Sharps 1863 Original Bullet help!!!

[hillman]

I have an Sharps 1863 RIFLE percussion original and having bullet problems. I also have a carbine 1863. I have looked and it seems like the rifle have a faster rifle twist. On the Rifle it looks like it is an approx twist of 1:55 , 6 rifle and lands. I have been shooting bullets from a pedersoli mold, they work pretty good in the carbine but in the rifle it just tumbles. I tried to cut down the bullets to .850 in lenght and they stopped tumbling. When testing a few shots did not chamber all the way and the result was that the bullets started to tumble again.
What bullets was used for the rifle?? I have not found any short bullets or any info saying what kind of bullet was used for the rifle.
If anybody have any info that might help would be very nice.
Thanks.. Hillman

[curator]

Hillman,

There was quite a bit of variation in bore size and rifling depth in original Sharps percussion breechloaders. You should slug your barrel and maybe even do a chamber cast to find out what the measurements are for your rifle & carbine. I had an original 1863 carbine that couldnot hit the broad side of a barn from the inside with Lyman's "Original" ringtail bullet. I eventually found that a .570 round ball dropped into the chamber gave excellent accuracy.

[hillman]

The rifle slugs .535 and the carbine slugs .540. But the big problem is that the rifle twist seems slower on the rifle and makes the bullets tumble and key hole :-(. I know they had big issues with bore dias.. Varyed widely :-) More powder copuld help, but when chamber is full.. It is full and no more can be loaded.

[Odinbreaker]

I would Try a R.E.A.L bullet 54 cal by Lee they ar short and engrave the rifling when fired. These are shorter and may stabilize better for you. I also used a T C maxi in my 63 that shot ok.

[Good Cheer]

Will a .54 minie work in the Sharps? The old style Lyman .54 minie could put a large part of the bullet mass in front of the rifling contact point if that's of importance. And it might be easier to stabilize. I don't know but was just wondering.

[Hang Fire]

Is the Pedersoli mold for the ringtail boolit?

I had a well made Siles Import back in 1970s, tried a lot of different projectiles with bad accuracy for all.

Then got the Lyman copy of the original Sharps ringtail and accuracy was superb.

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