Hardly ever hear of using the old civil boolit for hunting. Seems like it should be just about perfect being better suited in some ways then the 58 PRB. I have never heard of any doubting the round balls excellent ability in the hunting fields. What of the minie?
Any thoughts?
If your shooting buffalo or bigger animals it should work fine. I was reading a civil war book that said they had confirmed hits on Calvey horses with a minie boolet with compleat pas through leingth wise at 700 yards. That's one big ol nasty boolet.
I have shot plenty of kangaroos and rabbits with minnies when I was a teenager. Bit heavy for rabbits !
Keep yor hoss well shod an' yo powda dry !
My first deer with a minie was out of an original '63 Springfield over 50 gr. of Swiss 1 1/2 at about 60 yards. He took two or three steps and folded.Originally Posted by bigted
Should be the shiz niz for western Oregon elk then. They soak up copious energy seemingly to no avail sometimes.
I have this old CVA Zouave that i am kinda fond of and need to find a good job for it if i can find accurate loads for it.
She has an enormous bore size so it takes the biggest minies i can find. Strangely tho it does fair well with PRB's tho. The .575, .577 and the .580 minie all tumble at 25 yards. Can't remember the size i got from tow but i did get her to stop tumbling at 25 yards but then something or the other came in front of it that needed my attention so i tabled it and just thinking bout restarting my endeavor. Got into it very cheap so can't really get hurt putting some time, energy and a few bucks its way.
The cost of new muskets/enfields makes me want to make something fun outta this ol cheap-o.
I have hunted with minis, using the standard GI load, in my original Model 1861 Springfield.
I have a home built 58 cal. muzzleloader that I shot a deer with a Minnie during a heavy snowfall once, after the recoil and smoke cleared I seen a deer bounding away. I watched it for probably 60-70 yards and it didn't show any signs of being hit. Next I did a stupid thing ! I reloaded and started off in the direction I seen that deer was heading as the snow was very deep and coming down at a rate that would cover the tracks in a few minutes. I dint find any blood and the bounds were 10 feet between so after 100 yards or so I thought I had missed and went back to where I was sitting when I took the shot. After about 10-15 minutes of replaying the shot in my mind I thought at 25-30 yards I couldn't have missed !
So I finally walked down to where the deer was when I shot and there it lay... in the few milliseconds between the recoil and smoke I didn't see the deer go down, and I never seen that there was a second deer there, the one I watched bound away.
Lesson learned ! That 58 Minie put that deer down DRT !!
Jedman
I'd be concerned about shooting undersized conicals as they move off of the powder charge easily. When I'm hunting I want to only be oncerned about the hammer and trigger, which is why I went with a Lee REAL. I'm not aware of any conical that will engrave and hold still for a .58 so you'd likely need to go custom.
Maybe it's not an issue if you are still hunting from a fixed position.
I ordered a 54 cal improved mini by Lee today so I’m going to find out. But isn’t the Hornady Great Plains bullets just a fancy mini ball?
Expanding (Minie) type balls do best in shallow, wide groove bores (like the M1861 Springfield) and are likely not to be very successful in rifles designed for patched balls and sabots etc. I've been hunting with a Springfield for over 40 years and have never had a problem with the ball moving, it is held on the powder charge by slight upset from a tap with the rammer upon seating and the waxy lube in the grooves, it is also .001" under bore size.
A couple of firm taps to the minie, especially with a metal musket ramrod will flare the skirt into the rifling enough for it to stay put. I've hunted from stands with several different muskets where I hoist them up muzzle down. I always check to see if the minie is still seated and have never had a problem.
Interesting. I did not know these could be manipulated like that. Always read how important it was to check to ensure they hadn't migrated off of the powder charge before pulling the trigger.
What is the typical groove depth on rifles meant for thin skirted Minies?
Oh my, that sounds like a paper patch waiting to happen!
I never did get a chance to hunt with mine but I have a Cabelas Hawken rifle. I planed of hunting with the Lee minie, it was a copy of an original minie and it weighed in at just over 500 gr. I was going to use it for elk but never went elk hunting after that. It didn't shoot fantastic but good enough (4")for elk out to 100y. I don't see why it wouldn't work well with proper load work.
Aim small, miss small!
Minies are excellent for hunting. The issue is some states required a round ball for muzzle loading season. Unless the law has changed
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