1861 Colt Blackpowder Arms Springfield Rifled Musket - Serial Numbers?

Rum River · Aug 21, 2024

I just bought this and am happy with my purchase, even if I haven't shot it yet. (I just got it home yesterday.)
As this is one of the Colt Signature's by Anthony Imperato from 1995-2002, it's tough to find a serial number lookup.
I only want to know 'cuz I keep track of everything about my firearms - like the build date.

From the searches I've done so far it sounds like there might not be any records.
Anybody have some input?

Thanks...........

Rum River · Aug 27, 2024

The moderator(s) were kind enough to move my post here from the 'General Muzzleloading' area.

Anyone here have one of these? Mine is unfired with some minor handling marks only.
In reading up on these some shooters mentioned the bores may run a little large - and that overall most had better luck with a .580" Minie instead of the .575".

I have a .58 Minie mold laying around somewhere, but I live within an hour of Track of the Wolf and am thinking about just buying some bullets to get started.

dave951 · Aug 27, 2024

Rum River said:
The moderator(s) were kind enough to move my post here from the 'General Muzzleloading' area.

Anyone here have one of these? Mine is unfired with some minor handling marks only.
In reading up on these some shooters mentioned the bores may run a little large - and that overall most had better luck with a .580" Minie instead of the .575".

I have a .58 Minie mold laying around somewhere, but I live within an hour of Track of the Wolf and am thinking about just buying some bullets to get started.

While mine is not a Signature Series, it is a Colt. And yes, the barrels did run a bit large. We've covered the basics to successful minie shooting here many times. You will need pure lead, a bullet that is sized to .001 under the measured bore size, real black powder, quality caps and a good lube (NOT Bore Butter)

Here's just one target I've shot with mine-

Rum River · Aug 27, 2024

dave951, I appreciate the advice.

These are out of focus, the rifling is sharp.

dave951 · Aug 27, 2024

Real black powder 3f about 45g 2f about 50g.

wiscoaster · Aug 27, 2024

Rum River said:
....
Anyone here have one of these?

I have one, s/n 3373, but I don't have a date. Couldn't find one, but maybe didn't try hard enough. I bought mine used.

Rum River said:
....
In reading up on these some shooters mentioned the bores may run a little large -

They definitely prefer tight-fitting bullets. One of the accuracy problems though is the rifling. The rifling is not period-authentic as original for the Minie ball, and I don't remember offhand what the exact problem is - grooves not deep enough? But the result is poor bullet stabilization.

Rum River · Aug 31, 2024

Range day today - made some real progress. As others posted, they like tight bullets. Went to Track of the Wolf the other day to buy some .577's and .580's - the gentleman there agreed but suggested a particular .575 as well. Bought a 25 count box of each to test.

Used CCI musket caps, Goex FFg and some bear tallow lube another shooter gifted me some time ago. Tried using 50 & 60 grains powder by volume for the .575's and the .580's. In the case of the .577's they had a very thick skirt so I tried 50, 60 and 70 for that one.

The .580's with the 50 grain charge were the ticket today. All the groups were shot at 100 yards on one of my gong targets. It's a 36" diameter white steel plate with a hole cut in the center behind which is a 4" red AR500 gong. The opening works out to about 3 1/2" or a little larger. Too bad that third one drooped on me.

After trying some other combinations I came back to the .580's and 50 grains. With a freshly cleaned and dried bore I tried to see how long I could go without cleaning - turns out it wasn't real far - at least it wasn't today. Shot these four rounds and managed to clip the center a bit - even though it just touched it still flipped the red gong up over the top.

Was glad that the rifle didn't need a fouling shot - even more glad the rifle is shooting to point of aim. After these four shots the rest starting straying quite a bit - like eight to ten inches and more in random directions.

Rum River · Sep 1, 2024

Forgot to say - the trigger on this thing needs some serious help - way into the double digits.
Actually had to pull back with my entire hand before it would trip the sear.

I have read postings on the subject and have a plan of attack.
One step at a time.....

1861 Colt Blackpowder Arms Springfield Rifled Musket - Serial Numbers?

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