Sam1911
Moderator Emeritus
Hi All!
It's been a while since I smelled the sweet (uh?) smell of sulfur. Years and years back my Dad and I played around with his old replica .58 cal Zouave rifle. Never got decent accuracy, that either of us can recall.
Time has certainly gone by and a lot of other rifles have arrived to take up all my time throughout the years.
This year my Dad has gotten the crazy idea in his head that he should pass that old Zouave on to my brother-in-law. (Fine by me -- he's a great guy and needs to get his collection started somewhere.) But, first we need to get it all set up and build up a kit for him so he can actually hit something.
If I recall from several decades back, we had ZERO success with Minies. I think the rifling is too shallow or some such problem. Just patterned -- didn't group at all.
One suggestion that I don't recall having followed up on was that the twist rate was much more appropriate for patched round balls.
I found an old round-ball mold and cast up a couple (ok ... 380) for our tests. They measure a fairly consistent 0.562" - 0.565". Alloy was mostly reclaimed bullet lead from an indoor range, mixed with some wheel weights. I'm thinking that the alloy shouldn't be a problem as the patch will grip the rifling -- the bullet doesn't have to obdurate. My (non-electronic) scale doesn't go high enough to weigh them.
I'm thinking we'll start with something around 50 g. of FFg and work up from there. Probably not exceeding 100 gr., but looking for the best grouping we can get. Patches will be pillow ticking or something similar, lubed with T/C Bore Butter, most likely. (We seat the ball over the patch material and then cut it free. Don't care for pre-cut patches.)
What else should I think about or expect?
Many thanks!
-Sam
It's been a while since I smelled the sweet (uh?) smell of sulfur. Years and years back my Dad and I played around with his old replica .58 cal Zouave rifle. Never got decent accuracy, that either of us can recall.
Time has certainly gone by and a lot of other rifles have arrived to take up all my time throughout the years.
This year my Dad has gotten the crazy idea in his head that he should pass that old Zouave on to my brother-in-law. (Fine by me -- he's a great guy and needs to get his collection started somewhere.) But, first we need to get it all set up and build up a kit for him so he can actually hit something.
If I recall from several decades back, we had ZERO success with Minies. I think the rifling is too shallow or some such problem. Just patterned -- didn't group at all.
One suggestion that I don't recall having followed up on was that the twist rate was much more appropriate for patched round balls.
I found an old round-ball mold and cast up a couple (ok ... 380) for our tests. They measure a fairly consistent 0.562" - 0.565". Alloy was mostly reclaimed bullet lead from an indoor range, mixed with some wheel weights. I'm thinking that the alloy shouldn't be a problem as the patch will grip the rifling -- the bullet doesn't have to obdurate. My (non-electronic) scale doesn't go high enough to weigh them.
I'm thinking we'll start with something around 50 g. of FFg and work up from there. Probably not exceeding 100 gr., but looking for the best grouping we can get. Patches will be pillow ticking or something similar, lubed with T/C Bore Butter, most likely. (We seat the ball over the patch material and then cut it free. Don't care for pre-cut patches.)
What else should I think about or expect?
Many thanks!
-Sam