58 cal smooth bore

[lead chucker]

I just had a old 54 fast twist rifle made into a 58 smooth bore. I wanted to make it a shot gun. I was going to order some felt to make wads. How thick should i order. I have never loaded or shot a bp muzzle loader shotgun so this is all new to me. What are guys making over shot cards with. Im going to make my own punches to cut the felt and cards how tight should the wads and card be. How much shot. I figure 70-80 gr of black powder should be a decent load. Any help would be appreciated.

[Good Cheer]

Do yall have the egg boxes made from recycled mulched up and molded paper?
They make pretty good punched wads that will soak up some grease to help keep the fouling soft.
For loads though every one I've tried liked something else.

[KCSO]

Track has all the wads you need in the right size for 58. If you want to go the whole route you need over powder over shot and cushion. I just use over powder and cushion in a percussion gun and split an over powder for a top or over shot wad. Another hint is to glue the over powder to the cushion nad then dip the cushion part in lube, don't soak it just coat it. This will drop one step in the loading process and the lube will let you shoot longer without cleaning. If you want the very best patterns you might try dropping down a wad size and making paper ctgs. Just tear off the end when you load and cap with an overshot and the paper acts as a shot cup. For a 24 Ga you will want about 60 grains of ffg and up to an ounce of shot.

[Nobade]

80gr. Is a good load in a 12 ga. I would think you'd want a bit less in a 58.
I use cardboard wads such is mentioned in the sticky above that tells you about how to manage a shotgun. That works great and doesn't cost anything.

[bedbugbilly]

Check with Circle Fly - they make shotgun wads - fiber, over the shot, etc. and they are reasonably priced when compared to going to all the work to make your own - i.e. you could be out shooting instead of making wads. They make them in various sizes - if your bore is a true .580, you could give them a call and they can tell you what you need. Years ago, they had sample packs available for a moderate cost if you didn't know the exact size you needed - a good way to go so you can try to see what fits your bore the best and then order a bag of the various wads you want to use.

When I was a kid and didn't have the money to buy wads, we used newspaper wads packed in over the powder, poured the shot in and then a very light wad of newspaper over the shot. Using that, we had no problems in breaking clay pigeons on the fly.

As already noted - I believe TOTW sells circle fly wads as well.

[RogerDat]

58 caliber is close to a 20 gauge. Really close. A .58 round ball is a little loose without a plastic cup wad, a little tight with a plastic cup wad. I think I use a .56 or .57 with a plastic wad to load round ball in a Mossberg 500 20 gauge. So I would think you would use load components and charges appropriate to a ML 20 gauge shotgun in a .58 caliber bore.

[lead chucker]

Thanks for all the reply's guys. I appreciate all the help i can get. I had another post on my 54 cal for round ball and was introduced to the moose milk and how to make it. What a game changer that was when shooting at the range for fowling control. A guy can gain a a lot of good info here.

[DIRT Farmer]

A 58 should be right at 24 ga, a 20 ga is 62

[RogerDat]

A 58 should be right at 24 ga, a 20 ga is 62

You are correct 24 gauge bore size is .579 so 24 gauge would be appropriate size wad in a 58 caliber bore. Might leave a touch of room on the sides but certainly where one would probably want to start. Those loads would probably be the best choice to start with too.

In a wad the .575 is a very common round ball choice for 20 gauge loads. Which is why I was thinking it would be a starting point for a .58 caliber bore. Ball weighs the same. Loads that just have a felt or cork wad under the ball would require something bigger than .575 but a .58 was almost impossible to push through a 20 gauge in a wad even with thin petals in the one I was loading for. Others have used the .58 size with 20 gauge, was too tight for mine. Load data though would be different when I think about a plastic wad vs. a felt wad. But in a ML at least one doesn't have to worry about stack height being off and making the crimp bad. I think a .62 even without a shot cup wad would be pretty tight. Bore is supposed to be .615 for 20 gauge. Over bore size by only .005 would still be pretty tight fit. Don't have that size RB so never tried it. I went with a .575 in a TC wad with some nitro cards under it. I think those may well be 24 gauge now that I think on it.

Thanks for catching my misinformation.

[northmn]

Northwest trade guns were 24 gauge or 58 caliber. 20 Gauge is 615. First try the 24 gauge was. I would order the over powder wads and then use a knife or fingernail to peel off an over shot wad. You might try a 9/16 punch but it would likely need a bit of opening up to make a wad cutter. Buying wads is inexpensive enough such that it hardly pays to cut them.

DEP

[waksupi]

I recommend following V. M. Starr's instructions in the sticky, The Muzzleloading Shotgun.

I found that fiber wads will blow a hole in the center of a pattern. Card wads work better. If you do use the fiber wads, just separate a section for over the shot.

[RonT]

I use Cellulose 'blown in insulation' over sprayed with PAM spray cooking oil for my cushion wads. I lay out the insulation on a newspaper then spray with PAM until cohesive, stored/carried in a repurposed shot bag.
Cheers,
R