58 cal enfield

hi all,ive just got my fist smoothbore,its a parker hale 1858 enfield in 58cal,a few things i want to ask,what sort of loads should i be looking at using, for round ball and shot,the ball size i think is .570 is this right ,what sort of distance will i get with the loads given,sorry for all the questions,just want to get it right ,thanks all

ant67: in my 58cal/24ga fowler i use from 3/4 to 1oz of shot. 50-75gr 3f powder for general hunting purposes. The powder load is the same for round ball but the diameter is 562, with a 010 patch. 570's are usually used in 58 rifles. This should get you started. Buzzard

thanks mate ,will let you know how i get on :thumbsup:

the PH P58 was not a smoothbore are you sure yours is? the rifleing in these are very shallow.

Do NOT GUESS at the diameter of your bore, nor as to whether its a rifle or smoothbore. As noted, most of these guns are Rifled- not smooth bored. Its possible your gun has not been cleaned properly, and the shallow grooves have loaded up with lead and powder residue. Use a good lead solvent( modern gun product), and a better bore brush to scrub the bore. You will not find that shooting shot from a rifled barrel is not of much use beyond 10 yards.

Either way, use a caliper to measure the actual bore diameter( land to land in a rifle) of your barrel. Don't GUESS! You will otherwise spend lots of money on the wrong size balls, and patches thicknesses, and never get good accuracy shooting PRBs, unless you just happen to be lucky.

If this is a smooth bore barrel, you want a ball diameter that is approx. .020" smaller than bore diameter, and then look to use a .015 or .018" thick mattress ticking, or other heavy tight weaved cotton fabric patch around the ball. You should be able to push the ball and patch into the muzzle with your thumb, but it should not slide down easily.

Clean the bore between shots- both with PRBs, and with shot loads. I found that if I run a greased cleaning patch down my barrel before I load the barrel with powder and shot, that I don't get lead streaks on the sides of the bore from the bare shot rubbing against the bore as it travels out of the gun. That greasing also reduces the amount of "flats" that occur on those outer shot pellets, and leaves more pellets in my patterns down range.

Those large soft lead balls, will expand fairly well with the powder charges recommended, and seal the bore well enough with the correct thickness of patching. However, the thicker the patch, the more lube it can hold, to keep the barrel greased and the patch from burning on its long trip out the barrel in front of that burning powder. Burned patches produce gas cutting of the lead ball, or melting of the back of the ball. Both cause very poor accuracy when RBs are shot out of a smooth bore gun. :hmm: :hatsoff:

Many rifles are made in smoothbore just for the British market

Yes that correct,had one for many years,come across them quite often,use shot or patched ball don't try shooting conical.
(Pete)

Welcome :thumbsup:

You can use the 570ball if thats all you got. Mine shoots them good with a few over shot cards on the powder a blob of lube, the ball and a another final OS card on top.60grn 3f seems good.

I prefer a home cast .562 ball and tight linen patch greased with beef fat and olive oil paste/lube. 80-90grn3f works well to 40yds and beyond.

In the two band I had 1oz of shot and the measure set to 7/8oz for powder with just a stack of a few thin cards for a wad worked very well for stationary small game to 30yds.

My musketoon don't do so good with shot, I think the short barrel limits me to 25yds, thats ok from a hide/blind mind.

If you are going to hunt the sights and high combed stock is an issue, the sights shoot to high for hunting distance and when you modify them to get low enough the stock is to high!

The lock is simple and well made if a Birmingham made Parker Hale, an improved let off is achievable with the correct stoning.

I love mine :hatsoff:



Brits.

yep ,mine is a smoothbore ,its on my shotgun certificate,i love the way the shotgun looks and feels,i did try a 570 ball ,will not fit down the barrel ,thanks for all your help

ant67 said:

yep ,mine is a smoothbore ,its on my shotgun certificate,i love the way the shotgun looks and feels,i did try a 570 ball ,will not fit down the barrel ,thanks for all your help

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I think my barrel miked out .577-8. A .570 bal won't roll down my barrel but once started go down easy. You may just be feeling a high spot on the ball.

Next chance drop some powder down and jut try a .570 ball. It most likely will go down. If it is a struggle and once sized make sure you do get it down all the way to the powder before you use the powder to pop it out.

Absolutly no cavities are allowed!

B.

Could someone tell me the reasoning behind making a .58 smoothbore just for the English market?

In England there isn't much paperwork to own a smoothbore gun.

A rifled gun on the other hand requires all sorts of paperwork and approvals if it is going to be shot.

Thank you, Zonie. I knew it had to be some restrictive gun law thing.

Zonie said:

In England there isn't much paperwork to own a smoothbore gun.

A rifled gun on the other hand requires all sorts of paperwork and approvals if it is going to be shot.

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Absolutly correct :thumbsup:

It gets worse though!
We are not supposed to hunt with a round ball or even hunt with a ML rifle and get this! There is actually no law that say's we can not!

I can have a rifle to shoot at paper if I join a club,but to hunt! They won't grant it!

A smoothbore with shot is fine though :idunno:

Mad.

B.

TO ALL MY FELLOW CANADIANS

That is what happens when you let too many politicians control your shooting & collecting past times. You Americans better listen in also!
Old Ford

Australia is another fine example of such wishful thinking not actually impacting reality. Gun violence where guns were restricted actually increased.

NEWS FLASH the Homicide Rate in the Nation's Capital for 2011, where the law was struck down prohibiting the ownership of handguns has dropped to a level equal to the homicide rate of ...., Wait for it...., 1963.

Of course it's just coincidence that the striking down of the law and the dramatic drop in homicides happened in the same year. It's not cause and effect..., :bull:

LD

Britsmoothy said:

Zonie said:

In England there isn't much paperwork to own a smoothbore gun.

A rifled gun on the other hand requires all sorts of paperwork and approvals if it is going to be shot.

Click to expand...

Absolutly correct :thumbsup:

It gets worse though!
We are not supposed to hunt with a round ball or even hunt with a ML rifle and get this! There is actually no law that say's we can not!

I can have a rifle to shoot at paper if I join a club,but to hunt! They won't grant it!

A smoothbore with shot is fine though :idunno:

Mad.

B.

Click to expand...

i never know that you could hunt with shot,but the laws here are mad,

Ant67, I think you misunderstood, It is legal in the UK to shoot with a shotgun at rabbits, vermin, game etc on any land where you have permission so to do - provided you have a shotgun certificate with the weapon noted on it. Rifled arms are a different kettle of fish however!! Check your local police web site for all the regs surrounding both types of weapon

hi all just to let you know i shot my shotgun for the first time ,i used a 662 ball,010 wad and 48gr 3fff powder ,i was hitting around the centre of the target at 25 mts ,next time im going onto the 50 m range, i can tell you i had more fun shooting this one then anyother firearm i have ,thanks all for your help :grin: