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The Big .58?

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Smokey Plainsman

Smokey Plainsman

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Any big .58 round ball flintlock or caplock shooters in the house?

Thinkin' on orderin' a Kibler Colonial in .58 caliber because it's the lightest and I here best handling barrels for that rifle.

I'm not a superheavy volume shooter and I do intend to cast so that should help economy wise. Does .58 have a nice trajectory for 100 yard targets? Can it reach further?

My uses will be target fun, silhouette at distance, woods walks, and maybe (but rare) boar n' bambi which I assume .58 would end wit aplomb.

Thoughts from the big bore .58 shooters of the board?
 
I have .58s in flint & percussion. Use them mostly for hunting where they really shine. I don't shoot much beyond 80 yards due to failing eyesight, but the .58 can be accurate out to 150 in the right hands. I have found that most .58s have slow twist barrels (T/C big bore an exception that I am aware of) and require a hefty charge of BP to get the best accuracy. I have dual loads for my .58s. A hunting load and a 1/2 charge load for small game and plinking. Both loads shoot to the same point of aim at 35 yards.
 
I had one made in a flintlock plains rifle.


It's nice, I love it.

Hope to point it at an elk one day.




20200105_173542.jpg
 
I have a low budget CVA Zouave 58cal rifle from the 70's that has been a personal challenge to me, making it shoot round balls accurately. I have it shooting very accurately at 100yds with 75gr of 2F T7, a 3/16" thk leather over powder wad and a .570 round ball with 0.010" thk cotton patch. I polished the bore, which helped greatly with ease of loading and accuracy, and filed a deep V notch in the folding leaf rear sight, correcting the windage. It needs a taller front sight, which is upcoming in the project, to correct it from shooting high.

I've considering building a dedicated 58cal round ball percussion rifle because I like the bigger bore feel and performance at modest distances. It looses velocity quickly so I limit all expectations to 100yds. Out past 150yds it becomes a rainbow trajectory to hit (or miss). It's a lot of fun when shooting 100yds or less and deadly.

My other big bores are an 8 bore rifle and a 10ga shotgun...
 
You can have too much fun for small game but not for anything seventy five pounds or more. The original jaegar rifles were often.58 or bigger and hunted at two hundred or more yard when chamois were on the hoof
No matter the gun I wouldn’t personally push much beyond a hundred yards. But a .58 should serve to any game in America
 
I have a Cabelas Hawken rifle in 58. I got it used but it was in great shape. It was going to be my gun for Elk and Moose but never happened. It's a good shooting rifle and also came with a 50 barrel so quite versatile for my needs. It shots both RBs and a 520 gn minie well.
 
Smokey Plainsman said:
Any big .58 round ball flintlock or caplock shooters in the house?

Thinkin' on orderin' a Kibler Colonial in .58 caliber because it's the lightest and I here best handling barrels for that rifle.

I'm not a superheavy volume shooter and I do intend to cast so that should help economy wise. Does .58 have a nice trajectory for 100 yard targets? Can it reach further?

My uses will be target fun, silhouette at distance, woods walks, and maybe (but rare) boar n' bambi which I assume .58 would end wit aplomb.

Thoughts from the big bore .58 shooters of the board?
Click to expand...
I have three - the Pedersoli Kodiak is my favorite, the underhammer a close second.
 
I have been fooling with a 70s Zoli Zouave with the intention of using it for deer this Fall. With the somewhat primitive sights and my eyesight, I would keep it within 75 yards. That said, as far out as you can accurately shoot it I would imagine that a ball that big will do the job for hunting. I have found that 75 grains of OE 1.5F and an overpowder wool wad shoot very well in mine. More powder might get you a flatter trajectory, but inside of 100 yards the deer will be just as dead.

My next project will be to cast up some minies and see if I can get them to shoot well. I have also heard good things about the Lee 58 cal REAL bullet if you are after really big game (moose, bear). I would imagine that within reasonable ranges it would not be real hard to put an elk down with just a 278 grain round ball.
 
I just recently sold an Investarms Hawken, which is basically the same thing as the cabellas in .58. I hunted hogs with it and it did a great job using a prb. At my age, I'm lowering my gun inventory some, but there was nothing wrong with the .58 and I wouldn't be afraid to go after any game in North America with it.
 
My .58 is a Virginia rifle with similar stock features. It weighs a pound more than yours and is the reason that I now shoot a .40.
 
Cpt Flint said:
My .58 is a Virginia rifle with similar stock features. It weighs a pound more than yours and is the reason that I now shoot a .40.
Click to expand...
I guess you wouldn't like to shoot my7-1/2# .62 with 120gr fffg. At that level you know you've shot something, but not unpleasant. At 140gr it gets a might rambucious.
 
Some years ago I was shooting my .58 at a match using 60 grains of 3F for the 25 yard six bull. I was distracted by the little blonde girl shooter near me and double charged it with 120 grains of powder. I knew it and tried to nonchalantly shoot it so no one would know.
She came right on over after it went off to see if I was ok. Today she tells people how we met.
 
The Zouave rifles have shallow thee grove rifling, intended for minie balls, more than for patched round ball. I have a 1970s Mississippi in .58 that has the shallow 3-grove rifling. It does better with minies at longer ranges than round ball. I also shoot a Euroarms Mississippi in .54 that has deeper, 7-grove rifling that does better with patched round ball. It does take some experimenting on the bench at the range, but that is part of the fun.
 

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