Muzzleloader madness!

[deadcoyote]

After a lengthy life of C&R shooting I finally took the plunge and bought a Zoli made Navy Arms 1863 Remington Zouave BP percussion rifle in .58 cal.

I admit I know nothing about BP. I will approach this cautiously and have ordered a Lyman 'everything you need to know about BP' type manual which I will read before I endeavor into the world with my old school rifled musket.

Any advise from the ML community on here?

[Whiterabbit]

Advice, worth exactly what you paid:

1. Jump in head first. Black powder is the most fun you can have with your clothes on!

2. leave the rod in the gun. Go out and buy a 3/8ths inch brass rod 3 inches longer than the barrel length. Drill and tap each end, one side 10-32, the other end 8-32. Drill and tap them DEEP.

3. Buy a bullet puller. Sooner or later, you'll need it.

4. Buy a breech face scraper. It's a great cleaning tool.

5. put a nice and sturdy loading jag on your range rod, make sure the end is appropriate for your projectile (round ball, minnie, etc) and that the jag holds patches very nicely for swabbing. On the other end, put whatever you want as a rod handle. The DEEP threads you cut in the rod will ensure you can really yank on the rod. I have a 1950's glass closet doorhandle on mine. Looks pimp. (I'm not using modern children's vernacular, it looks exactly like something a pimp in a movie would carry.)

6. When you determine the proper load, put a full load in the gun, put the rod in the gun and rest it on the ball. Mark the rod at the muzzle so you can see where the level is in the gun. WHEN you dry-ball, that mark will sink into the barrel and you'll see it immediately.

no better gun to shoot 50 yards standing offhand with irons. What great rifles!

[Tom-ADC]

I have a Zoli Zouave in .58 I shoot a .58 caliber, Minie, Springfield .575", Lyman 575-213, 510 grain, pure lead, hollow base, with 60 grs of either FFg or Swiss 1.5 Fg. I hand lube each bullet just before loading.
One tip I made sure the rifle was empty then I but the ramrod in and marked it, then I loaded it made sure the minie was seated and marked the ramrod again. Gives a good fast visual loaded or unloaded.
I find the rifle very accurate, haven't shot much beyond a 100 yards but it gets the job done.

[deadcoyote]

Tom: what's the twist rate of your barrel? I do not know the rate of mine but plan on determining it through the serial #. I'm aware it changed a few times with zoli, I bought the rifle used but unfired in the box. Guy was a history buff who bought it to fondle but never fired it.

[Tom-ADC]

Mine is a oldie maybe 30+ years old, I believe it's a 1-48 twist.

[Eljay]

Yeah, I think as time went on Zoli lengthened it out to make it more of a roundball gun. It's easy enough to check it (Google for details but basically if you just take a rod with a jag and a patch and pull it out slowly and let it turn you can figure it out).

I have an old one and it runs great with .578 minies and terrible with .575. This one specifically: http://www.trackofthewolf.com/Catego...01/2/LEE-90478

I haven't tried it with roundball because I have other options for roundball and got this specifically for minies but you should probably try both.

[fal_762x51]

I can cast you minies!

[deadcoyote]

I can cast you minies!

I didn't know you had a .58 set up? For your .577 Martini?

[aghauler]

tag

[6mmintl]

I have an older FIE Zouave and a Miroku 1863 Springfield, both shoot well with Minnie's (NS Skirmish and Lee Minnie molds) and 60-65 grains of FFG.

Faster FFFG powder and pure lead alloys may blow out the skirt upon leaving muzzle causing inaccuracy.

If in bay area Chabot has a monthly meet/shoot, Manteca sportsmen has 2-3 matches plus monthly cowboy matches.

[Rebel]

I highly prefer actual black powder over substitutes. Just ain't the same.

Order your powder and caps online. If you know others who shoot BP, do a group order for a case and spend only $12-13/lb. Otherwise you are looking at $18-20/lb.

When shooting my stuff, I use my civil war-type cap pouch that I have for reenacting to hold the caps. I haven't found anything better. How you do your cartridges is up to you; I've seen folks have pre-made boxes, make their own cartridge boxes (drilled wood block), use a large jar of some sort, or use a cartridge pouch.

[Prophet]

Just got into shooting the BP MLs. I am hooked, I have never had so much fun at the range

[6mmintl]

Shot my 1863 Springfield with some 10 grains weight FFG (primer first ) with two Hodgen triple seven 30 grain pellets behind a .58 Minnie and shot extremely well with it at last Manteca rendezvous.

[Old Scribe]

Don't know how "far north CA" you are, buat the Siskiyou Mountain Men shoot every 4th Sunday aat 10 AM at Dodge Range near Yreka. Someone there is always willing to help a "pilgrim" with BP shooting.

[Josh Smith]

Hello,

I've used conicals and balls in my .50 sidelock, and much prefer the round ball.

I had a Kentucky, but it went to my Bro and Mrs. Bro as a wedding gift.

Regardless of what you read about two to four shots per minute, you really should take two minutes to reload. Reason being is that you do a little bit of cleaning in between shots.

The method I follow is this:

1. Hammer to half cock
2. Pour charge (by volume) down the barrel.
3. (optional) add a cotton ball as wadding. I find this helps precision for some reason. Less lead deformation, maybe?
4. Lube patch (if necessary) and place on top of muzzle. I have used both strips of cloth, cut as used, and spit lubed; the method I've settled on, though, is pre-lubing the patches using beeswax. This makes a relatively dry, effective lube that won't contaminate the powder.
5. Place ball on top of patch. Seat, start, then push down with a firm stroke of the ramrod. Do not move the rod up and down; a firm push should do it.
6. Prime, full cock, aim, fire.
7. Half cock, blow down barrel (see note at bottom)
8. Wipe the barrel with one spit patch, followed by two or three dry patches. This keeps the fouling soft and allows you to shoot all day.
9. Goto 1.

Blowing down the barrel is controversial. Some ranges won't allow it. I insist on it, along with the spit patch. When you really get going in a rhythm, embers may build up and flash the black powder when you pour it.

This is why you always pour from a measure or from your hand, never from the powder horn or bottle! You get a flash and the powder horn will blow up.

Blowing down the barrel followed by a spit patch extinguishes these embers. A spit patch may not do it alone because you have places where it might not reach.

If you want to have some fun, get yourself a .45 or smaller flinter and drill the vent hole out some. Use 3fg powder. After you pour the powder, settle it with a smack on the side of the rifle or tamp the butt on the ground. This is a practice you should follow anyway, but it will prime the pan in a drilled flinter.

A certain military did this to increase rate of fire. I don't remember which one, but could find out easily enough if you're curious.

The thing about this practice is that you must make sure there is nobody standing next to you! You'll shoot a long jet of gas out that vent hole. As well, don't do it if you're a lefty shooting a righty gun. In fact, forget I said anything...

The fumes will get to you. They'll make you a bit daft...

I've found I get best accuracy from cast balls with a bit of tin and antimony added. This flies in the face of tradition, but the way I prepare these -- tumbling after cutting the sprue -- polishes them and makes them almost perfectly round. They feel like marbles. Nothing I'd use for hunting big game, but for target shooting, very nice.

I'm sure I'll think of more tomorrow.

Regards,

Josh