Smith Carbine Buller Diameter

[hobbler]

Is there a "standard" bullet diameter that is used in the Smith carbines?

[Lou Lou Lou]

Yes .515. That being said some folks opt for a bigger bullet. I used to shoot a .520, 500 gr short nose bullet in my orig smith because part of the lands were missing and this bullet bridged the gap

[JimSmith]

You should cast a .518 bullet and push it through from breech to muzzle with a cleaning rod. Then mike it.

Lou is correct about the .515 because you start with a .500 bore and .007 grooves plus .001 over. That assumes your barrel is not worn or made wrong.

Mine was oversized until I had it relined.

Jim Smith

[ms3635v]

I am shooting an original Smith. I use a .520" Moose 400 grain bullet sized to .518". I use 28 grains of GOEX 3F and lubed with MCM. This combination is extremely accurate at both 50 and 100 yards.

[jonk]

I shoot a .515 Lee cast of soft lead and one .50 .060" fiber wad, lubed with spg, over 30 gr of 2f. I tried .518 and .520. Was able to work up good loads with all of them, but as the .515 is a 6 cavity that's the one I use most.

I'm shooting a Pietta. Given the uneven number of lands/grooves it is hard to slug, but I get no leading and good accuracy with the .515 so that's fine by me.

[bobanderson]

My lube is a combination of 8 ounces of beeswax, 8 ounces of neatsfoot oil and a bar on Neutrogeneo soap melted together. It works for me.
Harry

i love the "N" lube. Used it for years. I used to cool the mix to almost solid so it wouldn't separate as it cooled in my stick moulds. A friend told me to melt a few flakes of Ivory soap in the pot to prevent that.
THAT works for me.

[Joe Plakis, 9575V]

Nothing about Civil War Black Powder is "Standard"...... There might be popular bullet types, but the sizes of Smith Bullets will range anywhere from .508 up to .525, those are the two extremes I have heard people using, and I know tons of people in between those to calibers. My suggestion is to slug your muzzle and breech diameters, because it is always good to know that the muzzle is smaller than the breech, because there are a handful of repops out there that are backwards, and are .510 at the breech and .518 at the muzzle.

As for bullet types find what works best for you, although the 515139 sized down to .002 above muzzle diameter is a great place to start.