Bullets for Burnside Carbine

[Leef]

I need bullets for my Burnside carbine. From what I read, they should be ~.558" x ~360 gr. Dixie used to sell these but doesn't any more (I got cases from them).

I've searched quite a bit, not finding bullets or molds.

Can anyone help? Thanx!

[Olevern]

Sorry, don't know of a source, but try over on some of the reenactors forums

[Larry Gibson]

Rapine bullet moulds has moulds for that bullet.

Larry Gibson

[Southron Sanders]

Re-enactors don't shoot live ammo, so visiting a Re-enactors forum would be a waste of time. The North-South Skirmish Association shoots LIVE AMMO in competition, so you need to check with the N-SSA Bulletin Board [ www.n-ssa.org/]

Rapine used to make Burnside bullet moulds but unfortunately, they are now out of business.

The N-SSA BB has a "Buy, Sell, Trade" Page so you could post an inquiry about purchasing a used Rapine Burnside mould from a Skirmisher.

[By the way, IF you live East of the Mississippi River, you should join a N-SSA unit and compete in our Matches. Your Burnside would be "Legal" to use in both N-SSA Individual and Team Matches. The Team Matches are "Rapid Fire" and usually very exciting.]

S & S Firearms [www.ssfirearms.com] sells cast, 360 grain, .54 Burnside bullets in bags of 25. They also sell Burnside cartridge cases.

The Burnside Carbine has "Gain Twist Rifling" and is extremely accurate with round balls. You can oil your barrel and then drive a soft lead slug thru it to get your true bore diameter. Once you have that, you can order a custom made round ball mould from Jeff Tanner in England. You can "Google" his website.

Jeff sells a lot of round ball moulds here in the U.S. and after I ordered my mould from him, I had it in about a week because he sent it via airmail to me. His moulds fit Lyman handles.

Hope this helps! HAPPY HOLIDAYS !

[scrapcan]

for the uninitiated here is a short quip with pictures for the Burnside

http://www.hackman-adams.com/guns/burnside.htm

[gnoahhh]

Or you can do what my old man did as a kid in the 30's. They found a Burnside carbine stuck up in the joists in the cellar of a house they moved into. In order to fire it, they took an empty toothpaste tube and wadded it up into a ball and stuffed it into the chamber, followed by powder and a cap. Evidently it went bang and the "ball" flew out. Wish I knew what became of that gun!