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Minie balls in a flintlock

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Got a 265 grain #454613 minie that could be paper patched in the Shenandoah flinter that was rebored to .46 (was a .36). It's got deep rifling and a 56" twist but hey, you never know 'til you try.
 
Just read through the bondo info. That is just way awesome. Looks like for sure that filling the hollow bases should allow using minies with card wads and loading them to higher levels as with plain based bullets. Ol' #57730 in particular.
Thanks again for the heads up.
 
I had a friend that collected civil war guns to the point of having every closet full and stacks against the walls of his house. He moved to one of the Carolinas and sold many but I could not afford any unless I sold my house.
Anyway we played with Minie" balls a lot to find they must fit tight to the bore or you could not keep them on a huge cardboard at 50 yards. We made them accurate to 200 meters by lapping the molds. Anything over 50 gr of powder needed a thick skirt or the base would flare at exit. They are hard to cast since many molds would get an air hole above the base plug, only one mold worked' perfect. Even cutting air vents on the plugs would still leave a bubble in the cavity.
Moving ahead the original TC Hawken with 1 in 48" would shoot both a RB and a Maxi into virtually one hole at 50 yards. Then a friend bought the Easy Start TC and it never would shoot anything since gas at exit disrupted a ball or bullet. Best to have a good crown.
Jerry belonged to the North,South skirmish in VA and we would watch as hundreds of shots could not hit a clay on the racks. I said to fit the Minie" and slow down the hold. That ball can be made super accurate so each shot could break a clay. It is amazing so many died in the war but you faced a wall of willy-nilly lead. Cannons with grape were more accurate and deadly then a rifleman. Barrels fouled so bad many carried smaller bullets in able to load to keep a wall of lead going.
 
Look at the modern Minnie and the TIP of the projectile, and compare this with the drawings of the originals. Too bad in 1867 when Forsyth was writing he didn't try this modification, and of course the paper patch....

MINIE BALL MODERN PATCH.JPG

LD
 
Anyway we played with Minie" balls a lot to find they must fit tight to the bore or you could not keep them on a huge cardboard at 50 yards. We made them accurate to 200 meters by lapping the molds.

I have twoo Pedersoli Tryon one for only 50yards and another for 100yards (target shooting), the first one is always shooting Miné balls and it kepps 2x2" at 50 yards the second one doesn't shoot Minié but only 500gr compression bullets. For the Minié the bale must be just for the bore and only the weight of the loading rod must make it go down with its weight, the air escaping through the rifling of the barrel. If the Minié bullet has to force into the bore (small little bit is too much) it is not good and will never be accurate in target, idem if the ball is a bit too free in the bore...
For example for my.45" Tryon for 50 yard, the caliber the molded bullet is .451" and must be calibrated to .450" to just let the grease pass between the bullet and the tube.
Similarly if the bale is too small at calibration (such as.449") there will be a problem of imprecision and plumbing....
The Minié ball is very accurate but it must be perfectly molded, calibrated and weighed otherwise there is no interest to shoot this ball...

This base is the base that everybody everyone who wants to shoot this bullet have to know and after have to found the right charge and this it's not the easiest thing to do. :)
 
Look at the modern Minnie and the TIP of the projectile, and compare this with the drawings of the originals. Too bad in 1867 when Forsyth was writing he didn't try this modification, and of course the paper patch....

Hi Loyalist Dave,
What kind of faper do you use for the modern Minié bullets ?
 
Well, Sun City, that's what's so great about our land of the free-you can shoot what you like and the rest of us can do the same. We can even discuss it within the framework of this forum. I will not disparage you for your views -even though they were aimed at me. I'm leaning some things from this thread and hope you do too.:D

That's my story....and I'm sticking with it!
 
I wouldn't have it any other way. Just for the record, I have shot 50 times more patched round balls than conicals, but enjoy both. thanks for your input.
 
These are 464 grain hollow base bullets made with #533476, a base plug modified to help resist blowing skirts and swaged to .519" for a .52 bore (26" twist) Renegade. The lube is lanolin-olive oil-beeswax. The flat on the nose is 3/8" diameter so if a body wanted hunting bullets then #533476 is an option for home grown. Paper patching the #533476 castings to shoot in a .54 caliber would be pretty easy but be advised the front driving band ahead of the first groove is .520" diameter before swaging and would have to swell to fill the bore on a .54. I'm sure it would do that if slammed hard like for a hunting load but thought to mention it.
 
Loyalist Dave,

Excellent, excellent post. Thank you for taking the time to dig out those passages. I have to assume from the lack of responce, that some here do not know the credential of those men. Or maybe it was off topic? But; a good post - IMHO.
 
Got a 265 grain #454613 minie that could be paper patched in the Shenandoah flinter that was rebored to .46 (was a .36). It's got deep rifling and a 56" twist but hey, you never know 'til you try.
One of the problems with using any conical in a flint gun is the increased pressure and resultant erosion of the flash hole. This is
Okay folks: How many of you have fired minie balls in a flintlock. Aside from being period incorrect, any problems or concerns doing this? I'm thinking rate of twist of the rifling might be one issue.
One of the problems with shooting conicals in flint guns is the increased breech pressure and the resulting flash hole erosion from it's presence. We find this in long range percussion rifles shooting slugs, that is, the tendency to burn out nipples much faster than a patched ball gun does.
 
Yep, that's what nipples and flash hole liners are made for.
In a .69 flinter like my 1816 I'd have a liner in it after a few hundred rounds if I shooting the 760 hundred grain minies like in the 1847. It would be some kinda fun to have a 1816 barrel with the 1842 type adjustable sights and rifling to suit my .695 diameter minies with the extended bore alignment configuration

and the adjustable length mold with paper patches.

The 1816 isn't as handy as the 1847 but it's got a pretty fast lock for such a big machine and due to inertia, pretty dang steady.
 
"Now we don't need to worry about wounding an pissing-off a tiger at 50 yards, and we have several designs available in "Minnie balls" to choose from."
LD

Now if it was a Louisiana Tiger you would definitely be worried(Wheat's Tigers)
 
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