New to me Parker Hale musketoon.

[TreeMan]

Got this from the UPS guy today. I assume this is an early year by the serial number (year I was born too!). Has a few handling marks but the bore looks bright shiny and new. Missing the front sling swivel so I ordered one from S&S along with a repro sling. It looks dirty because I just test fired a minie and a .562 roundball out of it. I’ll put some on paper tomorrow weather permitting. I have some .570s to try too but I think they will be too tight. My Lee .575 minie was a perfect tight fit. Anxious to see how it shoots. Are these peep sights original? They are nice!!!

 

[Roundball2319]

Nice find. What is the twist rate on that.

 

[TreeMan]

Nice find. What is the twist rate on that.

I’ve read that the musketoons are 1-48 but if I’m wrong someone will correct me.

 

[TFoley]

Very nice condition, too. As Britsmoothy and a couple of others of us suggest, read the Research Press article by the late Bill Curtis on how to get the best out of the Musketoon. sounds like you've already found the correct size Minié bullet - one that just goes down with the thumb pressure. Anything from around 45gr of 2Fg up to about 60gr works, but you'll need to do some trial and error. Being almost three pounds lighter than the three-band rifle it can get exciting quite quickly with the upper levels of loadings.

The MAIN problem about them concerned the bedding, or rather, apparent lack of it. The bolster ought not to make any contact with the lock plate, and might need packing under the breech plug to make this happen. Also, the barrel channel MIGHT have a central ridge due to the way it was routered - that needs to be scraped or rasped away so the the barrel makes full contact in the bottom of the channel.

And no those sights are not correct - neither front nor rear - there is no peep on this style of gun. That's an after-market addition there.

Here's mine, #1187.

 

[Whitworth]

Sweet, nice looking rifle. The serial number/birth year date is cool, one of those little things that can enhance a firearm. Those sights are a nice modification. Has it been glass bedded and trigger tuned too? I'm quite envious of those. I scored one last week, SN #5xxx but haven't shot it yet.

 

[TreeMan]

Very nice condition, too. As Britsmoothy and a couple of others of us suggest, read the Research Press article by the late Bill Curtis on how to get the best out of the Musketoon. sounds like you've already found the correct size Minié bullet - one that just goes down with the thumb pressure. Anything from around 45gr of 2Fg up to about 60gr works, but you'll need to do some trial and error. Being almost three pounds lighter than the three-band rifle it can get exciting quite quickly with the upper levels of loadings.

The MAIN problem about them concerned the bedding, or rather, apparent lack of it. The bolster ought not to make any contact with the lock plate, and might need packing under the breech plug to make this happen. Also, the barrel channel MIGHT have a central ridge due to the way it was routered - that needs to be scraped or rasped away so the the barrel makes full contact in the bottom of the channel.

And no those sights are not correct - neither front nor rear - there is no peep on this style of gun. That's an after-market addition there.

Here's mine, #1187.

View attachment 63212

I read that article a few times while I was waiting for this to get here. I don’t think there has been a trigger job because it’s quite heavy. I haven’t taken it down to check the bedding yet. The bolster is very tight against the lock so it might need to be relieved a little when I get to that point. I’ll never shoot this one in competition because that’s reserved for my flinters. If I can get a good two inch group at 50 I’ll be happy. I’m gonna make this a short little deer rifle. The inletting/bedding might already be done. These sights probably cost a few dollars so whoever put them on was gettin serious!!

 

[ord sgt]

I first tried the Lee minie mold for my P-H Enfield musketoon. It loaded and shot well. I eeven got a true bore sizer, to be sure that each minie was trued to .575. Then at a regional skirmish, someone was selling used molds from a skirmisher who had passed away (his widow approved the sale of his gear). I bought a .575 mold of a different ring and nose shape. I still do not know who made the mold, (no name or marking on the mold), but the Enfield likes the minie and 44 grains FFFg. Very good at 50 and 100 yards.

 

[TreeMan]

Very nice condition, too. As Britsmoothy and a couple of others of us suggest, read the Research Press article by the late Bill Curtis on how to get the best out of the Musketoon. sounds like you've already found the correct size Minié bullet - one that just goes down with the thumb pressure. Anything from around 45gr of 2Fg up to about 60gr works, but you'll need to do some trial and error. Being almost three pounds lighter than the three-band rifle it can get exciting quite quickly with the upper levels of loadings.

The MAIN problem about them concerned the bedding, or rather, apparent lack of it. The bolster ought not to make any contact with the lock plate, and might need packing under the breech plug to make this happen. Also, the barrel channel MIGHT have a central ridge due to the way it was routered - that needs to be scraped or rasped away so the the barrel makes full contact in the bottom of the channel.

And no those sights are not correct - neither front nor rear - there is no peep on this style of gun. That's an after-market addition there.

Here's mine, #1187.

View attachment 63212

I just pulled the barrel to see if it has been bedded. It hasn’t.

 

[ord sgt]

If you are really serious about accuracy, you could go as far as weighing each minie and find the ones with that are closest in weight, rejecting the heavier and lighter bullets. It gets to be much more fun.

 

[TreeMan]

Shot a few out of it this morning. I had six of the 575 Lee minies. Not very good luck outta those six using 50 gr of 3f for three of them and 50gr of 2F for the other three. I’ll have to mold some more for further experimentation. I shot three .562 round balls and got this group with the first three with 70 gr of 2F Goex at 25 yards.

 

[TFoley]

Shot a few out of it this morning. I had six of the 575 Lee minies. Not very good luck outta those six using 50 gr of 3f for three of them and 50gr of 2F for the other three. I’ll have to mold some more for further experimentation. I shot three .562 round balls and got this group with the first three with 70 gr of 2F Goex at 25 yards.

You DO realise that the 70gr charge is 10gr heavier than the US military service load, right?

 

[TreeMan]

You DO realise that the 70gr charge is 10gr heavier than the US military service load, right?

Yep I’m aware. Not shooting it for competition or skirmishing. Going to make it my deer rifle. I thought I’d try the minimum load I’d use for shooting a deer with it. I don’t think 70 gr of 2F is gonna hurt it.