What is period correct?

[EN]

I have a Lyman 575213OS (old style) and a 575213. The old style is about 475 grains and the other is 510 grains. Which is period correct or are they both? This minie ball is for the 1861 Springfield rifled musket

 

[tenngun]

I have a Lyman 575213OS (old style) and a 575213. The old style is about 475 grains and the other is 510 grains. Which is period correct or are they both? This minie ball is for the 1861 Springfield rifled musket

Boy that’s a hard one. Someone will have the answer. But every battlefield museum I’ve been in had boards with a dozen diffent bullets on them.

 

[Trot]

Neither is exactly. I think the main difference between the two is the shape of the cavity and wall thickness. The main thing is what will shoot well in your rifle musket. The first thing you need to do is measure the bore in your gun, there is a very good possibility that a minie from either of these moulds will be too small. There have been many, many posts on the best loads for these rifle muskets you can do a search for them and spend hours reading them. Pay special attention to posts by membe dave951, he really knows his stuff.

 

[kh54]

I’m not an expert so others may correct me if I’m wrong. If you want to get very specific (as in anal-retentive), then hand cast Miniés are generally not correct due to the cut/flattened nose, necessary of course for hand-cast bullets. Mass produced Miniés were swaged without a flattened nose. That said, I have seen one example of a battlefield pickup Minié that had a cut nose. I’ve also seen a couple of antique molds, so clearly hand cast Miniés were around.

I’ve used both these Lyman styles in my Springfields and Enfields, sized appropriately. I had greater accuracy with the OS and finally sold the other. Good luck!

 

[EN]

I’m not an expert so others may correct me if I’m wrong. If you want to get very specific (as in anal-retentive), then hand cast Miniés are generally not correct due to the cut/flattened nose, necessary of course for hand-cast bullets. Mass produced Miniés were swaged without a flattened nose. That said, I have seen one example of a battlefield pickup Minié that had a cut nose. I’ve also seen a couple of antique molds, so clearly hand cast Miniés were around.

I’ve used both these Lyman styles in my Springfields and Enfields, sized appropriately. I had greater accuracy with the OS and finally sold the other. Good luck!

That is good info. Mine of course have flat noses. The old style gets the nod for accuracy in my gun as well. Every time I see some article or book showing an example of a minie ball it looks like the 510 grain style. I also shoot the wad cutter minie at it is very accurate but not period correct.

 

[Trot]

the closest looking to original minie mould I have seen was one that Rapine used to make. It still had the flat nose but the rest of the shape and length was quite close.