need advise for .58 springfield

[runes]

Shot my original 1864 .58 springfield today useing 50 grains ffg and cast minis with crisco for lube. Half the bullets went through the target sideways. What am I doing wrong?

 

[bingo1952]

What did you cast your bullets from? Minie rifles do not like a hard cast bullet only pure or very nearly so lead will do. You may have some better success by upping your powder charge by 10 grains to get your breech pressure a little higher.

 

[jdstrang]

Welcome to the camp, pilgrim! Drag a stump up close to the fire and have a pull on the jug, if you're so disposed.

Your problem is almost certainly the hardness of your minies. As runnball indicated, minie lead's gotta be as pure as Caesar's wife. No wheel weights. No miscellaneous scrap compounds. Just butter-soft, pure lead.

The "magic formula" for maxi minie accuracy is this:

1. Pure, soft lead minies,
2. sized 1 or 2 thousandths under bore size,
3. over a charge of 2- or 3f that your rifle likes. Mine likes 44.5 of 3f by weight, which is about equivalent to your 50 of 2f.

One potential problem with originals is, some of those bores run big. Mine is a .582. A really soft minie of even .577 will expand to fill that gap, no problem. But a hard one won't, and will give you that dreaded profile hole in the target - IF it hits the target. :cursing:

 

[varsity07840]

Welcome to the camp, pilgrim! Drag a stump up close to the fire and have a pull on the jug, if you're so disposed.

Your problem is almost certainly the hardness of your minies. As runnball indicated, minie lead's gotta be as pure as Caesar's wife. No wheel weights. No miscellaneous scrap compounds. Just butter-soft, pure lead.

The "magic formula" for maxi minie accuracy is this:

1. Pure, soft lead minies,
2. sized 1 or 2 thousandths under bore size,
3. over a charge of 2- or 3f that your rifle likes. Mine likes 44.5 of 3f by weight, which is about equivalent to your 50 of 2f.

One potential problem with originals is, some of those bores run big. Mine is a .582. A really soft minie of even .577 will expand to fill that gap, no problem. But a hard one won't, and will give you that dreaded profile hole in the target - IF it hits the target. :cursing:

Excellent advice from the two gentlemen. My original '63 has a .585 bore. Shoots better than I can hold. If you do need a minie over .578, check out Rapine's moulds. He discontinued his website but you can reach him at 215-679-5413.

As an aside, a bit off topic, but Saturday I was at Dixons and a gent walked in with a musket that
looked to be an original '61. When he turned it around so the lock side faced me, it was a beautiful Type II '55.He told me it had been in the family for generations and he had never fired it. He brought it in to ask Chuck about shooting it. I asked him if the tape feed was intact and he didn't know what I was refering to. Turns out it's intact and funtions. What a piece!

Duane

 

[runes]

Thanks guys, It turns out that there was linotype in my lead pot. After looking at some of the minis I dug out of a stump I found that one of them actually broke when it hit. I load a bunch of modern stuff and confused my lead. I have some pure stuff somewhere in the shop.

 

[bob308]

like you i cast for both moderen and muzzleloaders. so have 2 pots that way i dont get my melts mixed up.