Russ T Frizzen
70 Cal.
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Lyman offers a 730 grain .69 Minie mold. Their molds are made of steel instead of aluminum like the cheaper ones and will last a lifetime or more.
1842 Springfield
- Thread starter ben fowler
- Start date
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@ Rifleman:
What mold do you use? I never had any troubles with keyholing with my .685 lyman mold. Tough the only keyholes I had were with conicals with damaged bases. If a conical fell out of my hand and it was banged flat on the concrete floor it would keyhole at 50yds. The funny thing is that the .685 mold makes .690-.691 conicals if really hot and the bore on my 1842 is .692.5 so it fits perfectly. Maybe I am flinching a bit with this rifle but with a blackened front sight and compensating the enormous high shots ( I have to aim for the lower end of the target) with a lod of 75 grain of swiss 3FG I can keep fist-sized groups at 50yds. My lube is made of 80% tallow and 20 % beeswax, If I stick my finger down the bore after I shot some conicals out of it I can feel the lube on the barrel walls with my fingertips, oading is very easy. Seating the bullet with a lot of force to expand it a little bit on the powder helped a lot to increase accuracy. :thumbsup:
Its working very well. Some lube in the base of the conical helps to prevent lead fouling in the chamber area.
The concials are so soft if I put a conicals base over another conicals head and hit it with a hammer the base expands and the conical looks like a bell. :grin: I use 1% tin and the rest is pure X-ray lead.
I need to develope a better load, fist sized groups at 100 are ok, but not at 50. Maybe I am flinching badly, the straight butt plate knocks my shoudler pretty hard when shooting 50 shots from the bench. I am 210 pounds @ 6'1 but this rifle knocks me around like a puppet. :shocked2:
@ Russ
Just be careful with the lyman molds, they are pretty tough but never ever let them fall on something hard. It happened to me a few months ago, the molds edge was banged flat and It would not close, I had to remove some material to close it. I dont know, steel would be harder. I guess its cast iron.
What mold do you use? I never had any troubles with keyholing with my .685 lyman mold. Tough the only keyholes I had were with conicals with damaged bases. If a conical fell out of my hand and it was banged flat on the concrete floor it would keyhole at 50yds. The funny thing is that the .685 mold makes .690-.691 conicals if really hot and the bore on my 1842 is .692.5 so it fits perfectly. Maybe I am flinching a bit with this rifle but with a blackened front sight and compensating the enormous high shots ( I have to aim for the lower end of the target) with a lod of 75 grain of swiss 3FG I can keep fist-sized groups at 50yds. My lube is made of 80% tallow and 20 % beeswax, If I stick my finger down the bore after I shot some conicals out of it I can feel the lube on the barrel walls with my fingertips, oading is very easy. Seating the bullet with a lot of force to expand it a little bit on the powder helped a lot to increase accuracy. :thumbsup:
Its working very well. Some lube in the base of the conical helps to prevent lead fouling in the chamber area.
The concials are so soft if I put a conicals base over another conicals head and hit it with a hammer the base expands and the conical looks like a bell. :grin: I use 1% tin and the rest is pure X-ray lead.
I need to develope a better load, fist sized groups at 100 are ok, but not at 50. Maybe I am flinching badly, the straight butt plate knocks my shoudler pretty hard when shooting 50 shots from the bench. I am 210 pounds @ 6'1 but this rifle knocks me around like a puppet. :shocked2:
@ Russ
Just be careful with the lyman molds, they are pretty tough but never ever let them fall on something hard. It happened to me a few months ago, the molds edge was banged flat and It would not close, I had to remove some material to close it. I dont know, steel would be harder. I guess its cast iron.
shooyer_250
45 Cal.
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finally got some pics of my smoothbore,,,the sling swivel is not on the trigger guard like the 1842,,,it is on the buttstock..the instructions from spiegal read one can load shot or a .54 ball if preferred..here are a few pics...what is it?....
the barrel length is 37 inches, the entire rifle length is 53 inches. the buttplate reads 23.D.A.R 439 ...metal ramrod..3 band...Lee
the barrel length is 37 inches, the entire rifle length is 53 inches. the buttplate reads 23.D.A.R 439 ...metal ramrod..3 band...Lee
See the Topic you made about the same gun for my comments.
http://www.muzzleloadingforum.com/fusionbb/showtopic.php?tid/231017/
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shooyer_250
45 Cal.
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i did Zonie, thanks for the help,,,this gun was sold by Spiegal in 1959 or 1960, it's very nice and clean,,,Lee
paulvallandigham
Passed On
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Try removing the barrel from the stock, so you can look at the bottom of the barrel near the breech. That is where most proof marks are found, as well and manufacturer's ID marks and information on the bore diameter.
ON the inside of the lockplate, you often find more information as to origin.
Molds are available from many companies, if you are willing to pay the price. Most of all you need a bullet sizer for your bore diameter( .001" smaller than actual bore diameter). Lee Precision, Lyman, RCBS, Rapine, NEI, Tanner, are just some of the sources of molds. Not everyone is going to have a bullet in your caliber, but they may be willing to make a mold to your specifications.
The sizing dies are usually made to work in a standard cartridge reloading press, but some can be used in a simple arbor press, or even in the jaws of a bench vise. Some are stand- alones. The use of the dies are essential for best accuracy. If you order a hollow base mold, you can try shooting them with the hollow bases clean and empty, or by filling the base with grease, and then using an OS card behind the bullet to push the bullet out the barrel, and seal the gases behind the bullet. Some use paper patching to achieve similar small groups.
ON the inside of the lockplate, you often find more information as to origin.
Molds are available from many companies, if you are willing to pay the price. Most of all you need a bullet sizer for your bore diameter( .001" smaller than actual bore diameter). Lee Precision, Lyman, RCBS, Rapine, NEI, Tanner, are just some of the sources of molds. Not everyone is going to have a bullet in your caliber, but they may be willing to make a mold to your specifications.
The sizing dies are usually made to work in a standard cartridge reloading press, but some can be used in a simple arbor press, or even in the jaws of a bench vise. Some are stand- alones. The use of the dies are essential for best accuracy. If you order a hollow base mold, you can try shooting them with the hollow bases clean and empty, or by filling the base with grease, and then using an OS card behind the bullet to push the bullet out the barrel, and seal the gases behind the bullet. Some use paper patching to achieve similar small groups.
Russ T Frizzen
70 Cal.
- Joined
- Nov 9, 2004
- Messages
- 5,007
- Reaction score
- 424
For many years these guns were made for trade or sale to indigenous peoples in Africa. They used old parts left over from the muzzleloading days. When we experienced our rebirth of interest in muzzleloading, the Belgians sent a bunch of them over here. If you intend to fire this one be careful. There isn't any way to how safe it is--those marks may be proof marks or just decorations.
