Anybody shoot .58 conicals?

[roverboy]

I wondered if anybody shot a .58 and shot conicals? I've not found a good load in my H&R yet. The boolits I've tried have been
.570 and are too small. Need to try something about .575-.580.

[fouronesix]

Don't have an H&R so no help there but if .570 conicals are way big, I think .575-.580 would be way bigger.

Are you talking about solid base conicals or miniés? What's the twist in the H&R?

[mooman76]

I shoot a 58 Minie in a Cabelas Hawkin. It a Lee copy of an original minie and it runs about 510gr or so. Doesn't shoot great but not too bad either. Good enough for deer at 100y.

[roverboy]

Don't have an H&R so no help there but if .570 conicals are way big, I think .575-.580 would be way bigger.

Are you talking about solid base conicals or miniés? What's the twist in the H&R?

Sorry, I said too big but, meant too small. .570 boolits almost fall down the bore. I don't know the twist. I tried solid base conicals. I've meant to try round balls and see how they do.

[fouronesix]

Sorry, I said too big but, meant too small. .570 boolits almost fall down the bore. I don't know the twist. I've meant to try round balls and see how they do.

Thought it was something like that but wasn't sure. For certain try some PRBs. You can use your .570 bullets to see if a .570 RB will work and to get an idea of a patch thickness to start with. It you try a .570 with .015 ticking patch and it needs just a small assist with a short starter but isn't too tight then .570 roundballs would be a place to start. If the .570 bullet with even thinner .012 material is too tight then you'll likely need something like a .562 ball to work with. You can start these part way then pull them out. Sacrificing a couple of bullets is far better than buying the wrong mold.

Your best bet to start with is to get some kind of idea of bore diameter. You can take a set of dial calipers that have the knife edge tip and carefully measure the ID. And/or, you can at least get a partial slug of the muzzle. Use a big fishing slip sinker that is a little larger than bore diameter and drive it partially into the muzzle. Pull it back out and take a measurement off that. Best fit for a solid base conical would be right at bore diameter to a little larger than bore diameter requiring a short starter. Best fit for a minié is between .002" under bore diameter to just under bore diameter and doesn't require a starter.

[carbine]

The N-SSA has been shooting .58 Minies for 63 years. There are plenty of people making moulds for whatever you need. Try their website N-SSA.org. Their is a list of sutler vendors

[baker1425]

I've gotten good luck in an oversized bore 50 hawken with REAL molds. I've not tried them in 58, but I do use the lyman 510 grain mold and they drop around 575. Would maybe beagleing your the mold up gradually?
HTH

[missionary5155]

Greetings
When I bought my Zouave many years ago I got a Mini HB mold with it. That was a trial of patience and never really did me much good. Switched to patched RB and was instantly blessed with groups rather than patterns.
A caliber 57 RB of 40-1 with 85 grains of 2F will shoot through two does standing side by side about 3 feet apart at a range of about 34 yards. I cannot imagine why you would need more power than that unless you plan to tackle bear or bison.
Mike in Peru

[HARRYMPOPE]

i shoot various minie's in Parker Hale Muskets.In good conditions you can shoot 6" at 200 yards.it will do 2" at 100 from time to time.

[Hellgate]

Lyman and Rapine made or make oversize molds that throw .577-.585" diameter molds. Check out the NSSA website for their stickies on accuracy with minies.

[roverboy]

Greetings
When I bought my Zouave many years ago I got a Mini HB mold with it. That was a trial of patience and never really did me much good. Switched to patched RB and was instantly blessed with groups rather than patterns.
A caliber 57 RB of 40-1 with 85 grains of 2F will shoot through two does standing side by side about 3 feet apart at a range of about 34 yards. I cannot imagine why you would need more power than that unless you plan to tackle bear or bison.
Mike in Peru

Sounds good. RB will probably be alright as long as the accuracy is there.

[hornady308]

Lee used to make a 350 grain REAL for the .58 and I use that in an Investarms Hawken. Works pretty well at a 100 yards. Though the mold is no longer made, I see them pop up on ebay and Gunbroker a few times per year and they usually sell pretty cheap.

[Buzzard II]

Rapine retired, no one bought the business. Try Moose Molds, they are sutlers on the N-SSA site and make real nice molds! Have you slugged your barrel yet? If not, use football shaped fishing sinkers, they're pure lead, with plenty of grease and sections of wood dowel from the local hardware store and a leather mallet, then mic the sinker. Good luck! Bob

[LIMPINGJ]

Buzzard II how do you get the sinker out after you drive it in with the dowel sections?

[fouronesix]

Three ways to do it.

The first requires driving an oversized slug down on top of a very small charge of powder (just enough to get it out of the muzzle- maybe 2-4 gr) then shooting it into some soft capture media. The problem being the media might obturate the slug and result in an inaccurate reading. Not practical for most.

The next would be to take a dead soft slightly oversized slug and drive it into the bore a ways then extract it with a good rod with a screw type ball extractor. Lube bore well before starting

The last is to drop a 10-12" brass rod that's slightly under bore size into the bore first. Then drive a dead soft slug that's slightly oversized into the bore a ways. Use the brass rod that is under the slug to drive the slug back out by shaking the barrel up and down- a mini pile driver thing. Lube bore well before starting.

[LIMPINGJ]

Thanks 416.

[Rattus58]

Sounds good. RB will probably be alright as long as the accuracy is there.

.570+ Roundball, 12 ga. shotgun Felt wad (all I had at the time), patch slicked up with 8:1 water to soluble oil 90 grains of 3F Pyrodex P... and majestic pass through and the thing ran all of about.. well if 50 yards would be maybe about right.... Round balls are just as lethal as a minie on the typical shots in the boiler room. A minie on the other hand will go length through and blow huge holes out to 100 yards.... but don't be ashamed to send 280 to 285 grains downbore.... :grin:

84032

[Good Cheer]

I wondered if anybody shot a .58 and shot conicals? I've not found a good load in my H&R yet. The boolits I've tried have been
.570 and are too small. Need to try something about .575-.580.

Hey there. Yeah, I've been shooting .58 bullets. Some experiments with an oversized minie with the back half sized down to .580 so that the front engraves on the rifling are incomplete but initial results in a rebored flinter TC Renegade are encouraging. With the equipment on hand it's tough to size the projectiles without damaging them. But, this is prototyping. My next trials will be with paper patched thick skirted minies. If results look promising I may try out the patched minie with a small depression in the rear and a bunch of powder. The barrel is too large for the Lee REAL.

[Rattus58]

Hey there. Yeah, I've been shooting .58 bullets. Some experiments with an oversized minie with the back half sized down to .580 so that the front engraves on the rifling are incomplete but initial results in a rebored flinter TC Renegade are encouraging. With the equipment on hand it's tough to size the projectiles without damaging them. But, this is prototyping. My next trials will be with paper patched thick skirted minies. If results look promising I may try out the patched minie with a small depression in the rear and a bunch of powder. The barrel is too large for the Lee REAL.Sizing of thin skirt minies is a problem we encountered and so when Lee quit turning my pins for me we did it on a drill press with a file... :grin:

[Southron]

Having been a Member of the North-South Skirmish Skirmish Association since 1968, I have fired several hundred thousands of rounds in practice and competition.Here are some of the "rules" you have to follow to get good accuracy:

[1] Cast your Minie Balls out of PURE lead.

[2] Size them to 2 Thou of an Inch under your bore diameter.

[3] Weigh your Minie Balls, your "Match Rounds" should be + or - 1/2 Grain. Separate your Minies into different weight "Lots." With your severely underweight Minies, throw them back into the pot as they have air bubbles inside of them.

[4] Lube your Minies with either Bore Butter, MCM or hot dip them in a mixture of 60% real beeswax and 40% Bore Butter.

[5] Load up 5 rounds each with 40 Grains of FFFg, 45 Grains of FFFg, etc., up to 65 Grains. Bench the rifle and and determine which load gave you the smallest group.

[6] Make sure your Tang Screw is TIGHT as that aids accuracy.

HINT: Moderate powder charges usually provide the best accuracy, usually somewhere between 45 and 55 Grains of FFFg.

GOOD LUCK!!!

[Southron]

Here i the N-SSA website BB page "Shooting Techniques." Note you might have to register to get access but there is a lot of good information on it:

http://www.n-ssa.org/vbforum/showthread.php/8092-Dialing-in-the-Pedersoli-P58-continued-SUCCESS!

[roverboy]

I shot some prb in my H&R yesterday and they did good. They was Hornady .570 and I used Ox Yoke .010 patches. I shot 90 gr. Goex 2f black and used CCI no.11 caps. It did good at 30 yards. I'm gonna try it at about 50 yards later on.