Pedersoli 1841 Mississippi Caliber

[Pratt1861]

After reading the thread about a member's original 1841M, my interest has been peaked. The Pedersoli reproduction looks like it would be a fun rifle.

Can anyone shed some light on the pros and cons of the.54 vs the .58 caliber?

This would be strictly for fun paper/steel target shooting 100 yards max.

Is it fair to say shooting a round ball or a minie ball is equal in either caliber other than well, the caliber?

I already have supplies for .54 round ball shooting on hand but would like to experiment with minie ball shooting as well.

 

[Zonie]

I don't own a 1841 Mississippi so I can't comment on the one made by Pedersoli except to say Pedersoli builds some pretty high quality guns and they are usually rather expensive.

If we are talking about .54 and .58 caliber roundballs (.530 and .570 diameter) the .54 caliber will shoot with a higher velocity than the .58 if the powder charge is the same.

Although it isn't exactly an apples to apples comparison because of the barrel length, the Lyman BLACK POWDER HANDBOOK & LOADING MANUAL shows a .530 diameter roundball traveling at 1299 fps with a 60 grain 2Fg powder load.
The .570 diameter roundball with the same powder load of 60 grains is traveling at 1166 fps.

Although the .530 ball has slowed down to 865 fps at 100 yards and the .570 ball is going slightly faster at 891 fps at 100 yards, for most of the journey the .530 is going faster.

That means, the .530 ball will have a slightly flatter trajectory.

As for Minie's, they all can be finicky and finding the one that shoots best in any given gun isn't easy.
Minie's must be sized so their diameter is not more than .003 smaller than the bore size for good accuracy. (That's about the size of one human hair.)

Being much heavier than a lead roundball, the Minie' ball has a much lower velocity than a comparable diameter roundball.

That 60 grain powder load I mentioned above will push a .577 diameter 566 grain Minie at 991 fps muzzle velocity.
Although the Minie' maintains its velocity better than a roundball (in this case, 811 fps @ 100 yards) its lower velocity causes it to shoot with a very curved trajectory. Kinda' the ole' "lob it in" sort of thing.

 

[bob308]

for what you want the rifle to do go with the .54 it is in the most original configuration. the .58 to be right needs different sights and a lug for a bayonet.

I have a navy arms 1841. they were made in.58. I had bob hoyt line it to .54. it shoots just fin I use it in matches it does real good. it will also shoot .54 bullets. but it is less lead and powder then a .58.

 

[jbricejr]

I too had a Navy Arms Mississippi years ago, in 58. I tried a lot of different bullets in that gun and never got it to shoot like I wanted, but I never did try a patched round ball as people said I probably wouldn't get good accuracy using stiffer charges of powder. There's is something about the Mississippi, they're just cool guns, but I'm mainly a hunter and wanted better accuracy so I sold it to a reenactor. Later I thought maybe I should have tried a liner. I've also considered buying an original many times just to have one, I like them that much, but I'm not rich and so it's hard to justify the cost from a practical standpoint. Good luck with it.

 

[Smokey Plainsman]

For historical accuracy, you would want a .54 Minie ball mould as this is what the Mississippi rifle fired.

 

[The O'Dea]

:td:
Sir I do not normally post here, however I could not let your comment go by. I own three(3) original M1841 rifles which i purchased in the late 60's. My Robins,Kendall and Lawrence (1847)is my shooter. I had the late,great Bill Large put a .54 calibre 1in66 twist bbl on it in 1969. I still shoot it to this day.
Now,the M1841 rifle was the first pattern of military rifle to use round ball paper ctgs. of 75 grains of fine rifle powder.Not a minie ball! Also the riflemans pouch and flask ( miss-named the Peace flask) was only issued to the state militia.
I hope this clears up the much muddied waters. ball!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The Irish Mick
Arizona Territory

 

[hanshi]

I agree. The US M1841 was designed to shoot prb and not minies. It will probably shoot them okay but prb shoots better. My .54 does just over 1" at 60 yards. I tried a few maxi balls and the groups were the size of my spread out hand.

 

[nwtradegun]

shooters start punching paper than decide to hunt with it. for that the 54 would be the choice caliber

 

[Rockthrower]

It's really unfortunate that Pedersoli doesn't barrel the 1841 in its original .54 caliber and in its original rifling form.

Even finding an original 1841 in .54 caliber is difficult after the fed's got through boring them out to 58 caliber. Most of the existing .54 caliber
1841's are Confederate since they did not bore them out to 58 caliber.

 

[BillinOregon]

Mick, is that you (harking back to the Coyote days)?
Interestingly, Dixie imports a Pedersoli in the proper .54 caliber, but it sells for several hundred dollars more than the more common .58.
I simply have no interest in the .58, but historical accuracy is important to me, while it may not be to the next fella.

 

[hanshi]

I got my M1841 .54, which was special order since I didn't want the ubiquitous .58. I got mine from an outfit called "Jarnigans". It cost only a little over half what DGW was asking. It was imported by Euroarms.

 

[Rockthrower]

Went to Dixie and found no reference to a 54-caliber Model 1841.

Can you give us an item number from Dixie?

 

[Smokey Plainsman]

http://www.dixiegunworks.com/product_info.php?products_id=889

Pretty stiff in price.

 

[Rockthrower]

Many thanks. Yup, really pricey.

 

[hanshi]

That price isn't "stiff"; it's absurd. When I got my 1841, Dixie wanted $800 for it. I paid Jarnigans something like $440, IIRC. Admittedly, this was 12 or 13 years ago; but really, now.

 

[Smokey Plainsman]

The fact that it is so much more than the .58 caliber rifle is a head scratcher. Not cool, Davide!

 

[BillinOregon]

Earl, I have found it does not hurt to e-mail your thoughts to Pedersoli. You might be surprised by the answer. Meanwhile, it often pays to watch for sales at Dixie.

 

[Pratt1861]

Zonie, Thank you for the impressive breakdown.

Thank you to everyone else that replied as well.

I've been reading what I can about this rifle which is always fun. The .54 is the way to go for me. Yes the price is definitely steep. You are fast approaching semi-custom flintlock prices.

Price is what has held me back from picking up other Pedersoli's as well. I like some of their offerings but always come back to what a great deal a Lyman GPR is.

I don't mind paying the price for something I really want but for some reason I can think of different ways I could spend that money.

I guess what it comes down to and I'm sure others here could understand is, I have a mental list of what I'd like to try and if a good deal comes along, I've already done the pros and cons ahead of time.

 

[Smokey Plainsman]

I really like my Lyman GPR.

They are good guns. Strong, durable, and quite historically correct in terms of appearance to a plains rifle. I don't know what it is but some of the Pedersoli guns just look very... cookie cutter? I don't like the way the profile their guns. But most of their rifles and pistols are excellent.

I have contacted them before and found their customer service to be surprisingly good compared to getting ahold of some of the other European gun companies. They even sent me two spare clean out screws for the percussion drum on my 1805 pistol free of charge all the way from Italy, I bungled the screw head on the first one and they understood. I have also messaged them a couple times and gotten responses from Pierangelo himself. Very good man who does a lot for the sport.