.58 question

[Jreb]

OK!! I'm in and this is my question. I shoot a .58 Enfield 3 band musket. After trying many different Minie"balls and powder charges I finally found a combination that works. It's the RCBS .575 Hodgdon. I am also an old retired navy diver with high frequency hearing loss and my co-shooters at the range tell me that the bullets whistle when they go down range. Has anyone ever heard of anything like this? They aren't tumbling because they cut a nice hole in the target and group very well.

[45nut]

Welcome Jreb, I copied this post over from the welcome thread so it would get a bit more help.

I have a 2 Band Musketoon myself, I have shot both Minie's and RB's sticking with a 60gr charge of FFG, and no,, no whistling that I can hear either.

[fishhawk]

i can hear the boolit heading down range with my 45-90 steve k

[mooman76]

I have heard no whistle. Mine is a Hawkins but I shoot the Lee copy of an original minie.

[tonyb]

When I was shooting with the N-SSA I heard rounds do it all the time. And leave smoke trails.

[JIMinPHX]

That whistling is probably just the guy at the next bench over admiring what a nice musket you have. :mrgreen:

[Buckshot]

OK!! I'm in and this is my question. I shoot a .58 Enfield 3 band musket. After trying many different Minie"balls and powder charges I finally found a combination that works. It's the RCBS .575 Hodgdon. I am also an old retired navy diver with high frequency hearing loss and my co-shooters at the range tell me that the bullets whistle when they go down range. Has anyone ever heard of anything like this? They aren't tumbling because they cut a nice hole in the target and group very well.

............It appears you do not have a problem in any regard. I have heard the sounds Minie's make when they're not stable, and obviously IF they hit the target it isn't point forward! Out of curiosity what powder and charge did you settle on?

................Buckshot

[oldhickory]

OK!! I'm in and this is my question. I shoot a .58 Enfield 3 band musket. After trying many different Minie"balls and powder charges I finally found a combination that works. It's the RCBS .575 Hodgdon. I am also an old retired navy diver with high frequency hearing loss and my co-shooters at the range tell me that the bullets whistle when they go down range. Has anyone ever heard of anything like this? They aren't tumbling because they cut a nice hole in the target and group very well.

I have that mold also and have found the boolits cast from it to be quite accurate and they cut a real nice hole in paper. I believe my powder charge with that boolit is 45gr of 3f. Now, I've never heard my own boolits whistle in flight, but I have heard others give a brief "whistle," "ring," or "shing" sound on occasion while skirmishing.

[Baron von Trollwhack]

40 years of skirmishing and looking at other's bullets, picking up drops, and digging backstop lead tells me that some guys mold crappy bullets with wrinkles, unfilled base bands, BIG pinholes, nose and cavity, and too hard of lead. That's where the whistles come from. The Civil War troops noted whistles too. BvT

[cwskirmisher]

During many years of skirmishing, the wad-cutter type minies such as the Lyman 315 grain semi-wadcutter and the Hodgon/RCBS minie do whistle occasionally, and still remain very accurate. That square shoulder behind the pointed nose may have something to do with it. But whistle it does, and goes downrange nose first as intended. I have purposely shot mines loaded upside down (hollow base up) to get it to tumble for the dreaded stake events, but never heard those whistle. But the wad cutters loaded correctly do.

[PAT303]

I shoot a musketoon and it will not shoot short,light minnies worth a damn but large(640grn) ones will all go nines and tens if I do my part.If your minnies cut neat holes I wouldn't worry,Enfields are very picky and they will tumble boolits at the drop of a hat if they don't like what your feeding them,we shoot alot of Parker Hale enfields in Australia. Pat