.575

[Sham66]

Howdy,

I am thinking of getting the Euro Arms 1863 Zouave rifle. It says to use patched .575 ball.

Will .570 be OK? It looks like .575 ball is a bit hard to come by. Out of the major suppliers I checked, only TOTW had the .575.

What are your recommendations?

Thanks!

James

 

[Rebel]

A .570 should work ok, just use a bit thicker patch. A lot of manufacturers recommend a certain ball size, but that isn't necessarily the only size, or the best size, that will work in it.

 

[Dayne]

I agree with Rebel. Just use a thicker patch.

 

[roundball]

Howdy,

I am thinking of getting the Euro Arms 1863 Zouave rifle. It says to use patched .575 ball.

Will .570 be OK? It looks like .575 ball is a bit hard to come by. Out of the major suppliers I checked, only TOTW had the .575.

What are your recommendations?
Thanks!
James

As an interesting side note to file away...I shoot Hornady .570s...using them with an .018" pillow ticking, I've become used to their feel and resistance when starting them...snug but not difficult.

Then I stumbled across a steal on 20 boxes of Remington .570s and in using some, found they are much harder to start and concluded they're probably .575s...(I have a micrometer but never bothered to mic them)...but they're definitely larger than Hornady .570s.

So if you run across any "Remington .570s" at a good price, that might be an alternative for you if you prefer a ball larger than the .570.

 

[LRB]

Due to the shallow rifling, I'd say .575 with an appropriate patch. My .58 with the minie ball rifling does very well with such a combination. Deeper rifling allows more grip to a patch, and you can go with a smaller ball, but in my experience, shallow rifling does best with the larger balls, but every gun is an individual.

 

[Wes/Tex]

Got to go with Wick on this one. The Zouave rifles have the old Minie ball rifling that uses wide but shallow lands & grooves...three of each. They are the reason there's such a knock against the 1-48" twist, this being the twist used by the military. We, and mean us old farts, needed a while to figure out what was going on back in the 1960's when these guns first hit the market. A little fooling around taught us patched balls would work great if the powder charge was kept reasonable. Couple of guys named Hawkens who hung up their shingle in St.Louis got a lot of mileage out of the 1-48" twist but used deep cut rifling and there's the magic secret. Stay under 100 grains...around 75 to 80 worked well.

 

[TANSTAAFL]

A .570 should work ok, just use a bit thicker patch. A lot of manufacturers recommend a certain ball size, but that isn't necessarily the only size, or the best size, that will work in it.

You are right Rebel, I have a .45 Orion bbl, first time I tried it out was with some .433 round balls, (as that was what I had laying around) with the red pillow ticking patches. Loaded easy and accuracy was outstanding. I have never changed to another size RB, don't wish to screw up a good thing.