Navy Arms .58 Buffalo Hunter

[huntsman247]

Hi all, new to this forum, got some questions on a rifle I found. It is a Navy Arms Buffalo Hunter in .58 cal. manufactured by Antonio Zoli, imported from Italy. After much research I am at a lose as to maximum safe loads. In the Lyman Black Powder Handbook ther is a story of Val Forgett, owner of Navy Arms, useing a 600+ grain minnie and 125 grains of 3F, seems a little stout to me; extreme pressures? Does anyone know if the rifle will indeed handle those kind of pressures? As for me I plan on useing around 100 grains of 2F with one of the following minnies from Lyman a #577611, 575213 or 57730 anyone have experience with any of these? What works best for you or any other recommendations as far as bullet choice? Even though I have other rifles, 50 and 54's I would love to take the 58 on future buffalo and moose hunts. Any help will be greatly appreciated. Thanks

 

[Russ T Frizzen]

Oh, it will handle those loads just fine. You may notice the recoil though. I use 70 grains of FFg under a 560 grain Minie or 90 grains under a .57 ball. These loads will take any game animal in North America. I have gone up to an 80 grain charge with the Minie, but the 70 grain load is more accurate in my rifle.

 

[jdstrang]

Yeah. That same Lyman handbook you cite warns against using too large a charge (more than 70 grains, if memory serves) under the 575213 old-style minie, because the skirt will fail upon exiting the muzzle and Lord only knows where the ball will go.

If you feel led to use 100 grains or so, use the stout-skirted ball shown in the handbook, designed for the heavier loads. But, seriously, 60-70 grains under a 500-grain minie-style is pul-henty for anything you want to tackle with a single-shot muzzlestuffer.

 

[windwalker_au]

Hi all, new to this forum, got some questions on a rifle I found. It is a Navy Arms Buffalo Hunter in .58 cal. manufactured by Antonio Zoli, imported from Italy. After much research I am at a lose as to maximum safe loads. In the Lyman Black Powder Handbook ther is a story of Val Forgett, owner of Navy Arms, useing a 600+ grain minnie and 125 grains of 3F, seems a little stout to me; extreme pressures? Does anyone know if the rifle will indeed handle those kind of pressures? As for me I plan on useing around 100 grains of 2F with one of the following minnies from Lyman a #577611, 575213 or 57730 anyone have experience with any of these? What works best for you or any other recommendations as far as bullet choice? Even though I have other rifles, 50 and 54's I would love to take the 58 on future buffalo and moose hunts. Any help will be greatly appreciated. Thanks

i had one of those and took a asian water buffalo with it with a biger load than that, when i got the gun i rang val and talked to him he gave me the load that was back in 1981 i will not state the load he gave me as your gun is not new and i dont no what condition it is in,when you shoot big loads under a mini you need a thick skirt mini [smaller diameter base plug my mould was a rcbs mold and with the smaller base plug it was 625 grn they are a very good gun and shoot a mini far beter than a round ball they have a 1 in 48 twist the new one;s that have come out again are made by euro arms so dont no the qualty of those but the zoli one is very well built.heres a pic of the horns of the bufff i got it was a front on brain shot at 50yards the bottom gun is the bufflo hunter.
Bernie :thumbsup:

 

[faw3]

Dont know if ya need more than 70 or so grs , find a load that puts all your shots in one place, as far as hunting goes Confed Sharp shooters dropped men at 6 to 800 yards with the Sea Service and 2 band Enfield's with 4 to 500 gr mini's. A slow moveing 58 is like getting hit by a slow moveing 18 wheeler :rotf: you'll do fine Fred :hatsoff:

 

[ronrryan]

I don't know if you have done so yet, but you would be wise to check the rate of rifling twist. They are NOT all alike. Mine has a slow twist and shoots roundballs exceptionally well, does NOT shoot minies, etc well, and mine is also a ZOLI. Nice gun, and fun to shoot, and evrybody comes over to see what it is. I took it hunting a couple times, but never saw a deer when I had it along. Good smoke, Ron in FL

 

[faw3]

As I remember it they did shoot the short base minie's pretty good but every rifle has it's own ?? mind? Fred :hatsoff:

 

[windwalker_au]

I don't know if you have done so yet, but you would be wise to check the rate of rifling twist. They are NOT all alike. Mine has a slow twist and shoots roundballs exceptionally well, does NOT shoot minies, etc well, and mine is also a ZOLI. Nice gun, and fun to shoot, and evrybody comes over to see what it is. I took it hunting a couple times, but never saw a deer when I had it along. Good smoke, Ron in FL

so you have a zoli buffalo hunter with a slow twist or is it a zoli ZOUAVE there is a diference.
the buffalo hunter is not a cut down ZOUAVE the buffalo has a much more meat in the barrel and breech.
bernie :thumbsup:
bernie

 

[huntsman247]

Nice buffalo horns Windwalker Au, a hunt on another continent would be great, maybe someday. Just curious if you have tried useing the Thompson Center Maxi-Ball? Thinking of giving it a try, see if I can get any grouping with various loads. I know where I can obtain the various bullet moulds but I hate to spend the cash and then find they don't fly well from my barrel; anyway thanks much for the imput from you and the rest, hope to hear more from you all.

 

[windwalker_au]

Nice buffalo horns Windwalker Au, a hunt on another continent would be great, maybe someday. Just curious if you have tried useing the Thompson Center Maxi-Ball? Thinking of giving it a try, see if I can get any grouping with various loads. I know where I can obtain the various bullet moulds but I hate to spend the cash and then find they don't fly well from my barrel; anyway thanks much for the imput from you and the rest, hope to hear more from you all.

sadly i had the gun stolen in 1988 but i did try maxi in it they where not as good as the thick skirt mini. bernie :thumbsup:

 

[Chuck C]

I've owned a Navy Arms Buffalo Hunter for 40 years and I am quite fond of it. It shoots patched round balls and minies both real well. It shoots a .575 round ball in a .018 pillow ticking patch the best of all. I recently tried a Lee real bullet in it and they mike at .575 on the bottom bands and the first driving band mikes at .580 and it just barely gets engraved by the rifling. They shoot terrible in it. I am going to try patching the real bullet up to the first driving band and see how they shoot. It has hammered a lot of deer.

 

[windwalker_au]

chuck use a wad under the real you be surprised at the improvement in accuracy.
bernie :thumbsup:

 

[Chuck C]

Thanks Windwalker I'll try that.