Zoli Zouave problem

[barnabus]

i have a recent purchase of a zoli zouave 58 cal.when i pin Guage it the smallest pin that can go in is .573 However it only goes in about 1/2 inch and stops dead.Same with a .571 pin gauge. Im at a loss as what can be going on here.I see nothing wrong that i can see with light.Anyone ever seen this before ?

[carbine]

How about unbreeching it and cleaning it from the breech?

[Nobade]

Bore leaded?

[HWooldridge]

A half inch isn't very far. I might continue reducing your pin gage sizes until you get something to fall all the way.

[waksupi]

A half inch isn't very far. I might continue reducing your pin gage sizes until you get something to fall all the way.

Agreed. Previous owner may have coned the barrel for easier loading.

[Rapidrob]

Buy a 20 buck bore scope for your smart phone and see what is going on.

[Sasquatch-1]

Agreed. Previous owner may have coned the barrel for easier loading.

I was thinking the same thing except, wouldn't that make the bore diameter of the rest of the barrel quite a bit narrow for .58 cal?

[HWooldridge]

I've seen .005 difference in diameter from muzzle to "somewhere down the bore" on older rifles. The OP won't know until he obtains some empirical evidence.

[junkbug]

If it was heavily used, such as in schirmishing, that may be rammer rod wear. Now it all depends on how you want to use it. It may be perfectly fine with a .560 round ball and patch, but you may struggle to get a conical down the bore in a hurry.

[bedbugbilly]

Zoli Zouave barrels can be all over the chart as far as bore size. I agree that tha muzzle could be belled if the rifle saw long time use as a N-SSA rifle and many, many rounds put down with the steel ramrod.

If it was mine, I'd pull the barrel, remove the breechpluxgand take a good look at the bore. If you start dropping pin gauges in and one goes past the muzzle and gets stuck, you'll be pulling the breech plug anyway in order to push it out.

If it turns out that the bore is toast or not uniform, you could always send it to Bobby Hoyt and have him re-line the barrel to what you want or what he suggests to use a 575-213 Minie - he has done many rifled musket barrels over the years for N-SSA shooters and others.

Over the years, I've seen Zoli barrels that are both north and south of what is considered .58 caliber for rifled muskets. My repro Zouave that I bought 60 years ago (a nice one but not marked with a maker), had a bore of around .584. A few years ago, I bought a used Zoli and pulled the barrel and replaced the original barrel because I lucked and the Zoli barrel is .576 isn and the Minies from my 575-213 molds drop right at .575. I then "parted out" the remaining parts of the Zoli and ended up getting more for the reming parts than I paid for the Zoli.

Depending on your bore - you may have to size your Minie Balls to fit. Once you know what is going on with your bore, give David a call at Lodgewood and see what he suggests - he also usually carries a variety of sizing dies for .58 caliber rifled muskets.

Don't get discouraged as you'll get it figured out and there is nothing wrong with a Zoli. When I was shooting N-SSA years ago, a lot of folks used (and still do) and they shot very well. Good luck and have fun!

Did the previous owner (if you knew who it was) have any info on what size Minie he used in the rifle?

[Brokenbear]

Barnabus I'm green as a willow sapling on BP rifles but I too am shooting a Zoli Zouave .58 but in a musketoon ..I have slowly been tuning bullet and powder to rifle and reading everything I can find ..documenting others works and efforts to dial in the Zoli .58 and in every case the shooter was facing over bore above even the .577 P53 bore numbers (of course anything is possible on any given day) and in the range of .578, .579 and .580 ..which means you have a whing dinger of a differential of under bore as compared to all the Zoli Zouave problem child guns talked about ..
There has got to be foreign residue of some sort reducing the bore be it powder, lead or plastic (sabot capsules) or even some crazy bullet lube gone rogue ..
Now you have gotten good advice about opening up the barrel and seeing what's going on and experience trumps intuition but Zoli builds good barrels so stay after it

Bear

[john.k]

By all means .get a USB camera and have a look......even a $12 one gives a nice clear image of a 58 barrel....also get a wire shotgun brush and scrub the bore (28 ga should be OK).........be cautious removing the plug......the threads are pretty rough,and its likely the plug will turn in more than the mark when replaced....meaning barrel and stock will be out of kilter.

[john.k]

In the original Minie rifle ,the bore tapered from breech to muzzle,and the British continued the design in the Enfield rifles........this was a expensive process ,so when the Springfield comittee investigated rifled weapons ,it was decided that the US musket would have a parallel bore .