Using a smaller Minie ball.

[springfield art]

Back when I still had a .58 Zouave (60 years ago?) I was always concerned about the possibility of the minie sliding forward when the muzzle pointed downward. I took one ply of two ply bathroom tissue and wrapped the minies. Accuracy remained unchanged, the bullets never slid forward and everything loaded and functioned as usual.

Speaking of bath tissue, although it was against regulation, many Civil War guys removed the paper from cartridges to use at the 'comfort latrine' or out in the field. Sometimes metal detection guys can find a number of un-fired minie balls at the base of a small ridge where guys "sat" to allow stuff to drop away.

 

[JDBraddy]

Maybe just use patched round ball for a while? They come in all sizes, maybe some advice on that can be found here. I never used them in a minie rifle, but lots of guys do.

Before I found a miniball that worked, I was using a .562" round ball with 12 Oz. Denim patch in my .580" Armisport 1853 pattern Enfield. It shot very well, much better than any of the miniballs I had at the time.

 

[aussie pete]

I'd like to use my Lee mold to cast original Minie balls as right now I'm using the Lee improved ball which is .578 and the other mold is .575 for a P53 I used to have. That's too small for my .58 cal. Is there a way I can use the .575 by wrapping it? Lee doesn't make a .578 original ball mold and can't afford one from another maker. As always thank you for the help I've been given in the past. Ian

2 wraps of onion skin paper around a .575 worked well for me in experimentation, @lyman54. With great success, I have used wrapped minies in my PH 53 and 58. Believe it or not, a small amount of lube on the paper just before firing, they slide down beautifully - accurate too. If you can hold out till this coming Monday, I'm running a couple of styles down range - I'll take some pictures and post them here for you. Cautious of possible disparaging comments, I am aware that this is not true musket loading as intended, but I'm messing around chasing the best out of my rifled muskets at 50 and 100 metres.

Cheers, Pete

PS What is your 575 mold?

 

[aussie pete]

I'd like to use my Lee mold to cast original Minie balls as right now I'm using the Lee improved ball which is .578 and the other mold is .575 for a P53 I used to have. That's too small for my .58 cal. Is there a way I can use the .575 by wrapping it? Lee doesn't make a .578 original ball mold and can't afford one from another maker. As always thank you for the help I've been given in the past. Ian

Like this (yep, a little oxidation on the minies - very tropical here, cast two years ago). As cast, two wraps of onion paper, resize for my Parker Hale Enfields. Now, if the weather holds out, I'll add to this next Monday evening . And of course, if your rifle is a true .58, skip the resizing step.

Pete

 

[TreeMan]

Powder coating isn’t a good option. I use powder coated bullets loading. 45-70 and 45 colts. BUT that is with smokeless powder. When loading BP loads in those cartridges I have to use uncoated bullets with lube. Same bullets that have good lube groves but the powder coating fills the lube groves and doesn’t give enough space for enough lube. The same would apply to minies.