Navy Arms 1864 Springfield

[Rat]

Oh yeah, them younger days, when we would load a percussion gun up until the hammer blew back, back the charge back down until it stopped, and called it good.

I started with a replica 1863 Remington Contract rifle, I still really like them. Both are Morukus (Miruku whatever) and are okay rifles, but I would still kind of like to have a really nice, high quality example of one. Both of my Japanese rifles have "lumpy" bores, where they must of stopped and started the boring machine when reaming the bore out to final size. The grooves are fine, and done well, and they shoot "okay".

Anyhow, try different brands of caps, maybe get a spare nipple or two, and don't be afraid to pinch the cap for a better fit. Not a good idea on a revolver, but no harm done to pinch caps on a musket. But again, a little teeny tiny teeny weeny itsy bitsy #11 nipple on a musket sure looks weird to me.

 

[wcubed]

I spoke to a friend of mine today who just so happens to have .58 caliber minies and also musket caps, so I'll be getting together with him and check for fitment.

Thanks for all your help, guys! I'll update this when I know more.

 

[Zonie]

Ideally, a 58 caliber minie' ball should have about .002 to .003 clearance with the bore when it is loaded. That's about the thickness of one human hair. The pressures of the expanding powder gas will blow the skirt open so that it fully engages the rifling grooves.
Tighter fits will be difficult to load after the gun has been fired and looser fits may be too large for the skirt of the Minie' ball to expand into fully into the rifling grooves.

Also, powder loads larger than about 65 grains can cause the skirt of the Minie' ball to be blown out when it leaves the muzzle, which will ruin any accuracy the gun might have had.

 

[Stantheman86]

The US Army Ordnance Dept specified .575 as the diameter for Minies from the contractors. I believe Remington made many of them.

.575 is a good "all arounder" size because bore variance could go either way. As a "civilian" shooter you can tweak it and use or cast Minies to a size that shoots better.