Original 1863 Springfield accuracy?

[hickok45]

Finally got around to making paper cartridges and shooting my 1863. It's a Type I and in good condition, and I've been shooting it prior to featuring it in a video soon.

With "Old Style" Minie Bullets in .575 from Track of the Wolf, I'm getting erratic accuracy. These same bullets give good accuracy in my reproduction Enfields. Using 55 grains of Swiss BP. Bore is good on the rifle. FRom limited experimentation, I think maybe it was improving when I upped the charge to 65 grains. Not confirmed yet. Thought maybe 55 grains was not enough to "spread the skirt."

I have some .577 bullets on order to try, and I have to admit, these .575s do slide / fall down the bore mighty easily.

Anybody have suggestions? Even though the rifle is in good shape, I'm reluctant to crank up the charge too much on this original rifle. Am I being unnecessarily careful? I've shot it about 30 times, and it works great, other than way too much randomness in point of impact.

Thanks,
Hickok45

 

[wayne terry]

IN my old 1853 Enfield with the old style MINI ball I had to use 70 grains of FFg, I also read in one of my books that this was a load that the English used, I think if you up the charge to 65 or 70 grains you will be ok; the guns where never intended to be tack drivers although some are but with the Mini-ball faster and easier to load.

 

[varsity07840]

Finally got around to making paper cartridges and shooting my 1863. It's a Type I and in good condition, and I've been shooting it prior to featuring it in a video soon.

With "Old Style" Minie Bullets in .575 from Track of the Wolf, I'm getting erratic accuracy. These same bullets give good accuracy in my reproduction Enfields. Using 55 grains of Swiss BP. Bore is good on the rifle. FRom limited experimentation, I think maybe it was improving when I upped the charge to 65 grains. Not confirmed yet. Thought maybe 55 grains was not enough to "spread the skirt."

I have some .577 bullets on order to try, and I have to admit, these .575s do slide / fall down the bore mighty easily.

Anybody have suggestions? Even though the rifle is in good shape, I'm reluctant to crank up the charge too much on this original rifle. Am I being unnecessarily careful? I've shot it about 30 times, and it works great, other than way too much randomness in point of impact.

Thanks,
Hickok45

You need to know your bore size. Original bores can vary quite a bit. My type II
1863 is quite accurate but it needs a .585 to get the best out of it. See if you cand find a machine shop with a set of plug gauges that will meaure it for you. You can also slug the bore but if you can't get the breech plug out then you're going to have to run a ball down and then pull it,
which is a bit risky. Either way you'll have to find some one with a 3 anvil micrometer to measure it. You can buy a plug gauge set for around $60.00. 3F powder charges in the neighborhood of 45 grains are the norm for N-SSA
shooters and is more than enough to flare the skirts on a pure lead minie.
http://www.grizzly.com/outlet/Steel-Plug-Gauge-Set-125-pc-Plus/G9795

Duane