Who made the Zouave copies?

I see them with many different vendors' brands. Navy Arms, Army Jaeger, CVA and Centennial (IIRC). Did Zoli contract for all and, if so, were some better than others?

Antonio Zoli was one manufacturer. They were a hit or miss as far as accuracy. Mine would group 3" at 50 yrds, but a fellow shooter had one that would make one ragged hole at that range, although he used a pretty light load to do it.

I always thought that his were the best. With PRB's mine will do 1 1/2 inch at 50 yards. Patched tight with 65 grains of 2F. Geo. T.

With my Army Jager I can hit the buttstop most times at and out to 500yards .

I understand the Zoli has a 1:72 twist, why they work better with round ball. Got some rb to try in mine. 525 grain Minnie's with 65 grains Ffg were all over the place. Course, I probably added to that spread some.

Believe at present that Zoli and Euro Arms both build the current crop of Zouave rifles. The originals, and for many years, they were turned out like the originals were in the 1860's, that is with three lands and three grooves only .003" deep which is what works best for the Minie type projectiles that were the typical military load for combat longarms of the day. The problem was that those shallow and extremely wide lands and grooves did a poor job of grabbing the patching on round balls. We, that is the guys in the sport in the early to mid 60's, found this very puzzling till it was determined what was going on. Equally unfortunate was the bad wrap that 1-48" inch twist got when the rate of twist wasn't the problem at all. An awful lot of MBBW has been written and said about that twist rate by many who didn't understand the actual problem. We found that using a thinner patch and lowering the velocity made substantial improvements in accuracy.

More recently, the makers have made changes in the rifling of Zouave rifles to improve the accuracy of PRB loads. For Euro Arms, it was to slow the twist to 1-66" and deepen the grooves to .005" depth. I don't know for sure what Zoli may have done but it's probably similar. To slow to 1-72" would more directly affect the stability of Minie or other conical projectiles. The slight slowing of twist rate and very slight increase of groove depth by Euro Arms probably won't seriously mess up the accuracy of longer bullets. Some one here may know what Zoli's current twist rate is, I just don't know at present.

Mine is a HY HUNTER built in 1963 lyman 315gr wadcutter & 510gr miniballs do well

I just took in a Zoli Zouave on a trade. Give me a bit and I'll check the twist, and the accuracy. With PRB's.

In the 70's I had one of the "Buffalo Hunters" a cut down Zouave made by Navy Arms. Fun gun with the Lyman minis, dug trenches you could set sewer drains in.

Got a '72 or so Buffalo Hunter recently. Wedge escutcheon came off and I've yet to fix it. They were glued on. I'll stick to round balls in that one or short conicals. Leave trenches to the utility.

Mine has a tight .575 bore with 1 in 33"twist it does however shoot blanks very well

Is that one of the recent batches of Hunters? I was under the impression these were mostly sporterized Zouave's.

That was 41 years ago, I was 17. Trenches were fun!

PRB rules, haven't shot anything else in 39 years when the Buff Hunter went byebye.

I'm looking forward to seeing how this Zoli shoots. Came from a re-inactor and he took very nice care of it.

Mil spec non sporter 1973 code stamp xx9 .

Patched jag on a hickory ramrod, turned roughly 1/2 turn in 33" sometimes a hair less. Not a exact test as it wasn't a real tight fit but 1:66-72 sounds about right. I'll shoot it when it cools off a bit, prb at 50yards probably.

XX9 is what I think my BFH is marked, as well. I will have to see what I can make of the twist. Maybe Forgette had some special barrels made for these since he was shooting some monster Conicals out of his.

just won a CVA Zouave 58 and am anxiously waiting for it to arrive so I can ring it out. ive never had any Zouave so any advise will help.

I am reading all these posts with huge interest. my plan is to maybe cut it down for a hunter but will ring it out first to see what is possible.

so got it but still wondering what is the maker of the early CVA's? :hmm:

The only marking on mine states "Armi Jager Italy" and of course the "Black Powder Only" stamp on the top of the barrel. It was given top me by a favorite uncle, who used it for BP deer hunting. He said it is accurate out to 100-150 yds. The read site has been replaced with a single leaf site, the front site has been replaced with a brass bead. I don't hunt anymore, so I mostly have used it for Civil war reenacting occaisionally( when I know my uncle will be there).