.69 cal.Rifled Muskets

[Jim Blair]

Those of you who are shooting the U.S.M1842 type muskets that are rifled,any good round ball loads?I have a Fremont style two band rifle,looking for a good plinking load,nothing full power like the minie load of 70 grains.Old shoulders are past that.LOL

 

[nkbj]

Mine is an Armisport with really, really shallow rifling even for a .69 minie musket. So far I've had to use a 14 ga. fiber wad under the patched ball to get any kind of grouping. In the for what it's worth department, I'm immersing the fiber wads in melted beeswax based lube until they stop bubbling. The round ball is 0.683" diameter from a mystery mold marked .680 that I picked up somewhere or the other. I'm not loading a tight patch with this combo, just enough to keep the ball centered up in the bore. I don't know if the ball's girth is increasing any when the wads slams it from behind. I really do think that the wad is conforming to the hind end of the ball and thus moving towards the barrel wall, in essence taking up the slack and helping the ball rotate rather than bounce down the barrel in addition to forming a gas dam.
I should figure out giving the ball a soft enough landing to see if rifling marks indicate that it's girth is increasing while the wad overcomes it's inertia.
By the way, I'm shooting stout loads. Don't know how the fiber wads might behave with plinking loads.

 

[nkbj]

Scots Jim,
Mine has a rather abrupt edge on the muzzle even after some smoothing. It's difficult to load a tight patched round ball without shearing the patch.

Got a Lyman mold that makes a 0.678" ball that I've tried with patches but haven't had any luck so far. Not giving up. My bore diameter is 0.696".

 

[nkbj]

Oh, by the way, mine had a hard trigger pull that was making me crazy. Tightening up the screws in the lock is now a regular checklist item. :slap:

 

[Jim Blair]

Thanks for the info.The barrel on it is an original barrel that was lined by Bob Hoyt according to fellow I got it off of.I'll do some checking on the bore diameter.The previous owner was shooting 60grs of 2F using a Rapine wadcutter minie and getting some nice groups at 50 yds. with it,got a deer one year.I'll have to get the mold and sizer out and see what diameter he was using,the old Rapine catalog shows two diameters in that style,.690 and .685.

 

[wahkahchimaol.com]

Originally a Minie bullet gun, right? Thanks.

 

[Jim Blair]

It was a rifle the previous owner had custom built using original parts with the exception of the top band,rear sight,and forearm.The barrel I believe was a good original smoothbore barrel relined by Hoyt.

 

[Matt85]

ive got the same gun as goodcheer and just like he did, found round balls to be all but useless. however, using minies ive had better luck. im still trying to figure out the correct size to match my barrel...

as for a good load, i dont find the 70 grain load to be bad with my 730 grain minies. if you must reduce the load i would try 60 grains. im not sure id want to reduce the load below 60 grains for shooting minies due to how heavy they are.

 

[Jim Blair]

The previous owner was shooting a Rapine wadcutter minie .685500 with 60 grains and getting cloverleaf groups at 50 yards.I got bullet sizing dies for .684 and .685 with the rifle.That bullet is considerably lighter than the Lyman .685069 at 720 grains.Probably go ahead and try it and see how it goes.

 

[Matt85]

i wouldnt call a 10 grain weight difference "considerably lighter". the issue with using smaller powder loads is the rapid bullet drop and loss of speed of these super heavy projectiles. a 10 grain weight difference isnt really gonna be noticable.

 

[Jim Blair]

I was speaking as to the difference in weights between the Lyman minie and the Rapine wadcutter minie not the powder charge.720 grains + or -
vs 500 grains + or -.

 

[varsity07840]

.687 bore, progressive depth 3 groove rifling. 14 ga. lubed cushion wad, .672 ball .015 patch, 80 gr 2F GOEX. OR Rapine .685 semi wadcutter 500 gr minie, 70 gr Goex 2F. Flint 1816 Whitacre barrel. I have a original '42 relined by Hoyt to the same spec and I use the same load in it. Both shoot very well. Armi muskets and 2 banders
usually have oversize bores which cause problems when selecting a minie that's the right size.

Duane

 

[Jim Blair]

Thanks,that's what I been looking for. :thumbsup: