As has been stated here many times, for any minie ball(conical) to shoot accurately out of any rifle, it needs to be sized close to bore diameter( 1/1000th Inch under bore diameter) which means the shooter HAS to measure his bore diameter, rather than rely on what the manufacturer prints on the barrel!
And to obturate, all bullets have to be cast from fairly soft lead. If you use lead with antimony in it, the thin skirt on many minie designs is likely to break inside the barrel, leaking gas which then cuts lead from the side of the bullet, and ruins any chance for accurate hits.
If you use an alloy lead with too much tin, you may not get any obturation of the skirt at all, and again, gas will cut through the bullet, and destroy accuracy. Paper patching these bullets helps accuracy, whether you shoot a hollow based Minie, or a flat based design conical.
Using adequate lube in the grease grooves of these cast bullets aids in accuracy, too. The recoil that you feel is a reflection of the comparatively light weight of the gun for the caliber, and the design of the buttstock, and buttplate.
In most of these .58 caliber( or larger) rifles, regardless of ROT, you can find a load that will shoot a PRB accurately, with much less recoil, and much less cost for the cast ball than what it costs to produce the cast minie balls. Start with a caliber size load of FFg and work up from there to find an accurate load for a PRB. Don't forget to try a good OP wad between the powder and PRB to seal the gases and protect the patch from burning. Simply using an OP wad, as an additional component to your load, has improved the accuracy of many original rifles, and most replicas, too. :thumbsup:
