bedbugbilly
06-28-2014, 03:45 PM
Long story short - I have a repro Zouave that I purchased back in the early 1960's - I shot it when I was in NSSA and over they years, I've put thousands of rounds through it. I have shot BP for 50+ years. A few years ago, I pretty much sold my long gun collection off. I kept this one as it has a special meaning to me. Now, I'd like to shoot it again - nothing serious - mainly plinking and such. I have the Ideal HB Minie Ball mold that I used for many years and just picked up a Ideal HB SWC mold.
So . . . the barrel on mine is getting pretty well worn bore wise. (Way too much clearance for the minie balls) and I have problems with key-holing. I want to "re-barrel" this rifle. Here are my alternatives . . . .
Whitacre (sp?) shows $250 for a "re-line" and $350 for a new barrel + cost of sights + installation.
Dixie GW shows a replacement barrel at $275 which has the sights/finish/breech plug. I believe they are Zoli barrels.
For the shooting that I want to do and for a drop in barrel (I'll hang on to the original) this seems to be the most economical way to go. I'm not going to do a lot of shooting but I still want it to be accurate.
I have now experience witht he Zoli reproductions. If anyone has one and shoots it, could you advise on your thoughts on the quality of the barrel? I.E. does it shoot decent and are you satisfied with the accuracy you can get with it. I'm not talking about "driving tacks" but I would like to be able to hit a hanging clay pigeon at 50 yards, nail pop cans and novelty targets. On my shooting area I have here on the farm, I normally shoot 25 and 50 yards.
Any info on the Zoli barrels would be greatly appreciated. I'm not comparing a "Whitacre job" to a production Zoli in terms of quality, I just don't want to waste money on a complete Zoli barrel to drop in if other folk's experiences are not good with them.
The history of my rifle is this - just to show a little nostalgia. :-) When I was a kid, my Dad and I made friends with an old gunsmith (in the early 60s) who was in his eighties at the time. He owned a small gun shop and he taught me how to shoot ML rifles. He had this Zouave on his rack with the whopping price of $65.00 on it. Every time I went in, I drooled over it and he knew I wanted it. He would hand it to me and I would just be on cloud nine it felt so good. The next time I went in, I was disappointed as it had a "sold" tag on it. He saw me looking at it and told me not to worry, it really wasn't sold . . he said he was "holding" it for me. I worked all summer mowing lawns (we're talking 50 cents an hour) and saved my money up. I had saved up around $50 or so and my Dad knew how much I had in the jar. We went over to the gun shop one day as Dad said he needed some shotgun shells. When we got there, the old man smiled when we walked in and he told me to follow him in to the back. When we got to his work area, he picked up the Zouave off of his bench and handed it to me with a big smile on his face . . . then smiled and told me it was mine to take home. My Dad handed him a check and told me that he knew how much money I'd saved and that he was kicking in the rest of it. That was my first ML rifle and every time I shot it or looked at it, I remember the old gun smith and my Dad. The old gunsmith threw in a pound of 2F, a tin of musket caps and 50 minie balls.
I'm older now than my Dad was when I got the rifle - in fact, my Dad would have been 106 yesterday. He's gone now but I still think of him . . . so many fond memories and he always encouraged my interest in ML shooting even though he had no interest.
So . . . the barrel on mine is getting pretty well worn bore wise. (Way too much clearance for the minie balls) and I have problems with key-holing. I want to "re-barrel" this rifle. Here are my alternatives . . . .
Whitacre (sp?) shows $250 for a "re-line" and $350 for a new barrel + cost of sights + installation.
Dixie GW shows a replacement barrel at $275 which has the sights/finish/breech plug. I believe they are Zoli barrels.
For the shooting that I want to do and for a drop in barrel (I'll hang on to the original) this seems to be the most economical way to go. I'm not going to do a lot of shooting but I still want it to be accurate.
I have now experience witht he Zoli reproductions. If anyone has one and shoots it, could you advise on your thoughts on the quality of the barrel? I.E. does it shoot decent and are you satisfied with the accuracy you can get with it. I'm not talking about "driving tacks" but I would like to be able to hit a hanging clay pigeon at 50 yards, nail pop cans and novelty targets. On my shooting area I have here on the farm, I normally shoot 25 and 50 yards.
Any info on the Zoli barrels would be greatly appreciated. I'm not comparing a "Whitacre job" to a production Zoli in terms of quality, I just don't want to waste money on a complete Zoli barrel to drop in if other folk's experiences are not good with them.
The history of my rifle is this - just to show a little nostalgia. :-) When I was a kid, my Dad and I made friends with an old gunsmith (in the early 60s) who was in his eighties at the time. He owned a small gun shop and he taught me how to shoot ML rifles. He had this Zouave on his rack with the whopping price of $65.00 on it. Every time I went in, I drooled over it and he knew I wanted it. He would hand it to me and I would just be on cloud nine it felt so good. The next time I went in, I was disappointed as it had a "sold" tag on it. He saw me looking at it and told me not to worry, it really wasn't sold . . he said he was "holding" it for me. I worked all summer mowing lawns (we're talking 50 cents an hour) and saved my money up. I had saved up around $50 or so and my Dad knew how much I had in the jar. We went over to the gun shop one day as Dad said he needed some shotgun shells. When we got there, the old man smiled when we walked in and he told me to follow him in to the back. When we got to his work area, he picked up the Zouave off of his bench and handed it to me with a big smile on his face . . . then smiled and told me it was mine to take home. My Dad handed him a check and told me that he knew how much money I'd saved and that he was kicking in the rest of it. That was my first ML rifle and every time I shot it or looked at it, I remember the old gun smith and my Dad. The old gunsmith threw in a pound of 2F, a tin of musket caps and 50 minie balls.
I'm older now than my Dad was when I got the rifle - in fact, my Dad would have been 106 yesterday. He's gone now but I still think of him . . . so many fond memories and he always encouraged my interest in ML shooting even though he had no interest.