1855 pistol-carbine cal 58 and minie

This is a Antonio Zoli, Navy arms, hege, replica manufactured in 1972.

It is supposed to shoot minie bullets but the 12" barrel twist is very slow (1:72) ; my testing with Lyman or Lee minie bullets demonstated that they keyhole and accuracy is very poor.

With balls, accuracy is perfect :

50gr BP, cornmeal crisco and patched 560 ball :

http://i62.servimg.com/u/f62/11/02/14/58/1855_p10.jpg

Anyone having good results with bullets ?

Thanks

I don't own one, but the original load was a 450-grain Minié behind 40 grains of black powder, and the muzzle velocity was about 600 fps.

The bullet was shaped exactly the same as the 500-grain Minié but had a larger cavity in the base. Total bullet length was 1.05 inches, and the diameter was .5775 inches.

Weight should be 3.5 pounds, and 5 pounds with the shoulder stock.

Have you chrono'd any loads?

I have tried for years to get accuracy from Minie bullets in various and sundry [1853 Enfield,Parker Hale Musketoon,.58 underhammer,etc.] platforms and the patched round ball always has better accuracy,and the Minie always strikes low,and when you up the charge,hits become erratic.

hello,

I have dovetailed a much higher frontsight (with original sight, it used to shoot almost a yard higher than POA) and made a trigger job ; metal is now polished in the white and wood has been unvarnished and oiled.

Shooting with rest at 25 meters : 60gr BP, 30gr. cornmeal and 560 patched ball:

http://i62.servimg.com/u/f62/11/02/14/58/1855_p11.jpg

http://i62.servimg.com/u/f62/11/02/14/58/1855_p12.jpg

http://i62.servimg.com/u/f62/11/02/14/58/1855_p13.jpg

Now it looks more like the original and accuracy is very satisfying

Regards

Wow, I really like what you've done with this. Thank you for the follow-up post and photos! :)

That's very, very nice. Well done. A beautiful gun.

Gorgeous !!! Nicely done.

That is a fine looking pistol. Thank you for sharing.:)

I had one, about the same vintage. Never got it to work with bullets but it was a lot of fun with round balls. With mine, the point of impact was radically different when I attached the shoulder stock. I sold it to a reenactor who wanted "something different".

You have done good work on yours.

I have seen the 1983 movie " Savage Islands", aka Nate and Hayes, starring Tommy Lee Jones, a story of pirates in the Fidji Islands and one can see this pistol on various occasions...............

Follow-up :


I have modified the pistol as follow :

- the "rifle" nipple has been changed for a "pistol cap" one

- wood has been antiqued with oil/ terpentine treatment and 600grit.

New load has been tested :

The LEE Real 58 bullet mould has been grinded and the bullet shortened (one belt removed) : see photo of bullets before and after modification of mould.
The 440grs bullet is now 350grs and easier to stabilize. In order to optimize the caliber of the REAL bullet, I bumped it with one hammer stroke on the top so that it could be rammed in the barrel with standard effort.

The load is : 50grs BP, 50grs cornmeal and cal58 shortened and bumped 350grs Real bullet.



http://i62.servimg.com/u/f62/11/02/14/58/pistol11.jpg


With this load the pistol is still accurate and very powerful : felt recoil is superior to cal50 Desert Eagle..............It could stand more but probably not the shooter !

This is real magnum and probably the most powerful of muzzeloader handguns : there will be a lot of training to tame it

Hope you enjoyed this report