Burnside bullet size

[EPPS1919]

what size bullet do the Burnside carbine use? I was thinking about getting one and hoped I can use a Maynard bullet in it.

[John Holland]

The Burnside Carbine is a nominal .54. caliber bore. If you do a search of the archives you will find quite a bit of information.

[Jim Wimbish, 10395]

There are a number of issues with the Burnside as a skirmish gun. The gun has a gain twist and it has a fairly narrow range of load-bullet combos that it will like. Some have shot it with round balls, although I personally used the Rapine bullet made for the Burnside, sized .556". Some nylon cases were available years ago and although they had a limited life they worked well. The brass cases look like an ice cream cone and you would have a very tough time doing any kind of resizing on the neck area, plus they cost about $5 each. You can pick up brass cases for the Maynard on the BB all the time for about a buck. If the Burnside used a traditional straight wall case it might be worth your while to play around with, but for me I found them to be more trouble than they are worth with guns like the Smith and Maynard around.

[ian45662]

Lodgewood sells nylon cases for about .75 cents each. I have had success with roundball 562 roundball at that. 38 grains of goex old E 2F with a lube cookie then I place the ball on the mouth of the case and then also dip the round ball I'm lube after I place it in the mouth of the case. I had a picture that I can't seem to fine. It was a 7 or 8 shot group @ 50 yards and it was just a ragged hole. I'll have to shoot it again and post the results

[EPPS1919]

Thanks for the info sounds like it mite be a pain to work up a load and use it for skirmishing. not to cheap for the brass ether.

[Carolina Reb]

You are right on both counts, but once you buy the brass it lasts a long time. I have some that's going on 35 years old. That said, my Burnside is the backup/loaner, so it doesn't get shot a lot. My first Burnside was a 5th model that was a real tack driver with the right loads. Like a dummy, I sold it. The one I have now is an early 4th model (no guide screw). The bore looks great but I had the devils own time getting it to shoot. What finally worked was 32-34 gr. of Swiss FF and Greg Edington's light Wilkinson sized down to 0.560". It barely clears the chamber, but it shoots great! Burnsides generally like heavy bullets. I've never had much luck with the 350-360 gr. "Burnside" bullets. 400-425 grains works a lot better. 0.558" to 0.560" was the right size for both of mine.