ArmiSport 1853 Enfield musket bullet size

[Appalachiannative]

So I'm about to get one of these and bullets are waaaaayyy too expensive to buy so I was wondering what size mold to get. It's a .58 rifled musket and the molds I see available are.575 and .577 so what do y'all who own one of these shoot?

 

[hawg]

.577. .003 under bore size is the smallest you want. Mine come out of the mold at .577 and they shoot very well.

 

[dave951]

To answer your question, you HAVE to know your bore size. Use a plug to measure it and you don't need an entire set. You can get a few relevant ones off Amazon or go to a local machine shop and have them do it.

Past that, I've seen these barrels vary widely and you'll just be wasting time and money without knowing what that measurement is. With that in hand, there are some basics, Minies need to be .001 under bore size and pure lead. Use real black powder. Use lube made from beeswax/lard/ Use good quality caps- RWS or Scheutzen.

 

[dave951]

Case in point here. Of the muskets I own-
Parker Hale P58- .576
Parker Hale Musketoon- .575
62 Colt- .580
Zoli "Zouave"- .580

Minies cast for the Parker Hales will keyhole out of my 62 Colt and you can't begin to load the minies for my Colt into the Parker Hale.

 

[Appalachiannative]

To answer your question, you HAVE to know your bore size. Use a plug to measure it and you don't need an entire set. You can get a few relevant ones off Amazon or go to a local machine shop and have them do it.

Past that, I've seen these barrels vary widely and you'll just be wasting time and money without knowing what that measurement is. With that in hand, there are some basics, Minies need to be .001 under bore size and pure lead. Use real black powder. Use lube made from beeswax/lard/ Use good quality caps- RWS or Scheutzen.

I've got plenty of Rio brand caps and that's the only kind I got as far as musket caps. Got plenty of real black powder mostly scheutzen and graff and sons working on making my own thanks for the advice.

 

[hawg]

Don't go past 70 grains of powder or you'll blow the skirt. 65 grains was the service load for an Enfield.

 

[Mike OTDP]

The N-SSA rule of thumb for a rifle-musket is 45 grains of 3F. Then work up and down from there.

 

[dave951]

I've got plenty of Rio brand caps and that's the only kind I got as far as musket caps. Got plenty of real black powder mostly scheutzen and graff and sons working on making my own thanks for the advice.

Lube is also important. Beeswax/lard mix works quite well and is very similar to the original. When you determine the size minie you need, get some samples of various types from Lodgewood to test. When you find what your gun shoots best, THEN buy the mold. This can save lots of $$ and headaches.

 

[Appalachiannative]

Lube is also important. Beeswax/lard mix works quite well and is very similar to the original. When you determine the size minie you need, get some samples of various types from Lodgewood to test. When you find what your gun shoots best, THEN buy the mold. This can save lots of $$ and headaches.

How do you know the exact bore size of your muskets?

 

[hawg]

Take a soft lead ball that's bigger than bore size. Drill a hole in it and put a bolt through it and a nut on the back. Drive it into the bore with a piece of pipe or a deep well socket and pull it back out with a pair of vise grips. Measure the ball with a pair of calipers.

 

[dave951]

How do you know the exact bore size of your muskets?

Use pin gauges. Here's a link to an individual one but most machine shops have complete sets

Amazon.com

If you can't get to a machine shop, you need .575 .577 .579 .580
If .575 is large, you're under .575. If .575 is loose, and .577 is nogo, you're .576. That's how you get the actual measurement.

Slugging the bore won't work since it's 3 groove rifling. You'll be measuring from one land to one groove and what you need is land to land and that's what a pin gauge can give you. Slugging only works with even number lands/grooves since you will have a land opposite a land. Not so in odd number lands/grooves.

 

[hawg]

Slugging the bore won't work since it's 3 groove rifling. You'll be measuring from one land to one groove and what you need is land to land and that's what a pin gauge can give you. Slugging only works with even number lands/grooves since you will have a land opposite a land. Not so in odd number lands/grooves.

That's true. I forgot about the three groove rifling.

 

[Acorn Mush]

If you wish, you can get a pretty good idea of the groove depth by using calipers to measure (at the muzzle) from a land to the outside of the barrel. Note the dimension. Then measure from an adjacent groove to the outside of the barrel and note that dimension also. Subtracting it from the previous measurement gives the groove depth. If needed, doubling the groove depth and adding it to the land-to-land measurement gives the actual groove diameter. I would suggest measuring all three lands and grooves and then averaging any discrepancies if found. Hope this makes sense.

 

[sharps59]

The N-SSA rule of thumb for a rifle-musket is 45 grains of 3F. Then work up and down from there.

All of mine like 42 of Goex 3fffg.
For bullet size order a few Minnie’s. start a oversized Minnie start in bore turn it a 1/4 turn pull it out and Mike it. Do several of them. Go .001 -002 under .

 

[Mike OTDP]

All of mine like 42 of Goex 3fffg

That's pretty consistent - my father and I use 45 grains of Goex 3F. I'll probably go to Swiss when my stock of Goex runs out (I'm flush with Swiss).

 

[sharps59]

That's pretty consistent - my father and I use 45 grains of Goex 3F. I'll probably go to Swiss when my stock of Goex runs out (I'm flush with Swiss).

With Swiss I needed to drop 10%