The Antonio Zoli Zouave rifle?

[Jarikeen]

I'm considering the purchase of a secondhand A.Zoli Zouave rifle which I have heard is a copy of the .58Cal 1863 Remington contract rifle. These seem to sell for half the cost of the enfields. Are these an accurate rifle? Is the 3 band .58 cal minnie best for this rifle?

 

[slowpokebr549]

Don't know about a Zoli but my Armi Zouve is a tackdriver. It likes roundball better than minnies. The bore on replicas vary quite a bit. Mine likes a .580 three band minnie better than the more common .577.

 

[Zonie]

The Zoli Zouave was made by Antonio Zoli & Co in Italy.
Centennial Arms in Lincolnwood Illinois was one of the companies that imported it. They have long sense gone out of business.

While many of the Italian reproductions of the Zouave (like mine) have a "walnut finished hardwood stock", the Centennial Arms imports had a real Walnut stock (ref p155 "BLACK POWDER GUN DIGEST" c1972).

I don't know why Zoli guns should cost any less than the others that are out there. My experiance with Centennial Arms was that they imported quality firearms.

As was said, this gun should shoot .570 diameter patched roundballs and the various Minie' bullets.
How well is a matter that can only be decided by shooting the gun.

I will point out that when shooting Minie's the powder load should be about 60-65 grains of FFg.

A lot of shooters try to increase the powder loads in these guns and end up blowing the thin skirt off of the slug which ruins accuracy.
Even with "only" 65 grains of powder under a 475 grain Minie' these guns have a definite recoil that will get your attention. That's why if I'm going to do a lot of fun shooting I use the roundballs in mine.
zonie

 

[Va.Manuf.06]

Zoli also made the Zouave for Navy Arms, the first to make and sell the reproduction of the M1863 Remington "Zouave". Zoli guns are considered the best.

 

[ayetter2003]

the zouave is a rifle so its not made in a 3 band length. historical note the 1863 was not issued to troops so if you are a reenactor that and the fact that the barrel is to short for formation may be an issue with your unit. thay are decent shooters thou.

 

[arquebus]

You are correct that the Zouave repros. are close copies of the '63 Remington contract rifle. I have a Euroarms-import Zouave that was built by Anotonio Zoli that I bought about 10 years ago. It is nicely made & can be very accurate. The only things I've done to mine to improve its shootability is smooth up the trigger, reshape the front sight a little, & shim the barrel. I use a heavy Minie (615gns) with 55gns (weighed) of Swiss 3Fg & some Cream of Wheat between powder & bullet. I also used 55gns (by volume) of Goex 3Fg with similar results for a number of years.
Shooting prone with a sling it will hold the 9-ring on a ISU slowfire target at 100m. The Minie I use actually comes from an Australian mould made by the late Trevor Buggs, & is a very popular design with members of the Australian Muzzleloading Team in their .577 & .58 rifle-muskets. I know Green River Rifle Works in Adelaide used to sell Bugg moulds, & may still have some in stock.....give them a call. I know David McCarthy, in Adelaide, had bought Trevor's tooling before he passed on, & has been making moulds so they should still be available.
Here's a photo of the Buggs' Minie (on the left).

 

[windwalker_au]

You are correct that the Zouave repros. are close copies of the '63 Remington contract rifle. I have a Euroarms-import Zouave that was built by Anotonio Zoli that I bought about 10 years ago. It is nicely made & can be very accurate. The only things I've done to mine to improve its shootability is smooth up the trigger, reshape the front sight a little, & shim the barrel. I use a heavy Minie (615gns) with 55gns (weighed) of Swiss 3Fg & some Cream of Wheat between powder & bullet. I also used 55gns (by volume) of Goex 3Fg with similar results for a number of years.
Shooting prone with a sling it will hold the 9-ring on a ISU slowfire target at 100m. The Minie I use actually comes from an Australian mould made by the late Trevor Buggs, & is a very popular design with members of the Australian Muzzleloading Team in their .577 & .58 rifle-muskets. I know Green River Rifle Works in Adelaide used to sell Bugg moulds, & may still have some in stock.....give them a call. I know David McCarthy, in Adelaide, had bought Trevor's tooling before he passed on, & has been making moulds so they should still be available.
Here's a photo of the Buggs' Minie (on the left).

you a correct you can still get the bug moulds from green river rifle works in south australia, from what i have bin told the mcCarthy moulds are very good qualty.
bernie :thumbsup:

 

[Jarikeen]

Thankyou all for the replies. The enfields tend to be be around the $800 Aussie banana's secondhand, where as the zouave can be picked up for $400 - 550 dollars. I like the look of the zouave, similiar style to the springfield. Enfields, I think, may be a little more popular in Australia, as the zouave doesn't have the history here. Nice to know that the zoli should be a good shooter. I've spoken to Dave before and he sounds like a nice guy.
Cheers

 

[Jarikeen]

What's the minie on the right?
The minie on the left looks to have similiar bands to the REAL maxi.

 

[arquebus]

The bullet on the right is a .58 Wilkinson. They were another type of bullet that was used in rifle-muskets, but rather than being an 'expansion' type like the Minie they were a 'compression' bullet. That wasp-waist isn't a lube groove, but rather allows the bullet to shorten (compress) on firing therefore bumping it up in diameter. Like a Minie, they do best if slightly under BORE size.
They are apparently quite popular with NSSA shooters, & one of our USIMLT members has put in some excellent targets using this bullet. I recently managed to find a mould for a .549" Wilkinson that I am trying out in my original M.1858 Amberg Rifle-Musket, as I believe it may have been designed for that style of bullet, so far the results have been promising.
When I was in Australia last year I left a couple of samples of the Wilkinson bullet with David McCarthy & he was going to look into possibly making some moulds, but don't know if he's had time yet.

 

[greencharger68]

11-29-07 05:29 PM - Post#493165
In response to JoelH

I have the same rifle. if you are shooting high at 50 yrds than you need to add to the front sight or file down the rear sight. I replaced the rear sight and then filed it down to keep the orig. I measured the orig. height of the rear sight and drilled a hole in the 200 yard leaf to make a 100 yard peep,also found a period correct snipper front sight that gives you a front cross hair that makes it easier to see. have made many other fixes and tried several ways to improve group size. now down near 3 inch @ 100 yrds.
did trigger job as well. found .570 round ball with .020 lubed patch worked best.
took a chance this year with it for deer season and got 8 point buck and 1 doe.
fist time Post Hope This Helps[url] http://greencharger68.tripod.com[/url]/