Traditions rifled musket.

[Gooddaytoya!]

The 1842 Springfield 69 rifled musket. Does anyone here own a traditions rifled musket? I wonder what kind of reputation this rifle has in this day and age. When I was in my early twenties my boss told me quote love is buying unquote. I must admit I'm attracted to this rifle, mostly because it's a 69 caliber and because of the 42-in barrel. So cool! Unfortunately Traditions doesn't give the rate of twist, but they say it's suitable for both round ball and minis, which to me sounds like a possible contradiction.

 

[Frontier's]

Traditions doesn't make it. Chiappa arms of Italy does.

 

[hanshi]

It's not uncommon at all for a rifle to do well with both minies AND patched ball. But usually most rifles will do better with one or the other.

 

[Trot]

Twist rate for minies is pretty much the same as for round balls, both generally do best with a slower twist. Most Civil War rifle muskets were in the 1 in 72" range or near to it. the shorter rifles generally had a slightly faster twist.

 

[Grenadier1758]

I believe it has been said many times on the Forum, "When determining whether the rifle is set up for round ball, conical bullets or hollow based Minié balls, the important consideration is the depth of the grooves". Minié balls work best when the rifling is shallow for the skirt to expand into the grooves. Conical bullets need to be almost the diameter of the grooves. T/C Maxi Balls and Lee REAL conical bullets work best when the groove diameter and bullet diameter will engrave on loading. Round ball can work well when the patching engages the rifling and compresses into the grooves. Rifles such as @Gooddaytoya!'s 1842 Springfield Rifled Musket should have a slow twist, shallow grooved barrel. Both round ball and Minié ball loads can be developed for accuracy.

 

[Gooddaytoya!]

I should have researched this rifle before I made the post. So I did some researching and it seems at the time they found that the 58 caliber rifled musket was more accurate than the 69. I can only assume that was because the 58 would have a flatter trajectory. I guess few people on this forum own one of those heavy, long, rifles. I was hoping to get some feedback on people's experience with them.