My Zoli Zouave is very sick

[bang]

Bore on mine is oddly under. A .575 mini is a gentle push to start with smooth ram. Have to shoot more but so far shoots pretty good.
Had to go with a ,562 ball, closest mould size I could find affordably and ,020 patch.

 

[rdlowe]

I fired mine yesterday and there’s potential as a PRB gun. The bore is pretty big. I was able to thumb start a 570 ball with a .018 patch. Same ball with a .020 patch only needed a very light tap. It requires a wipe between shots else I had to put my upper body weight on the rod to get the ball seated. There were 2 noticeable rough spots where it wanted to get hung up every time. I ran a scotch pad on a 50 cal jag a few times in an effort to smooth that out. No recovered patches because I forgot to look for them.

I don’t know the gun’s history before me but it seems to operate according to a unique set of rules that don’t apply to my other guns, rifled or smooth. I don’t intend to invest much more time and energy into tinkering with this thing. I’ll decide next week on the next range trip if it’s worth it or not.

 

[TNGhost]

It is definitely easier to work up a patched ball load with a rifled musket than a Minie load, as there are less variables, hence less things that can go wrong.

Performance though is going to be best with a Minie, once you find the right combinations, as that is what they were designed to shoot.

 

[rdlowe]

Yes, my 2 other rifle muskets both like the same minie. Guess I got lucky with them.

 

[Newtire]

Mine likes the short little tarhey Minie the best but limited on powder charge or else it blows the skirts off.

 

[Newtire]

Mine likes the short little target Minie the best but limited on powder charge or else it blows the skirts off.

 

[hawkeye2]

If you mean the 315 grain Lyman or Rapine I find it difficult to believe you can blow the skirt off. I shot the Lyman for a while and the Rapine has a thinner skirt, otherwise the same. Been shooting the Rapine for 25 years now. Either will stand the 60 grain service charge and probably more. Any of the out of the box over the counter RCBS, Lyman or Rapine minnies will take in excess of the service load with no problems.

 

[bang]

I fired mine yesterday and there’s potential as a PRB gun. The bore is pretty big. I was able to thumb start a 570 ball with a .018 patch. Same ball with a .020 patch only needed a very light tap. It requires a wipe between shots else I had to put my upper body weight on the rod to get the ball seated. There were 2 noticeable rough spots where it wanted to get hung up every time. I ran a scotch pad on a 50 cal jag a few times in an effort to smooth that out. No recovered patches because I forgot to look for them.

I don’t know the gun’s history before me but it seems to operate according to a unique set of rules that don’t apply to my other guns, rifled or smooth. I don’t intend to invest much more time and energy into tinkering with this thing. I’ll decide next week on the next range trip if it’s worth it or not.

Ought to see if someone can get pics of rough spots.
Pretty sure steel wool would be better than scotch pad. One thing scotch pad can remove finish where steel wool will polish. Should the spots just be carbon or even patch of rust I think steel wool would be more effective.
Finding out what it is can lead your process better.
I've seen some iffy barrel shoot very accurate after some simple treatments.