Hoyt Twist and recommended bullet

[Jim Cunningham]

Hi,

I picked up a reproduction 1853 Enfield with a 5 groove Hoyt barrel. The barrel has been bedded, a tall skirmish front sight has been dovetailed and the lock tuned with a four pound trigger pull. Unfortunately the musket doesn't shoot as accurately with 42 1/2 grains (or any other load) of 3F and a .576 Hodgon spaceship skirmish bullet, compared to Whitacre barrels with the same load. Can anyone recommend a load for a Hoyt barrel? I assume it has a different rate of twist than Whitacre, thus perhaps it needs a different type of bullet to shoot well. The bore is .577 diameter thus I presume a .576 bullet would perform best. Thanks.

[Muley Gil]

Some folks swear by the Hodgdon bullet; others swear at it. While I don't have a rifle or rifle musket with the Hoyt barrel, I have always gotten good results with the Lyman .575213 or similar bullet, sized .001 under bore diameter.

Have you started at 40 grains of FFFg and worked you way up, to 55 grains? Are you using Goex or Swiss? Have you tried FFg?

Good luck in your search for a great shooting load.

[Lou Lou Lou]

The difference could be 5 versus 3 grooves. I have a Hoyt lined 63 that always shot the RCBS 500M well . Till it didn’t, the Hodgdon is pretty much shooting a big one hole group.

[Jim Cunningham]

Thanks. Yes, I've tried loads from 35 to 45 grains of both 3 an 2F and don't achieve consistent groups beyond 50 yards with any combination, so I assume that the Hodgon isn't the best projectile for this barrel. I'll try the heaver Lyman and RCBS. Does anyone know what Hoyt uses for twist?

[Lou Lou Lou]

Should be marked on bottom of bbl

[Don Branch 12592]

Hoyt lined my 58 Enfield with 5 groove 1-60 twist. Though the Hodgon shoots well for me, Hoyt said he doesn't like it and recommend a longer bullet such as the Rapine International, or Old style minie.

[Harry Gaul]

Jim,
I have a Rapine 575213, 500 plus or minus grains, available. Send me a pm for details of buy and try.

True Blue and Diamond Hard,
Harry
3rd US
03626v

[Don Branch 12592]

I also have a Lyman 575213 OS and NS if your interested.

[Jim Cunningham]

Thank you. I have a very good selection of moulds including the 575213. I tried the Hodgon because it works so well in all my Whitacre barreled guns, and was hoping to be able to use the same bullets for all muskets.

[ms3635v]

The Hodgdon bullet can shoot extremely well, but occasionally some shooters have experienced problems with it. In the past I have known skirmishers have improved the performance of this bullet by getting a different base plug, that has a slightly thinner skirt.

[Joe Plakis, 9575V]

I agree with Mike. The hodgdon mold works very well, the key is making sure you get one with the deeper base plug. The early ones had a very shallow one and the bullet under performed.