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Zouave. 58 cal

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maineguy

32 Cal.
Joined
Jan 14, 2014
Messages
58
Reaction score
11
I was useing 570 round balls with .018 pillow ticking. 3 shots in a 2 inch area at 25 yrds . was high 80 yrds sspot on
 
The shallow rifling isn't the best for round ball, but a lot of fun to shoot!
 
Im going to try some mini balls
Mine uses .575 on 65gns but I still have to size them down just a hair. If not they are thumb pressure to get in the muzzle but ram smooth. Get a measurement on your bore. Barrels do vary. A .578 won't even start in mine without more or less pounding it in.
Your PRB combo number wise is an ,008 crush. How much does it take to start it?
Might be worth trying a .575/.010. or .012.
I find a thinner patch work better in shallow riflings.
 
Have to pound it to start it but goes down good after. The tighter it is the tighter the group
 
That's an OK group, but not great. My Zoli Zouave would shoot three Minies into an inch at 50 yards. I was using 45 grains of FFFg and a Lyman 575213 New Style. I could see a lot better back then.

Get some plug gauges and measure your bore. Your Minies should be no more than .002" undersized. .001" is better. I dip lube the Minies in MCM lube. Anytime you have to hammer your ball or bullet down the bore, something is too tight.
 
Quite the gun these are.I got one years ago a 2 band navy arms and never did much with it.I re-liked it again and started shooting r.b and conicals they shoot the same at 50 yards..Years ago the gun was shooting high and no more adjustment to lower the back sight...so i brazed a higher front one on about 3/8 higher then filed it to fill the rear notch
 
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