New to Muzzleloading

[drhall762]

I have some specific questions dealing with boolit performance in specific muzzle loading rifles for anyone that can help.

I have 2 reproduction guns, an 1863 Springfield Rifle in .58 and an 1847 Springfield Musket in .69. I want to begin shooting these 2 as well as a Lyman Great Plains .54 Flintlock on a more serious basis. My questions are:

In the 2 Springfields what is the better projectile to fire? HB Minnie' style, RB or something else. Casting is not an issue. What is a couple more molds more or less. LOL.

In the Lyman are the Great Plains Bullets the way to go or something else? I am pretty sure it has a 1 in 60 twist.

Also, does anyone have favorite loads for these that I could try as a starting point.

I have shot my in line .50 quite a bit with sabots but it seems to be an entirely different animal.

Thanks for any help you can give.

[double8]

I have a Zoli Zouave .58 and it is very accurate with 70 gr FF, .575 RB patched with pillow tickin'. Same load with a Lee .575 470 gr minie bullet. Without the patch of course.
Patched round ball, 10 shots, 35 yds, bench rest

[fouronesix]

You'll find plenty of views from every angle (including opposing) here. The M63 .58 was designed to shoot minies. It will also shoot patched round balls fine.

You didn't specify whether smoothbore or rifled for the M47 .69. No doubt, if smoothbore, it was designed for a roundball and can be loaded with a near bore sized unpatched roundball or a slightly undersized patched roundball (.662 or so). If rifled then patched roundball or I think one company? is currently making a minie mold for it.

For the .54 flintlock rifle with the 60"? twist no doubt patched roundball is HC correct and preferred.

You're right, forget about the way inlines are loaded and what makes them tick. The guns you mentioned operate best on real black powder and for sure the muskets do best with less than full house loads. A good place to start with all the ones you mentioned and with most any bullet type would be to start with about 50 gr of FF.

[SamTexas49]

Sounds like your aready a BP shooter, just in In-Line so just get those smoke poles out and experiment and see what they like ! Proabably the .58 will like Minies but Like said above dont count out the good Ole RB with snug patch. Same for the .69 (if smooth bore) RB , even try some of the paper cartridge ideas, and also try a buck shot load !
powder, wad, shot and over shot wad or paper. Have fun !!!

[Bullet Caster]

I used to own an ArmiSports 3 band enfield 1853 model and shot minnies out of it without much accuracy. Since I quit re-enacting the Civil War, I sold my enfield to another member in our re-enacting group (and he was very happy with it since I stripped off all the blueing from the bbl. and bands). I sold it for more than I paid for it. I then purchased a .50 Pedersoli flinter and am happy shooting patched round balls out of it. You'll find 2 schools of thought on muzzleloading. Some are PRB purists and others are happy shooting conicals.

I, for one, am a PRB purist. I've only shot PRB from my muzzleloader and will NEVER shoot a conical. Somehow it just don't seem right to go with a conical when it was originally designed as a PRB rifle. Just my 2 cents worth. BC

[drhall762]

I should have said the .69 is a smooth bore. My bad. Sounds like I am going to have to get to shooting. Oh darn. Hate it when I just have to shoot. LOL. Actually, I have never had good luck with the alternatives to BP in my inline. Just doesn't seem to work as well for me as the real thing. Maybe I am just not holding my mouth right. I will say however, the loose did a much better job for me than did the pellets.

Thanks,

[fouronesix]

Your .58 rifled musket and the .54 flint rifle are pretty straight forward. However, that .69 smooth bore is going to be "interesting" and challenging. You have a cylinder bore, more or less 14 ga shotgun or a single round ball smoothbore shooter. If your bore is close to nominal .690 then the .662 ball cloth patched will probably work. Smoothbores are much less forgiving in patch fit, if for no other reason than ease and practical loading. In mine, I tried three different ball diameters before settling on the .662. Then I purchased the mold. As has been posted, the other possibility for the .69 roundball is to use what amounts to a paper "patch" as was used in the paper cartridges of old- in turn that may require a slightly larger ball diameter for best results.

[fouronesix]

I have a Zoli Zouave .58 and it is very accurate with 70 gr FF, .575 RB patched with pillow tickin'. Same load with a Lee .575 470 gr minie bullet. Without the patch of course.
Patched round ball, 10 shots, 35 yds, bench rest

double8, I like that target!

[double8]

Haven't quite been able to duplicate it....got close a couple times, then the "flier" or two. Must have been the full moon, tide, or whatever. It starts to open up at 50 yds. The Zouave is fully bedded, and the lock was worked...has a nice crisp trigger pull at about 3 1/2 lbs.

[fouronesix]

Oh ya, the flier! I get them once in a while no matter the load or gun.

Kind of off topic but close enough- I too bed some of my repros and newer MLs. It probably doesn't help in every case but I believe it never hurts anything. For the non-originals- I always bed the tang and breech area and if if seems the barrel channel and/or bands/pins/wedges are a little out of plumb, I'll go ahead and at least bed the areas around them. That way it keeps the tension even all along the barrel, from tang to muzzle, and none of the attachment points can exert odd pressure.

[drhall762]

Now there were some interesting points I had not considered. Bedding may be, at some point, an option. Need to shoot them all for a while to see what they will do.

Thanks,

[drhall762]

Okay, now another question on round ball loads. I see many RB come in 2 flavors, .010 and .005" under nominal bore diameter. I understand that the patch makes up the difference. Is the tighter fit helpful in that thinner patch material can be used or .....? Also, I see pillow ticking is a favorite. Pre-cut circular patches or cut directly from a larger chunk?

[John Allen]

I like a minie in the 58 with soft lead and 50/50 Beeswax-Olive Oil

[fouronesix]

Okay, now another question on round ball loads. I see many RB come in 2 flavors, .010 and .005" under nominal bore diameter. I understand that the patch makes up the difference. Is the tighter fit helpful in that thinner patch material can be used or .....? Also, I see pillow ticking is a favorite. Pre-cut circular patches or cut directly from a larger chunk?

Smoothbores are different critters as far as patch/ball fit.

The 54 is a little more straight forward. You can shoot either common ball size- 530 or 535. Then adjust patch thickness accordingly. Mic your patches, make notes of the combinations and that's why taking a mic to a fabric store is so handy. :) You'll have to let the gun tell you what it likes. And, it may be a compromise between accuracy/ease of loading. Quite a few combinations to test and will take some range time.

For me, best accuracy with normal PRB rifles comes at the cost of ease of loading. For example: my best accuracy in both my 66" twist 54 cal roundball guns is using a 535 ball and thinner patch and a short starter and cleaning between shots.

[masscaster]

Hi drhall762,
Everyone is on the right track.
The Sringfields will usually shoot both ballits & Minies. Accuracy will have alot to do with the twist, projectile/patch and desirable load to distance.
The .69 will eat nearly anything. Most folks prefer a ballit, but the Minie is also an option at shorter range.
It can be a handful, lol.
It's always best to slug'm prior to buying a mould of course.
The .58's are usually a .570 or .575 ball with 0.010 - 0.015 patch/ticking.
.69's are .662 0r .677 ball depending on bore & patch combo. A .690 ball lubed w/ no patch will sometimes shoot as good.

Jeff

[drhall762]

Hoping to get out this weekend with at least one of them and burn some powder. Sounds like the smart money is to work up loads at about 50 yards and go from there.