Quesion for Mississippi rifle owner

[sandy4570]

I read a spec on Mississippi rifle model 1841 and it stated twist rate at 1:72. Is this slow twist rate make it accurate with patch round ball and shoot poorly with Mini ball? How this rifle actually perform at 50 and 100 yards? From the look of its sight system I don't believe it will be equal to Enfield 51 and Springfield 61 but It look shinier and prettier with the brass furniture.

 

[swathdiver]

There are other makers out there who use different specs in their barrels.

 

[StrawHat]

Not sure who made the rifle you saw. That twist is traditionally considered a round ball twist. A 58 caliber round ball is a pretty good hunting bullet. It is one of my favorite but from a different rifle.

The 1841 is beautiful, just enough brass to make it stand out in a crowd.

Kevin

 

[Loyalist Dave]

The Mississippi rifle was adopted prior to the adoption of the Minie Ball, so was meant to fire a round ball.

However, it's more than the twist rate that determines if a conical projectile such as the minie will stabilize. Historic Enfield rifles were used for sniping during the Civil War, launching conical bullets, and they had what today most say are slow twist rates.

The Pedersoli 3-Band Enfield, the 1861 Springfield, and the 1862 Richmond are known to be accurate rifles, and have 1:72 twist rates. Their shorter Enfields have 1:48.

LD

 

[White Walker]

Could be that a round ball has pretty much just a ring of it's surface making contact with the rifling, and that's with a patch. A conical, ogive or Minnie ball will have a lot more surface in contact with the rifling. So, the rifling intended to be used with a round ball will have a slower twist rate to keep the ball and patch from stripping over the lands and grooves while the rifling meant for a long bullet can have a tighter rate of twist and still grip the bullet securely.
My old original Pennsylvania Longrifle has a twist of one turn in 48" or 47 1/4" which is the length of the barrel. Of course the rifle was designed to shoot only round ball, but the lighter .40 caliber patched ball might've been easier to keep from stripping the rifling than a larger, heavier ball of .58 caliber. Just thinking...

 

[sandy4570]

Thank everyone for the input. The one I saw made by Pedosoli so it should be ok qualitywise . I prefer patch round ball over Minie ball . I like the name and history of Missippi rifle and it look pretty with all the brass furnitures

 

[StrawHat]

An old picture of one I have.

 

[kBob]

The original 1841 rifle was .54 caliber and made to shoot a patched ball. The balls were pre patched by being sewn into the lubed patch material. Powder was in a separate paper cartridge. Apearently some units loaded two different charges of powder to allow for zero at different ranges with the single sight.

There was an attempt to make a Minnie ball for the rifle, but the type of rifling and its pitch both contributed to pretty bad accuracy, some units complaining that at under 200 yards the patched ball was significantly more accurate.

Guns that were converted to .58 caliber at the time were also given rifling appropriate to the .58 Minnie Ball.

Modern reproductions are modern reproductions, see: Brass frame .44 1851 Colt revolvers.

-kBob

 

[PapaG]

Set more than one record, all since gone, at the nationals with a Zouave using a Numrich seven groove 1 in 72 barrel and round ball. It would just flat not shoot a minie and I tried all available at that time (1970). It would shoot the Lyman semi-wadcutter quite well with no more than 50 grains of fffg but it was no good past 50 yards.
I won't say that the Miss won't shoot minies, each one is a law unto itself. Only way you'll know is to try.
Thinner skirt minies can blow out with too much powder. See the Lyman Muzzle Loading Handbook for pictures.

 

[Shanghai McCoy]

My Mississippi is the 54 caliber and does real well with the round ball and 60 grains of powder. Took a nice doe a few tears back with it.

 

[White Walker]

Strawhat, the breech end of that Mississippi looks to be a U.S. Springfield 1866 type Allen receiver and breech block. Interesting.

 

[StrawHat]

Good eye! It is exactly that, an 1866 barreled action set into a Mississippi rifle lock stock and small parts.

I had the 1866 barreled action and got an 1841 with a rusted barrel. A little work and they merged nicely. 68 grains of black powder under a 450 grain lead RNFP bullet (either Lee or Lyman) gives a nice load. I have a new mold that casts a 450 grain RNFP with a hollow base and hope to work a load for it in the spring.

 

[White Walker]

It's pretty neat looking! Great job!

 

[Jim Watson]

Colt and the "national armories" (Flayderman's term) rebored .54 Mississippi rifles to .58 for common ammo with the 1855-1863 rifle muskets.

As I understand it, the Confederacy lacked the capacity to handle that; so made .54 Minie balls for their share of 1841s. If that was less accurate than a patched ball, fast loading was worth more most of the time.

 

[bonza]

Minie rifles typically have slow twist shallow rifling, usually in the 1:60" to 1:78" range, although the 2-band Enfields used a 1:48". The reason a Minie will stabilize with such slow twist rates is that the hollow base moves the center of gravity forward, & you are essentially shooting a skirted ball. The Enfield 2-band (1:48") Minie has a much shallower cavity in the base than the one intended for the 3-band (1:78"), so is more akin to a regular conical bullet, thus needing the faster twist.