58 cal hawks

[milltownhunter]

i got a thompsom center 58 cal hawkens and have a lyman 575 mini ball mold . i loaded the bullets by the weight of the ramrod this seem to lose to me i tryed 0.18 patch on a 575 round ball but cant even get this started i have been useing 0.10 patchs i was wondering if the bore is over sized

[mooman76]

Mini's are suppose to be loose. That is their design to ease loading and make it quicker too. Then the base expands when you fire it, griping the rifling. If you can't get a 575 ball started with a .18 patch, Id say you don't have an oversized bore. I have a 58 Hawkens also and I don't even remember what patch fits the best, it's been so long since I have shot it. I'm sure you meant .018 patch but that is a pretty thick patch.

[northmn]

I used to shoot .575 ball in my 58s, one with fairly heavy patching if I remember. If anything I would suggest you may have a slightly smaller bore if you cannot start the ball. As stated, the minnie ball was a bullet designed to load easily and expand on shooting. The early ones used in the Civil War were said to be quite undersized. Likely to accomodate both the foulding buildup from heavy shooting and the variation of bore sizes in the early firearms.

Northmn

[Maven]

mth, Unless T/C changed the bore dimensions in the .58cal. Hawken, standard procedure is to try a .10" smaller ball, i.e., .570", with a .015" patch. As for the Maxi-Balls, some of us are finding "one size DOESN'T fit all." However, they shouldn't be so loose a fit in the bbl. that they move [forward] off the powder charge under normal conditions.

[oldhickory]

I've found the best results with minnies for guns designed for them is to size the boolits 1/1000 under bore size and lube them with plenty of non-petroleum based lube, (I use crisco and bees wax). I never tried minnies in anything they weren't designed for, (ie, rifle-muskets) but I can't help but imagine you would get quite a bit of gas blow-by with the deeper rifling and considerable fouling build up. But, like I said, I've never tried minnies with deep rifling intended for patched round balls.