Source for .69 Minie bullets for my Remington rifle musket

[Radiolucent]

I recently acquired a Remington marked rifle musket from 1856 that is .69 caliber. I managed to clean up the gun and get it ready to shoot but I can't find any molds for a .69 Minie style bullet. Does anyone know where to find a mold? It looks like Lyman used to make one but it's now discontinued and I can't find any in stock.

 

[gemmer]

Your musket is a Model 1816 converted to rifled percussion from smoothbore flint by Remington. It has a chambered breech and the Maynard tape primer system. The barrels on these muskets are iron and thin walled since they were smoothbore. Unless you have experience with original muskets, especially those that were rifled from smoothbore, I would send the barrel to Bobby Hoyt and have him check it out to see if it's safe or needs work. If the bore is bad he can reline it to spec. 717-642-6696. Try calling him by 8:00 AM .From what I can see it looks to be in nice shape. Moose Moulds makes a 500 grain semi wadcutter minie that's a lot easier on the shoulder than the Lyman original style that was over 700 grains. He makes them in .685 and .687. Have Bobby measure your bore size. Your minie should be .001-.002 under bore size. I suggest using a sizing die to get you there since moulds can cast a bit oversize. My .685 casts a bit over .686 which is perfect for my .687 bore, relined by Bobby. I use a .686 die which cleans off the excess lube after I dip lube. You can get any size die and his excellent MCM lube from John at northeasttradeco.com. Hope I wasn't too long winded.

 

[Radiolucent]

Thanks for the info. It does look to be in great shape. I shoot a few 19th century British muskets so I'm not new to antiques but that's good advice to have it looked at by a professional. I also agree about resizing cast minie's, my nominally cast .577 bullets always get visibly trimmed down when I size them to actual .577.

When I got this musket I found it had a motor oil soaked powder charge containing a broken patched jag which required me to take off the breech plug and clean it out thoroughly. It otherwise seems to be in great condition.

 

[gemmer]

Wow!! Great photos that show that you never know what you're going to find in an old one. Good luck with it. Keep us informed!!

 

[dave951]

I recently acquired a Remington marked rifle musket from 1856 that is .69 caliber. I managed to clean up the gun and get it ready to shoot but I can't find any molds for a .69 Minie style bullet. Does anyone know where to find a mold? It looks like Lyman used to make one but it's now discontinued and I can't find any in stock.

View attachment 251525

https://moosemoulds.com/products/

 

[nkbj]

Another wonderful source for molds.

https://www.accuratemolds.com/catalog.php?page=30#catalog-anchor

 

[Radiolucent]

I finally got 25 Minie style bullets from Dixie gun works. Not ideal to buy them since they are pricey but at least I can go to the range finally. Accurate molds has a mold but you have to first buy the mold and then send it to someone else to make the base pin. I've contacted Moosemolds but I would prefer a more traditional Minie-Burton style bullet instead of the wadcutter they offer. If anyone has an old Lyman .69 they don't need anymore and wants to sell I would appreciate it.

 

[ETipp]

Wowser! Those are some serious conical right there.

 

[dave951]

https://www.lodgewood.com/Bullets_c_7.html

 

[Whitworth]

Not many of those to the pound. Keep an eye open on EBAY for a mold.

 

[nkbj]

Another option is to machine a Lyman #575213OS into a smooth sided minie for paper patching.
This is another Lyman design rather than #575213. I like the hemi nose.

 

[nkbj]

Wowser! Those are some serious conical right there.

 

[earlwb]

Yeah, you definitely didn’t want to be shot with one of those .69 minis. I shoot them out off my .69 flintlock pistol occasionally too. You definitely get some recoil with it. Not a lot of muzzle velocity but a lot of stopping power. Those Lyman minus weigh upwards of 750 grains. But you can go through a pound of lead fast just to make a few. So yeah they are expensive even if you mold them yourself.

 

[oldwood]

"bout 25 yrs. ago , I bought a .69 repro musket @ the Baltimore gun show. Since the bore was incorrect for Lyman .69 mold , I found a shop in Va. that relined barrels , and made new barrels for the Lyman minnie. All I can say , the rifle makes 2" groups at 50 yds. It is the most accurate rifled musket I own. Since I'm too old to heft it around , I don't shoot it much.

 

[Kevin]

Maplewoodbullets on gun broker has um. $30 for 50
Really good quality. He will cast you as many as you would like, good guy to deal with.
Every once in a while a lyman .69 mold pops up on e-bay.

​

 

[gemmer]

The Lyman original will loosen your teeth with anything but an anemic powder charge. I use the Rapine(Moose copied it) semi wadcutter in an original rifled 1842 Springfield and an 1816 flint with a custom Whitacre rifled barrel They are both very accurate and the recoil is about the same as a .58 with the same charge. Given the fact that your musket was originally a smoothbore with relatively thin walls, the lower pressures generated by the semi wadcutter is something to consider.

 

[nkbj]

Lyman mold #68569 was modified for sizing to .695", fit to my .696" bore diameter barrel and provide better bullet to barrel alignment.

 

[Radiolucent]

Lyman mold #68569 was modified for sizing to .695", fit to my .696" bore diameter barrel and provide better bullet to barrel alignment.

View attachment 253975

I can't find a source for this mold, do you have any extras?

 

[nkbj]

Only have one #68569 these days.

 

[boberator]

I have some molds somewhere. I had everything in storage while working overseas and haven’t been able to go through all the boxes yet. One mold made a 763 grain minié if I remember the weight correctly. It is a late 1960s mold.
I will let you know if I find it. The minié looked like some of the ones we found at the nearby CW battlefield and was supposedly a copy of those. I think it was made by Lyman and used those handles.