Used repro '61 Enfield Musketoon: sorting it out

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Twocanary

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Two weeks ago, bought a Navy Arms Italian musketoon. Was advertised as having a distressed stock and (appears to be to the seller) unfired barrel. So tried to fix and refinish the awful stock best I could. Could have turned out better. Can always strip it down and try again, I guess. The stock was still drying when a friend called to sell me 2 bottles of Goex. So met him at the range and brought the not quite dry musketoon. Laid a towel on the buttstock so my face wouldn't get sticky. The night before I used pin gauges to determine what size minies to use. .578-ish pin gauge seemed to be it. So I sized some minies to .577 in a lube sizer. I also had some .576-ish traditional minies a friend casted.

At the range, set up a target at 50 yards and shot from a rest. Didn't get a group on the first target. Think the barrel needed to settle into the stock or something. Second target (shown) got a good (to me) group; 6:00 hold. Friend's .576-ish minie hit the corner of the paper. Gave up on that quick.
I'm pretty happy with the barrel and nice furniture. Stock needs help.
 

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Not a bad group. The originals used under sized minnies for ease of loading after the barrel became fouled. Accuracy was second to rate of fire in the line of battle.
 
Twocanary said:
Two weeks ago, bought a Navy Arms Italian musketoon. Was advertised as having a distressed stock and (appears to be to the seller) unfired barrel. So tried to fix and refinish the awful stock best I could. Could have turned out better. Can always strip it down and try again, I guess. The stock was still drying when a friend called to sell me 2 bottles of Goex. So met him at the range and brought the not quite dry musketoon. Laid a towel on the buttstock so my face wouldn't get sticky. The night before I used pin gauges to determine what size minies to use. .578-ish pin gauge seemed to be it. So I sized some minies to .577 in a lube sizer. I also had some .576-ish traditional minies a friend casted.

At the range, set up a target at 50 yards and shot from a rest. Didn't get a group on the first target. Think the barrel needed to settle into the stock or something. Second target (shown) got a good (to me) group; 6:00 hold. Friend's .576-ish minie hit the corner of the paper. Gave up on that quick.
I'm pretty happy with the barrel and nice furniture. Stock needs help.
Click to expand...

That's not a bad group for such a weak charge.
 
This is a 100yd group out of my musketoon. Bullet is a RCBS Hogdon with a tall base plug. Try a different bullet. Lodgewood has a guy that is a fellow N-SSA competitor that knows how to make a proper minie. Check them out for a sampler and then get a mold.

20180708_130243.jpg
 
Thanks.

Will look at the hogdon mold. Where can I get a tall base plug or do I need to have one fabricated?

A 42 gr charge makes the musketoon feel like shooting a .22, imo. It's a lot of fun:). And I need be more miserly with my store bought BP from now.

I shoot 25 rounds or so before I feel the need to swab. Don't want to get a stuck minie.
 
Twocanary said:
Thanks.

Will look at the hogdon mold. Where can I get a tall base plug or do I need to have one fabricated?

A 42 gr charge makes the musketoon feel like shooting a .22, imo. It's a lot of fun:). And I need be more miserly with my store bought BP from now.

I shoot 25 rounds or so before I feel the need to swab. Don't want to get a stuck minie.
Click to expand...

https://www.northeasttradeco.com/

Call and ask. His website doesn’t scratch the surface of his actual inventory.
 
Dave, thanks for the info. Thanks all, for the comments on the stock but trust me it's ugly. Moving forward I'll bed the rear of barrel when the stock is dry. Barrel doesn't seat too good in the stock so think it'll help. I just chemically aged the butt plate (ammonia and salt fumes) and will do the rest of the brass parts. Will shoot the rifle for a bit and then try to trade somebody local for a BP kit or project rifle.
 

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Even 70 grains behind a minie ball feel like a soft push to me. Very pleasant guns to shoot, and a lot of fun too.
 
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