casting for muzzleloader

[milcol]

I picked up an Enfield .577 musket want to cast some bullets for it,does the lead have to dead soft or would 20.1 30.1 work ok.
Thanks

[bob208]

dead soft or pure lead if you want it to hit anything.

[Maven]

Dead soft Pb is better, but some of us have had outstanding success with hard alloy, e.g., wheelweights + 1% Sn. In fact, I fired 1 doz. .50cal. RB's (.488" in fact, Lyman mould) with a .020" compressed patch from my Lyman Great Plains rifle yesterday and could see no difference in accuracy between them and my normal .492" pure Pb RB's (RCBS mould) using a .018" compressed patch and the same load. Use what you've got for now.

[fouronesix]

Depends on what type bullet. If hollow based minie or solid based conical, then the softer the better. The minie depends on pressure expanding the skirt to fill the grooves in the bore. The solid based conical depends on obturation to shorten/fatten the bullet to fill the grooves. Softer lead responds better to those requirements. If patched roundball, then you can get away with harder alloys if your patch material and patch fit is right.

Given you have a .577 Enfield, the minie will be the most logical choice. But a patched roundball can be very accurate in those guns.

[LeadBrain]

Depends on what type bullet. If hollow based minie or solid based conical, then the softer the better. The minie depends on pressure expanding the skirt to fill the grooves in the bore. The solid based conical depends on obturation to shorten/fatten the bullet to fill the grooves. Softer lead responds better to those requirements. If patched roundball, then you can get away with harder alloys if your patch material and patch fit is right.

Given you have a .577 Enfield, the minie will be the most logical choice. But a patched roundball can be very accurate in those guns.

This raises a question I have wondered about, If shooting a solid based lead conical depends on obturation, then if a wad or thick nitro card was used would the conical still have adequate obturation or would the wad have to do the work of sealing the bore? Bare bottom or Wad/Card which would generally give better accuracy and seal with solid base conicals?

[fouronesix]

Base wad under a solid base conical? I've found it can work well. Sometimes it helps accuracy. Sometimes it seems to make little difference. It may act in the same way as a gas check by better sealing of gas behind the bullet and protecting the base. A wad may even allow for a larger charge with the conical thus better chance of full obturation- depending on the design of the conical. Never tried a wad under a minie- always thought it'd get stuck in the base, be variably crooked or get shucked out of the base during flight or disrupt the uniform expansion of the base- any one of which could disrupt the delicate aerodynamic balance and stability of the minie.

[Maven]

"Depends on what type bullet. If hollow based minie or solid based conical, then the softer the better." ....fouronesix

Exactly right!

[LeadBrain]

Base wad under a solid base conical? I've found it can work well. Sometimes it helps accuracy. Sometimes it seems to make little difference. It may act in the same way as a gas check by better sealing of gas behind the bullet and protecting the base. A wad may even allow for a larger charge with the conical thus better chance of full obturation- depending on the design of the conical. Never tried a wad under a minie- always thought it'd get stuck in the base, be variably crooked or get shucked out of the base during flight or disrupt the uniform expansion of the base- any one of which could disrupt the delicate aerodynamic balance and stability of the minie.

Thanks for the Info. I am currently playing with some 455gr conicals and was interested in others opinions on this. So far I have had much better accuracy using a wad then not. And I only use Soft lead for my muzzleloader boolits.

[fouronesix]

Thanks for the Info. I am currently playing with some 455gr conicals and was interested in others opinions on this. So far I have had much better accuracy using a wad then not. And I only use Soft lead for my muzzleloader boolits.

It doesn't hurt to try a base wad with solid base conicals. A hard felt wad or a hard fiber card wad sometimes helps. I think since the wad is acting like a gas check, it may allow for slightly heavier charges under the conical. Since the conical depends on both obturation to fill the grooves and enough spin to stabilize... a little heavier charge can at times help accuracy.

The OP has a 577 Enfield that likely has a 70" + twist. That requires an aerodynamically stabilized minie which is more fragile than a solid base so it probably won't respond well to a base wad or heavier charges- unlike the solid base that might.

[Glock Junkie]

Glad I seen this post. I just acquired a 54 cal from my Father and I'm wanting to cast for it. So now I know to use soft lead. Now I have to get some soft lead lol!

[Sergeant Earthworm]

I picked up an Enfield .577 musket want to cast some bullets for it,does the lead have to dead soft or would 20.1 30.1 work ok.
Thanks

One of the reasons armies adopted the Minié ball to begin with is that it made loading a fouled rifle musket faster and easier as the Minié diameter is smaller than the diameter of the barrel. As such, the Minié must be of soft lead to expand into the rifling, another benefit being that the bullet tends to clean some of the fouling out of the barrel on it's way out. I agree with the comment above that using a harder lead Minié will tend to impair accuracy. As for adding an over powder wad or card, I agree with fouronesix, the Minié wasn't designed for use with a wad so it probably would not result in consistently improved accuracy. Another thought: If accuracy is the #1 goal (and almost always is) a patched round ball may be the way to go and then with the proper size ball you can use alloy.

30:1 might work 'okay' but is there a compelling reason to use that vs. pure lead?

I shoot pure lead .577 Miniés lubed generously with bore butter on top of 65 grains fffg out of my 1861 Springfield and after about the third shot it is noticeably more difficult to seat them but does not get more difficult after that because of the cleaning action as mentioned. My accuracy is not phenomenal, about 3-4 inch groups at 50 yards, but I use the gun mainly for reenacting so I'm not terribly concerned about how well it shoots (naturally your results may vary).