New guy needs more help: Shooting and Field Stripping

[Blockhead]

My Family History quest to find an 1841 Mississippi Rifle like one of my ancestors could have carried has been more successful than I had expected; I own two now, a Navy Arms and a Euro Arms. Now I have a few problems.

1) I have very little knowledge on how to operate one of these. Anyone have some good online sources on how I put them to use?

2) Another problem is I eventually just want one. I love the walnut stock on the Euro, but I love the early sights and lack of bayonet lug on the Navy Arms (closer to the early 41 that could have issued to my family member). Does anyone thing the stocks would be interchangeable? And how would one even field strip it to find out? I tried googling how to take down one of these, but didn't find anything.

Thanks again for all the help I've received so far from forum members.

 

[Walkingeagle]

Sorry I cannot assist with your questions, however you will shortly receive lots of help from the good folks here.
I would like to say that these both are nice. I likely would not switch parts around and keep the one I liked shooting better.
Walk

 

[Phil Coffins]

Remove the ram rod then the barrel bands by depressing the spring you see on the side of the stock. They slide towards the muzzle, they may be tight but will move and the front one will need turned to get pass the sight. Then remove the screw on top of the tang. The barrel will lift out. Now if they will interchange I couldn’t say.

 

[Sidney Smith]

Simple answer keep them both. You're ahead of the game with two. Think of the future as well. You keep both, ten years from now somebody inquires about owning such a gun. You can then sell one at a profit.

 

[Zonie]

While I agree with Phil Coffins instructions, sometimes you will also need to loosen the screws that hold the lock into the stock to get the barrel to lift out of the wood.
Although you don't need to remove the lock before removing the barrel I usually do. Sometimes the rear lock screw can be going thru a hole in the breech plug and this can keep the barrel from pulling out of the wood. This is especially true with a Pennsylvania or Kentucky long rifle.

 

[hanshi]

I've had a Euroarms 1841 in .54 for years and love it. The originals did not have a bayonet lug integral with the barrel nor did they have adjustable sights. I agree with Sidney Smith that you should keep both. Decide which one you shoot better and "safe queen" the other one. I've taken the lock off mine maybe twice in all those years but never the barrel. I clean it in the stock with zero trouble. These are among the finest military rifles ever issued, IMHO.

 

[dave951]

Welcome to the addiction. I'm a member of the North South Skirmish Association and we compete with Civil War arms. Your "Mississippi" is legal for our competition. For more info that you can handle, try searching through our archives. These guns are very capable of sub 2moa accuracy if you don't go down the more powder rabbit hole.

Cliff notes on accuracy-
1) NO NEED FOR GOBS OF POWDER. Best accuracy is usually at 40-45g 3f, most often Old Eynsford or Swiss.
2) See #1
3) See #1
4) Have your bore size checked. It's rarely what's stamped on the gun.
5) Size minies to .001 under bore.
6) Use ONLY pure lead for minies
7) Avoid CCI caps like ebola. Schutzen/RWS are best
8) Beeswax/lard 60/40 for lube.
9) Have fun.

These guns were designed to work as Claude Minie envisioned, a balanced system. Keep things in balance, and you can shoot and shoot and shoot till you get tired of shooting, all without having to wipe one little bit. I've done it multiple times with shot strings over 40 straight.

 

[Blockhead]

Thanks for all the replies.

Regarding caps, I don't even have a clue what I should buy. 10? 11? 4 wing?

 

[Grenadier1758]

Look at the nipple. Does it have 4 flats around the cone?

Being a military replica rifled musket, it will likely need a 4 wing musket cap.

If the nipple has two flats it may be a #11.

 

[Zonie]

Blockhead: When Grenadier 1758 is talking about the flats on the cone, he's talking about the wrench flats that are used to remove the nipple.

 

[dave951]

Look at the nipple. Does it have 4 flats around the cone?

Being a military replica rifled musket, it will likely need a 4 wing musket cap.

If the nipple has two flats it may be a #11.

Not always. I have 4 Zouaves with two flats that take musket caps.


On the subject of caps. RWS or Schutzen for live fire. Avoid CCI like ebola. They work for reenactors but are garbage for live fire.

 

[Blockhead]

After pulling the rifles out of the safe, looks like I'll need the 4-wing musket caps.

 

[dave951]

After pulling the rifles out of the safe, looks like I'll need the 4-wing musket caps.

Just a friendly reminder, avoid CCI reenactor musket caps for live fire use. They are very low pressure and weak. Ignition is erratic and therefore accuracy suffers. For live fire, RWS or Schutzen.

 

[cositrike]

Not sure if this is relevant, but are they both 0.58” or both 0.54, or one of each? One might be a round ball rifle and the other a Minie. You’d then have the best of both worlds.

 

[wiksmo]

Blockhead,
Wish I could help, but I'm a very recent newbie to BP shooting. And I don't have a rifle; rather, I enjoy my .50 CAL pistol.

But I wanted to say how very sharp-looking both of your rifles are in the photos. Really like the wood stocks. As far as appearance, that itself would make it hard to let one go.

Best to you as continue working with your Family History Quest.
Cool in connecting this way.

 

[Phil Coffins]

After pulling the rifles out of the safe, looks like I'll need the 4-wing musket caps.

Well did you try the barrel swap? We spent time giving you the information you requested it would be interesting to hear if the swap worked.