.58 Heavies?

[Good Cheer]

Any yall shooting heavy .58 boolits? Uh, yeah, I'm getting things ready.
Please if you would, any experience you might have to relate concerning the boolits, lubed or paper patched, the charges, the pieces and the performance would be most welcome. What molds were used? Hollow base or plain base? Bench guns? Hunting guns? Military? How'd it turn out? What did you learn?

[carbine]

What do you mean by heavy? minies range from 315 to 600 grains. I used an rcbs 500 M for 36 years. Original thick skirt shot well for 25 years. Then had skirt thinned and kept shooting. Now working up Hodgdon 414 gr minie. That has one hole potential. Regards

[marlin39a]

I recently bought a Lyman 575213, hollow base, Minnie ball mold. I haven't cast with it yet. Plan on using it in my TC Big Boar.

[mooman76]

Its been awhile but I shot a Lee copy of an original minie that didn't shoot great but good enough for deer out to 100y. Mine is 520gr and I used 80gr of powder. Same point of impact for me as a RB with 60gr. at 100y

[stubshaft]

For best accuracy with a minie make sure you slug your bore and cast/size your minies to within .002" below bore diameter. I usually get my sizing dies from George at (http://oldfoxtraders.com/TnMolds/), Do not assume all barrels are .575" or that Lyman 575213"s cast a .575 minie.

[Good Cheer]

Happy birthday to me, happy birthday to me!

This is an adjustable length plug designed for heavy charges for
#'s 577611, 57730, 575602, 575494 and 575213.
Might end up getting the flat tip for plain bases as well, maybe.

[varsity07840]

Any yall shooting heavy .58 boolits? Uh, yeah, I'm getting things ready.
Please if you would, any experience you might have to relate concerning the boolits, lubed or paper patched, the charges, the pieces and the performance would be most welcome. What molds were used? Hollow base or plain base? Bench guns? Hunting guns? Military? How'd it turn out? What did you learn?

It would help to know what kind of rifle you have.

[Good Cheer]

Yo varsity,
Different twists, different rifling patterns, different designs.
I'm interested in hearing about others' experiences with heavy weight bullets, and heavy is a relative term because every rifled piece is gonna have it's opinion on what heavy might be just as will every shooter.
What I'm gonna do is use those listed minie designs adjusted to various lengths, lubed and paper patched. Goodness knows how long that could keep me occupied!

My P53 wantabe was manufactured with a 48" twist. That thing will probably toss an extended minie with a shallow base quite well, unlike it's 78" twist brethren. And that'll be my primary experiment for a while. The rebored Renegade, a'yup, that will be different. But what I use in each one will also be a matter of what I have around the bench to tinker with and matching up diameters. Don't really want to get a sizer die for each piece.

[dave951]

I shoot them all the time in North South Skirmish Association competition. One musket is an 1862 Springfield contract. Bore measures 580 so I size the bullets to 579. Bullet is a Rapine Trashcan, about 470gr. Charge is 44.5g 3f Old Eynsford. Lube is Lens Lube. Out of my gun, that bullet will shoot into 1in at 50yds, no problem. My other 58 is a first gen Parker Hale 2 band, .577bore. I shoot the RCBS Hogdon with extended base plug, it's about 390gr sized to .576. With 42g 3f Old Eynsford and lubed with lard/beeswax, it's capable of 1.5moa. Yup, I've done it several times with that gun.

So what are you planning to do? If hunting, you don't need scads of powder. The boolits are darn heavy to start with and nearly 60cal. Not much walking on this continent that I would hesitate to use it on. If targets/competition, you don't want service charges. I've found best accuracy at about 60-70% of service charge. You also have to size the bullets to the bore of the gun. Don't assume what's stamped on the barrel is correct, verify. Also have to use pure lead for a minie design to work correctly.

[Good Cheer]

dave951,
I'm gonna use my molds with that adjustable base plug to try out heavier boolits.
Some lubed, some paper patched.
And if I ever get through with the shallow cupped design I might try out plain based.

Your two band, is that a P58 or a musketoon?

[dave951]

I have both a P58 and a musketoon. Both are quite capable of sub 2moa if I do my part.