Minie in smoothbores??

[Britsmoothy]

Has any of you fine gents ever loaded a .570-.575 minie in a .58 smoothbore?

Thanks.

Brits :hatsoff:

 

[Rifleman1776]

I haven't and won't. A minie requires rifling to spin for accuracy. Smoothbores have......uh!......smooth bores :shocked2: , no rifling.
But it you do load and shoot it, it will come out. Where it will go is another matter.

 

[BrownBear]

A bud of mine does so. Never saw him shoot it, but he reports about the same level of accuracy as a Forster slug from a modern shotgun. In his experience best accuracy is with moderate charges and a hard wad underneath- no attempt to shoot without the wad and make the minie expand on firing to fit the bore was as good. Second hand, but that's all I have.

 

[Billnpatti]

I had a .58 caliber smoothie and I tried shooting some minis in it that I had cast for a previous rifle that I had sold long before. They tumbled like a son of a gun and every one that I shot cut a key hole in the target. I could hit the paper at 50 yards but after that, Lord only knows where the mini went. Accuracy was terrible. Those minis apparently need a good bit of spin to stabilize, otherwise they just start tumbling right out of the muzzle. I quit messing with them after 10 or 12 shots.

 

[Britsmoothy]

Thanks men. Interesting.

First prize for stating the obvious today goes to.....drum roll......clashing cymbal's..Rifleman, yaaa :haha:

B :haha:

 

[Flash Pan Dan]

Many years ago a friend of mine shot 12 gauge slugs out of his Pedersoli SxS. We were both astounded at the accuracy. He was holding all his shots on a pie plate at 50 yards. The caveat was that these were slugs shaped like air gun pellets. They might be the aforementioned Forster slugs, I don’t know. So far as using the traditional Minie bullet, I don’t know, but I am speculating that if the skirt was long enough it might act like a badminton bird and fly well. If you try it I would love to hear about your results. By the way my friend was using 65gr. of 1Fg in his Pedersoli SxS out of one barrel only; we never tried to see if the barrels were regulated.

 

[Tumblernotch]

Has any of you fine gents ever loaded a .570-.575 minie in a .58 smoothbore?

Thanks.

Brits :hatsoff:

Shot a couple of .69 Minies out of a Charleville once. Keyholed at 25 yards. Did hit the target but not where I wanted. Didn't expect them to. An elongated bullet has to spin to stabilize.

 

[Stumpkiller]

If you're going to do that you might want to try the old Breneke style slugs if you can find them. Vanes to cause spin and a wad screwed to the base for seal and stability.

 

[azmntman]

Interesting...have you shot em?

 

[Joel/Calgary]

Interesting...have you shot em?

I'm not the killer of stumps, but I have shot Breneke slugs, however only in those firearms that load from the wrong end. They work well.

Regards,
Joel

 

[Wes/Tex]

Yes sir, in my youth I did a lot of it. Accuracy is so-so since the Minie need rifling to impart spin, but it does let you launch a big ole slug at stuff. Even did some .69 cast Minie's at some boards for the stake-busting competition. I'd shoot first since I loaded that big hummer backwards and tell the rest of the team to shoot opposite where mine hit...we usually won since the thing tumbled on impact and usually knocked a big ole hunk out of a 2X4 or 2X6 stake! :wink: :thumbsup:

 

[Rokon]

What really works--and I mean accurately--is Lyman's 20 gauge, sabot slug. Dropped from the mould it has a diameter of 0.576", weighs 350 grs. and looks exactly like a big diablo airgun pellet with a hollow base.

Use 60-70 grs of 2 or 3F, a 1/8" nitro wad over the powder followed by a greased felt wad, then the bullet with a thin overshot wad on top.

 

[Rifleman1776]

From what I have read in modern gun magazines, those did not spin. The only thing spinning was gullible customers heads when they bought them.

 

[leonard5054]

:thumbsup: True,true :v

 

[satx78247]

YEP. We "tried" a few "homebrew" hollow base Minies (out of idle curiosity) in my cousin's (about 20 gauge) ML smoothie with what can be best described as "quite mixed results".

Btw, a "rifled slug" flies more or less "true" for the same reason that an arrow nearly always hits the target point first & a HB Minie acts the same. - "Rifled slugs", as has been said CORRECTLY by other members here, do NOT "spin" in flight, regardless of any "sales pitch" in a shotgun.

IF (doubtful) that I tried it again, I would use a moderate amount of powder, a THICK/oversize felt wad & a "close-fitting" Minie.
(That MIGHT work OK at CLOSE range BUT imVho a RIFLED weapon is superior in every way to a smoothie with conical projectiles of any kind.)

yours, satx

 

[Grumpa]

The "fins" on Brenneke slugs do not impart any appreciable spin. Their purpose is to decrease bearing surface, thereby reducing friction and increasing velocity. As you point out, they do have a wad of felt, cellulose or plastic affixed to the base, which might help their performance in a smoothbore musket.

 

[matt denison]

"The "fins" on Brenneke slugs do not impart any appreciable spin. Their purpose is to decrease bearing surface, thereby reducing friction and increasing velocity."


A true statement. Any spin is incidental.

I have never been able to shoot anything cylindrical in a smoothbore without keyholing.

 

[Wes/Tex]

I have never been able to shoot anything cylindrical in a smoothbore without keyholing.

In my case I was practically praying for that. Knocking a big chunk out of a stake always worked better if those .69 Minies went in backwards! :wink: :haha:

 

[Grandpa Ron]

Another stated reason for the vanes on slugs was to allow the lead to collapse as it passed through the choke. Many of the 1960’s vintage slug shapes had some sort of spiral vanes.

Prior to the rifled shot gun barrel (now there is an oxymoron), most people just used their old rabbit or duck gun for hunting deer; many of those were choke full and fuller.

25 yards or less from a stand or ground blind was the norm.

 

[Musketeer]

What really works--and I mean accurately--is Lyman's 20 gauge, sabot slug. Dropped from the mould it has a diameter of 0.576", weighs 350 grs. and looks exactly like a big diablo airgun pellet with a hollow base.

Use 60-70 grs of 2 or 3F, a 1/8" nitro wad over the powder followed by a greased felt wad, then the bullet with a thin overshot wad on top.

That sounds like the best way to go, if you want to shoot an elongated projectile in your smoothy. I've seen the ones you're describing, and it does seem like they'd fly well, since they're hollow about 3/4 of the way up, with all the weight at the point end. You're right, too, they do look like monstrously huge airgun pellets. :haha: :thumbsup: