitive. powder level within the case was fine. But if the powder was totally back in the case, against the primer, I got sticky extraction. The small paper pill solved this inconstancy. This is an old trick, and doesn't interfere with ignition as long as the pill is reasonably small. testing in this cartridge proved that a 1" square of single-ply Toilet paper works great.


Hello Vall,
Thanks for the reply.

How about now?


Hello SKB,
Thanks for the reply.

Yes, posted there also.

Hello All,

Well, I'm back from the range and I am very pleased with the results. It was pretty cold outside this morning so I only shot on our 50 foot indoor range. I got all the information I was looking for. -see the target- This is one of my FLY targets. We use these in offhand competition during the Winter Months. The black circles are 3/8" thick and 2-3/8" outside diameter. Although we shoot mostly with scopes and aim directly at the fly, the thick black circle allows the use of iron sights, as I did with this rifle. If the bullet stays totally inside the black circle, you get 1 point. If you "HIT" the fly (wing, antenna, leg) its a "HIT" and you get 2 points. If you "KILL the fly by hitting the head or body, its a "KILL" and you get 3 points. 2-shots per fly - total of 10 shots per target. Unlimited siighters at the upper left target. Best score you can get is a "30". Each relay is 1 target, 10 targets total for a match.

As you can see by the target, the rifle performed most admirably. It took only 2 shots to get it zeroed-in, and then; the last 3 shots resulted in 1-HIT, and 2-KILLS. What a HOOT ! ! ! And look at the standard deviation .. a "6" ... that's amazing and surpassed my most optimistic expectations. I'm still grinning 3 hours later.

Rooks and Rabbits beware. .... and squirrels too.

Nice little rifle. The cartridge actually looks bigger than I expected. And very straight - no taper at all. How does it extract? Does the rifle and cartridge predate smokeless?

I've shot a number of similar rifles. Mostly Martinis but a Bland comes to mind also.

I can't see pics here, but I did see them on AR.

Hello BrentD,
Thanks for the reply.

Yes, the case is straight - no taper at all. Extraction can be sticky when loading smokeless. I assume it was originally intended for black powder. Very Long to get more powder behind the bullet. Not sure why you can't see the pics ... they show up OK on my screen.

This website is pretty primitive so it can't see the photos that are on your "buckstix" server. AR can do that, but not DG.

It would be a lot of fun to shoot with black. I would think it would be an excellent breech seating cartridge.

Hello BrentD

Never had problems with photos before and I've been posting here for over 10 years ... can you see the photos at this link?

https://www.doublegunshop.com/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=559513#Post559513

Strange, others can see those photos there - and have commented about them.

Nope. no photos there. I've seen photos that you have posted before however.

Hello BrentD

Others have said they can see my pics. And I can see them from my phone and other computers here and off-site. Must be on your end .. perhaps your internet connection.

No, I can see other's pictures, and I can see your pics on AR as well. So, I'm seeing what's there to be seen. What is interesting is that there isn't even any code for the URL where the pic should be.

Buckstix,
I see the photos, I agree- this would be a hoot.
Mike

Nice little rifle. Great Condition

Given that there doesn't seem to be any info on the cartridge/caliber, could the rifle have been a .300 Sherwood originally with the bbl marking .300 S

Then some one lengthened/enlarged the chamber to what you have and added the 'L' to the caliber marking in between the .300 and the 'S'. So you have .300 L.S.

(The .300 Sherwood was also known as the .300 Extra Long.
So making a .300 Long Sherwood wouldn't seem right unless you didn't know better. Or just had to do something with the caliber mark.

Just a thought. Bullet dia at .300 seems right.
Doesn't make any different, it surely shoots well!

It's great that Rocky Mtn can make up brass cases for instances like this. Brings an orphaned rifle back to life.
Thanks for the explanation of the filler placed below the powder in the case. Never have heard of that before, never thought of it before actually!

Nice shooting!!

Hello Kutter,
Thanks for the reply.

I don't know what to say about the 300 LS caliber, or how it came to be. The rim dia of the Sherwood case is too small for the extractor on this rifle, but who knows? The only way I knew LS stood for "Long Shot" is that the former owner tagged the rifle with that moniker.

Yes, RMC has made custom breaa for many of my toys; 700NE, 20-577, 14x33 Wanzel, thick 20ga, 18ga, 12ga, etc.

As for the TP pill in the bottom of the case, testing loads had shown there was an issue with powder position within the case. This is a straight case with no taper. When the powder was full back against the primer, there was a pressure spike in the case neck and the case would stick in the chamber. When the powder was level, or full forward, there was no pressure issues. I've seen this happen before when cases were filled below 70% density. The toilet paper pill, made from a 1" sq, keeps the powder forward in the case, closer to the base of the bullet. In this case it accounts for about 3/16" to 1/4" filler at the "bottom" of the case. A small rolled "pill" the size of a pea, will not inhibit ignition, and in some cases it will actually make the ignition of the powder more uniform. As you can see, a 6 fps standard deviation would indicate very good uniform ignition.

The only pictures I see are the ones linked in the Accurate Loading site shown above. I don't see any of your images, or even a link in your posts to click on for the images. And the link you posted to another thread on this site doesn't show me any pictures either.

Vall, I don't see them either.

http://www.buckstix.com/buckpics/300lsrook-1.jpg

http://www.buckstix.com/buckpics/300-LONG-SHOT-4.jpg

http://www.buckstix.com/buckpics/300-LONG-SHOT-CART-1.jpg

http://www.buckstix.com/buckpics/300lsrook-2.jpg

http://www.buckstix.com/buckpics/300lsrook-3.jpg

Serbus,

Raimey
rse

All four imagines are listed above with html bracketed with [img][/img] which made them completely disappear. How odd is that?

That's what I have been trying to convey for a time.....



Serbus,

Raimey
rse

Now we're off to play with the other Rook rifle

https://www.doublegunshop.com/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=588165#Post588165