Best bullet for Pedersoli 2 band Enfield

[lkmcd1]

If anyone is shooting the "new" Pedersoli p58 Enfield and is happy with accuracy at 50 and 100 yards, would you please tell me which bullet you are using? I am getting very poor results at both distances using a Lyman 578675 sized to <1/1000" bore diameter. No powder load seems to resolve the issue. The muzzle has been recrowned. Other that a different bullet I am out of things to try. Bought the gun new in Oct. 2013.
Thanks
Larry

[Maillemaker]

I finally got good results with my Pedersoli P58 using the RCBS 500M sized to .578 using 60 grains of 2F Goex. Off a bench, at 50 yards it made a 5-shot clover leaf hole in the target, which I'm looking at right now.

I tried the Lyman 575213PH mold, which is said to be ideal for this gun, but my mold dropped at .575 which is too small for what I need for this gun.

I recently traded for a 575213OS which drops larger than .578, and it has a much thinner skirt than the RCBS 500M, so I am hopeful I can get good results with it with a smaller powder charge. But it's only 460 grains whereas the 575213PH is 566 grains. But I could grind the core pin down flat to increase the mass, as was done on the PH mold. I'm going to try it as-is first.

Steve

[lkmcd1]

Thanks Steve
I also have a 575213os but it drops .575 which is too small. Everything I see online shows the RCBS 500M is .575. Did yours happen to be oversize? Same for the Parker Hale as you mentioned. Pedersoli makes a mold, looks similar to the Parker Hale and is available in sizes .577 or .580, but I have yet to find anyone in the USA that sells them. Also, it weighs in at a hefty 620 grains. I am encouraged to hear that there is a bullet that shoots in the Pedersoli 2 band Enfield, so I will try to track down a heavier bullet in .577 or so.
Larry

[MR. GADGET]

I have 2 of the RCBS 500m molds and they both cast a good bullet. I have always sized m mine at 577 to 575 pending the gun.
Next nationals I plan to pick up a 578 sizer so I can shoot basic as casted but clean up any dents or dings that may come from dropping them out of the mold or general storage of them in the coffee cans I put them after casting.

I think one of my guns has been shot enough that a 578 could help for a 100 yard event when I do not need to load as many so less crud in the barrel.

[Maillemaker]

Everything I see online shows the RCBS 500M is .575. Did yours happen to be oversize?

Probably.


Pedersoli makes a mold, looks similar to the Parker Hale and is available in sizes .577 or .580, but I have yet to find anyone in the USA that sells them.

It would be nice to find out where to get their stuff. There is the new "IFG" Italian Firearms Group that is supposed to be working on the distribution channel.

Steve

[Maillemaker]

I wonder if Moose Molds makes anything suitable.

Steve

[Maillemaker]

It's possible that one of these would work:

http://moosemoulds.wix.com/mm2013#!minnie-hb/c1vge

Especially if the core were ground down to increase the weight of the bullet, similar to how the 575213PH core is done.

Steve

[jonk]

Generally speaking, the faster the twist, the heavier bullet the gun will like. Which isn't entirely the whole picture, it's about the bullet profile as well.

I don't have a Pedersoli, but my 1:48 twist guns all favor the heavier bullets for sure.

Which isn't to say that sometimes a lighter one doesn't surprise you.

I'd be happy to send you a few sample bullets from my 213OS mold and my Hodgdon mold. Both drop around 580. I'd offer to send some PH and NS 213s too, but both my molds there are a bit undersized for you. I know the Hodgdon does well in a buddy's Pedersoli.

[William Schoenfeld, 1386]

I have a 2 band Pedersoli and I use Rapine's old style Minnie and it does very well at 50 and 100 yards. Hope this helps.

[lkmcd1]

Pedersoli just responded to my question regarding where to buy their accessories in the USA: http://flintlocksetc.com/
I briefly went to their website and they appear to have most accessories available.

Jonk
Yes I am finding from spending more time searching that you are right, I probably need a heavier bullet. Thank you for your offer to send me some bullets to try, but earlier today I dug out my old 213 os and am going to try it again.

Dutch
Great, if the Rapine os works for you I might buy one if my 213os doesn't work. What diameter does your Rapine cast and do you size it?

Thanks
Larry

[R. McAuley 3014V]

Back in the mid-1950s, before Lyman acquired Ideal, Ideal had made an earlier version of the 575213 that weighed precisely 460 grains, had a slightly sharper point bullet, and a inverted vee-shaped cavity (much like Burton's original Harpers Ferry bullet design). This became Lyman's original 575213 available in the 1960s and typically dropped at .577-.578. It is the second minie from the left that is pictured in the thread link below, flanked to the right by the later Lyman 575213 and 575213os ("Old Style"). When I shot my Parker-Hale, I could practically stack one round on top of another in one ragged hole at 50 yards when using the Ideal 575213 minie. The only bullets I have left are ones I cast some 25 years ago before my teammate sold his mould. Maybe you might like to try these Brooks .568 Whitworth bullets. They weigh 692 grains before sizing!

http://www.n-ssa.org/vbforum/showthread.php/9130-Lyman-575213-bullet-mold-base-plug/page2?highlight=575213

[Maillemaker]

I know the Hodgdon does well in a buddy's Pedersoli.

I tried the Hodgdon bullet in my Pedersoli P58 with no success. I believe I had keyholes, but I cannot remember now only that it did very poorly.

Steve

[Maillemaker]

Pedersoli just responded to my question regarding where to buy their accessories in the USA: http://flintlocksetc.com/
I briefly went to their website and they appear to have most accessories available.

Do you have a link to the molds? I could not find them.



To order the 100 page, Pedersoli catalog send $12.00 to:
R. Beauchamp
P.O. Box 181WP
Richmond, MA 01254

LOL it's like it's 1990 again.


Steve

[lkmcd1]

Richard - you said -
Maybe you might like to try these Brooks .568 Whitworth bullets
thanks but I don't have progressive rifling so I am sure they are too small for my gun

Steve the Perdesoli accessories are reached by clicking the DP logo. Unfortunately no pricing is shown. Flintlocks Etc. sent me the pricing in an email

We have the mold in stock and also sizer and greaser if you are interested.

USA 309-577 Mold retails for $150.00 and we discount it to $135.00
USA 316 Wood Handles for Mold $55.00----if you have large Lyman handles or any large handles those would work also.
USA 517 Sizer $105.00
USA 492 Greaser $110.00

Larry

[William Schoenfeld, 1386]

From the mold it is 578 and I resize it to 576 and I use 42 grains of 3 F powder. I use the 2nd step on the rear sight for 50 and the top step at 100. On the Pedersoli Muskettoon I use Rapine's International mold. They are both 1:48 so go figure it. Hope this helps and if you need some rounds tell me and I will send you some.

[R. McAuley 3014V]

Larry, the Brooks .568 Whitworth bullets for the Large Bore Whitworth are sized to .559" dia, which is midways between the British standard .550 and .568 service bullets for the .577. Surprisingly, the .559 sized bullets obturate and fill the hexagonal bore, such that when they exit the bore they are swaged to the hex form. Of course, there is 85-grains of 1.5 Swiss behind them! They would probably turn end over end out of your Enfield much like they did in the 1864 trial against the .577 Regulation Enfield. Shooting was suspended after firing just 16 shots from 300 yards because of the "wildness of the shots". The large bore Whitworth continued shooting up to 1,200 yards. I'll have to recover some fired bullets and post them here on the BB.

[John Holland]

Thank you Richard!

A friend has a mould that casts a long, heavy, Pritchett bullet like the one you have shown. I could never figure out what it was for and, thanks to you, now I know!

[Maillemaker]

Steve the Perdesoli accessories are reached by clicking the DP logo. Unfortunately no pricing is shown. Flintlocks Etc. sent me the pricing in an email

Yeah, that just takes you do the Pedersoli web site.

It irks me in this day and age when businesses don't have full-fledged e-commerce web sites. Or at least full product listings with prices.

Pedersoli needs to get their gear distributed through a modern vendor like Cabela's or Midway USA.

Thanks for posting the pricing information.

Steve

[mpapajoffre]

But then Pedersoli would have to adhere to production schedules....

[R. McAuley 3014V]

Thank you Richard!

A friend has a mould that casts a long, heavy, Pritchett bullet like the one you have shown. I could never figure out what it was for and, thanks to you, now I know!

The ones that I am very curious about are the bullets like these that have been fired and obturated to the hex form being recovered off battlefields in this country! According to Bill Curtis, only eleven Whitworth rifles in this bore size are known to have been made (i.e. 5 full-length military rifles and 6 half-stocked match rifles), but we don't know who else copied them? We know that Birmingham Small Arms Company were licensed by Whitworth to produce the Pattern 1863 Enfield-Whitworth short rifles used in the 1866 matches at Wimbledon, and also produced the rifles awarded there as prizes. But those were in 52-bore (.451) not 26.