Muzzleldrs Oversized .58 caliber bore

I did get a tip from someone regarding Accurate Molds - are you familiar with them? Besides my BP guns I only shoot .22, so I don’t have/won’t have reloading equipment. Thanks again Dave.
 
Bayberry wax? Might have been a way to flavor your soup at the same time. :cool: I googled it and saw one source for $18.95/pound. I seem to recall paying about half that for beeswax.



Not yet. I'm going to do a little shopping and try to pick up a used one before I commit. I'm thinking .581 or .582 - Peter, what do you suggest? If I go with a larger size I can always size it down later if needed without buying another mold.
From what I've read Bayberry is labor intensive to process. Not sure why they did it back then. I found out though that mice like to chew on it. (I hope it gave the little buggers indigestion) Your mold plan sounds good. Sizing should work and I think S&S has them. If the molds don't produce good results you can always trade it off to another shooter or sell it. If you find someone with a used mold maybe you can ask them to send you a few sample bullets to test for fit before you buy. I've done that and it saves both parties some headaches and postage. And dead soft lead is the rule for minie and round ball. Avoid wheel weights. I've bought old lead pipe from recycling places, lead cable sheathing is pure enough to work too. Clean up any lead pipe and make sure there is no solder. I've swopped aluminum cans for soft lead with the recycling places. Cheap enough
 
To date I’ve used scrap lead from roof flashing - no wheel weights. And, I just bought some lead ingots from a local dealer whom I trust.
 
rem 4.jpg
. I have two CW rifle muskets.
a Springfield type III and a Remington Zouave.
both are great condition and the Zouave is 'unissued'. almost perfect.
note: while the Springfield takes a .582 Minnie ball,in the Zouave it is too tight. Makes me thing the Remington is .577 like the Enfield and the US Spring. is .58. anyone notice this?
 
I have two CW rifle muskets.
a Springfield type III and a Remington Zouave.
both are great condition and the Zouave is 'unissued'. almost perfect.
note: while the Springfield takes a .582 Minnie ball,in the Zouave it is too tight. Makes me thing the Remington is .577 like the Enfield and the US Spring. is .58. anyone notice this?

That Remington looks nice. How about more pics? and include pics of your Springfield. Are both original CW period? I’m not much of a collector I just like to shoot. A little while ago I thought of getting a period gun in shootable condition, but nothing I can afford seems very shootable. I acquired an original Enfield from a very nice CWT member. It would probably be OK to shoot but I’ve changed my mind about that. It would seem almost like abusing a sacred relic. I have reproductions of the main two guns that I wanted, a P53 Enfield and a 61 Springfield. Like many folks I wanted to have guns like those I know my ancestor carried. I also picked up a repro 63 Springfield, the Miroku that I’ve posted about. Currently it’s in Todd Watts’ shop for a little work. If I can make good shooters out of these three, especially the Parker Hale Enfield, I'll be happy.

So, @kenysd, if you read my earlier posts in this thread I gave the sizes of the bores of my three reproductions. I never did size the Zolli Zouave before I sold it. (Have you done that yet @BillH?) I have molds and sizers for .575-.577 bullets for the Parker Hale Enfield and the bullet that drops from the Lyman 575213-OS seems to shoot OK in the Armi Sport Springfield without sizing it. (I forget the size as it comes out of the mold.) I've learned some important lessons from all of this, among them are: (1) This hobby can get expensive; (2) Shooting for accuracy can get very complicated and technical; and, (3) it's still a lot of fun.

I posted WTB threads at both N-SSA and and here to try and find a .582 mold to shoot the Miroku, and I’ve got lots of good advice. I’ve had no offers from anyone looking to sell a mold but I’m leaning toward Moose Moulds’ “International Minie.” Here’s what they told me about it: "In a .582 diameter, we offer our International Hollow Base Mould in a .582-475. This design has a skirt thickness of approximately .070-.075. We also offer this mould with the base plug to our Old Style Minnie, which would reduce the skirt thickness to approximately .045-.050."

I have no clue whether to choose the standard base plug or the old style base plug and hence a thinner skirt. Anyone have a recommendation?
 
That Remington looks nice. How about more pics? and include pics of your Springfield. Are both original CW period? I’m not much of a collector I just like to shoot. A little while ago I thought of getting a period gun in shootable condition, but nothing I can afford seems very shootable. I acquired an original Enfield from a very nice CWT member. It would probably be OK to shoot but I’ve changed my mind about that. It would seem almost like abusing a sacred relic. I have reproductions of the main two guns that I wanted, a P53 Enfield and a 61 Springfield. Like many folks I wanted to have guns like those I know my ancestor carried. I also picked up a repro 63 Springfield, the Miroku that I’ve posted about. Currently it’s in Todd Watts’ shop for a little work. If I can make good shooters out of these three, especially the Parker Hale Enfield, I'll be happy.

So, @kenysd, if you read my earlier posts in this thread I gave the sizes of the bores of my three reproductions. I never did size the Zolli Zouave before I sold it. (Have you done that yet @BillH?) I have molds and sizers for .575-.577 bullets for the Parker Hale Enfield and the bullet that drops from the Lyman 575213-OS seems to shoot OK in the Armi Sport Springfield without sizing it. (I forget the size as it comes out of the mold.) I've learned some important lessons from all of this, among them are: (1) This hobby can get expensive; (2) Shooting for accuracy can get very complicated and technical; and, (3) it's still a lot of fun.

I posted WTB threads at both N-SSA and and here to try and find a .582 mold to shoot the Miroku, and I’ve got lots of good advice. I’ve had no offers from anyone looking to sell a mold but I’m leaning toward Moose Moulds’ “International Minie.” Here’s what they told me about it: "In a .582 diameter, we offer our International Hollow Base Mould in a .582-475. This design has a skirt thickness of approximately .070-.075. We also offer this mould with the base plug to our Old Style Minnie, which would reduce the skirt thickness to approximately .045-.050."

I have no clue whether to choose the standard base plug or the old style base plug and hence a thinner skirt. Anyone have a recommendation?

The thicker skirt on the International is for higher powder charge levels. If you want to shoot NSSA or keep the recoil down, use the thinner skirts.
 
@KHyatt and @kenysd
The Zouave shot pretty well with a sized .575 but not so well out of the ArmiSport Enfield. A touch too loose. So I got a Lyman 575213 and the bullets I've made so far measure .577 to .5775 (the keepers, now that I have a better idea what I'm doing). They are a press fit into the barrel of the Zouave and I think will be just fine. I think they will be a good fit in the Enfield as well, better than the sized .575's. I have not shot them yet though (can't find range time this week).

If I ever decide to shoot the original Springfield though I will need to get a slightly oversized mould for it, since these are still a bit sloppy. Might get away with paper patching them just to say I shot an original, but if I was going to take it out often I'd go for another proper-sized mould.
 
Todd Watts measured the bore for and confirmed it’s oversized; he got .5835. I’m leaning now towards Moose Moulds’ International Minie with the old style base plug.
 
I finally made it to the range with the defarbed (thanks Todd Watts!) Miroku tonight. It's an indoor range and I've been concerned about going because of Covid19. To my surprise I was all alone.

I just needed to get out of the house and go kill some paper so I didn't do anything special with my bullets - they were right from the mold with 50-50 lube of beeswax and tallow. I'm using the Lyman 575213OS mold that gives me about 455 grains at .577". I shot about 20 rounds total. Todd and I both measured the bore at well over .58 so I wasn't expecting great results. I was pleasantly surprised. I shot all at 75 yards (the lights were out at 50 and 100 yard positions and I didn't have light bulbs). I first shot a half dozen or so rounds trying to find the target. I expected it to shoot high like my Armi Sport 61 Springfield so that's where I started, but it took a few rounds to find out that the Miroku is more accurate. Elevation seems good without having to aim low. Both attached pics were groups of seven but one round went wild in each. I started with 40 grains of Goex, but when I increased the load to 45 grains the accuracy was much worse, so I went back to 40 for these two groups.

I'm having difficulty seeing the sights well with my corrective glasses. Maybe I'll try without next time. These both represent a little experimenting with the sight picture so I think I can get tighter groups when I figure that out. For now I'm sort of excited because if I can get results like this without more carefully selecting and sizing my bullets then maybe I can improve the accuracy quite a bit. I can't wait to get back to the range. When I do I think I'll run all my bullets through my .577 sizer and be more selective to get consistent weights. Like I said, I didn't do any of that this trip. I hope another trip will tell me if I will get that oversized mold I thought I needed.

Thanks for looking. Keep in mind I'm pretty new to all this but I'm open to comments, criticisms, questions, praise...

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Good start for 75yds.

Check your bullets for weight and size. Often when learning to cast minies, a bullet can look fine, but due to a cavity or "bubble", the minie will be very different weight and not fly straight.
 
Thanks, Dave. I know to do that but since I didn't expect much out of this effort I didn't bother. I will be much more careful with the next batch. How much tolerance is OK?
 
Depends on your comfort level. If you're just plinking, +-10gr would be ok. If you are after decent accuracy- I'd suggest +-1. I check all my bullets for competition and segregate them. Those that cast on the light side, say about 5gr under are put in a separate container and used for practice. By experience, by mold drops within that range and for every practice bullet, I'm getting 15-20 match bullets. Anything outside that goes back in the pot. I keep a cheapo electronic scale at the casting table. As the bullet cool enough to be handled, I weigh them before putting in the "practice" or "match" container. Outside my range goes back in the pot. Again, by experience and technique, once the pot and mold are at temp, I have few rejects.
 
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