Zouave Frustration Ends

[Rudedog]

Finally after years of Kentucky windage, Minie balls, Buffalo balls, patched round balls and endless internet searching to no avail….. I have achieved great bliss with my Euroarms .58 caliber Zouave.

I replaced the period correct stupid rear sight (oh the joy when I discovered a dovetail slot under the original sight) with an elevation adjustable buckhorn sight that was an extra from my .54 GPR. Installed this centered up along the barrel. My first shot was windage correct in the nine ring at 50 yards, The windage stayed true out to 120 yards which was the limits of the range I was shooting. No longer do I have to hold one foot right windage.

Also I paper patched my resized Minie balls to get tighter shot groups. Finally the gun has become a shooter instead of a wall hanger.

 

[Archaic Weapon]

Awesome.

 

[zimmerstutzen]

Wow. Don't know what your sight looked like. My Zoli has the leaf sights in the rear. I glued the two leaves down and the accuracy with a PRB is great. Not that the sights couldn't be improved, which i have thought about. I just didn't want to remove an original style sight. I have a pin point accurate target rifle. The Zouave is for historical shooting and demonstrations.

 

[Archaic Weapon]

When my 1853 Enfield worked, I had to tighten down and adjust the ladder on mine, it was too loose to grip the ladder.

 

[Rudedog]

The sight leaves would flip up under recoil, plus it wasn't installed centered to begin with.
I know re-enactors use the Zouave but I bought it to be a shooter.
I was disappointed with the sights and it took me a while to figure out that it likes paper patched Minie balls the best.
I paid over $500 for it about 8 years ago and now they are over $900. You'd think the Italians would do a better job installing the rear sight.

 

[AlexanderA]

I know re-enactors use the Zouave but I bought it to be a shooter.

Self-respecting reenactors don't use the Zouave any more (and haven't for a long time). There's no historical evidence that any of these were issued or used during the Civil War. The Zouave contract was a sort of "sweetheart deal" with Remington to make up for the low profit margin on their revolvers. The 12,500 rifles were delivered to the government, stored, and then sold as surplus after the war.

The N-SSA skirmishing rules do allow Zouaves, probably because these were the first large-scale reproductions made (dating to the late 1950's), and letting them be used in the matches is a hat tip to the old-timers.

The reenacting and skirmishing worlds are like night and day in a lot of ways.

 

[StrawHat]

The rear sight wasn't centered when it was installed but it was installed in a dovetail, why not just drift it to center?

 

[Rudedog]

StrawHat - The rear sight was installed into a drilled and tapped hole with a weird screw which had a large head with 2 spanner holes in the top side. It was not installed into the dove tail slot. The dove tail slot was underneath the body of the rear sight just to the rear of the tapped hole which held the screw.
The rear sight has no mating dove tail on it for windage adjustment.

 

[4v50 Gary]

The Zouave is a good looking rifle. That brass patch box is a plus. BTW, we had an 1841 Mississippi in our collection and I opened up the patch box and found a spare nipple in it - just like it was left by the previous owner/soldier.

 

[[email protected]]

The Zouave is a wonderful accurate musket. I have never seen a bad Zolie.
I bought mine in 1975. It will shoot as good as any of our match rifles will.
I have won more matches with it then I can count. In competition shooting
There is not much we can do to the rear sight. We can drill a hole in the leaf
For a peep sight. I never thought the rear sight was lacking. I took a small
File and cut a square notch down into the screw. It shoots dead on out to
50 yds. At 100 yds I hold about 6 inches high. At 200 yds I use the second
Leaf. We have 200 yd matches at Friendship. The gun always could shoot
better than I can. Accuracy off the bench is 5 shots under a inch at 50 yds.
100 yds is 3 inches. 200 is about 6-8 inches. This is about all I can shoot. The
gun is capable of better. I always shot 55 grs Goex FFF , .575 round ball from
A Lee mould, and .017 thick pillow ticking patch. I could not see any difference
In accuracy from 40 grs up to 90 grs. At 55 grs, it shot dead on with the way
My sights were, so I used that load. Mine has the 3 groove barrel and the twist
Is 1 in 72 just like the originals were. Mind is a Zolie made probably around
1974. Cost was 78.00 new from Navy Arms. Never used the minie much
Because it kicked too much. Musket matches are 10 shots. The biggest thing
I saw in accuracy was the nipple. I used the Tesco nipple made for no.11 caps.
When I tried the musket nipple and musket caps, the accuracy went to hell.
The Tesco nipple I put in 1976 is still in it. Still just excellent after all these years.

 

[StrawHat]

StrawHat - The rear sight was installed into a drilled and tapped hole with a weird screw which had a large head with 2 spanner holes in the top side. It was not installed into the dove tail slot. The dove tail slot was underneath the body of the rear sight just to the rear of the tapped hole which held the screw.
The rear sight has no mating dove tail on it for windage adjustment.

I misubderstood what you wrote,