Lorenz Musket

[54thvareb]

Does anyone shoot an original Lorenz? What bullet would you recommend in a .54 Lorenz? Thanks Rick

[Gary Van Kauwenbergh, 101]

I've got three originals, and am putting together another reproduction Lorenz from a kit. One of the originals has been my regular gun for about five years now. It was relined to 1:64 by it's previous owner. I shoot the Wilkinson bullet, the one with the single groove. If you send me your e-mail address, I'll send you a chart of my loading data.

I went through a series of charges with that round, and plotted the results. You can see the groups start out wide, tighten up and then spread out again as you increase the powder charges.

I also tried skirted minies from Rapine and Lee molds in it, and the Wilkinson shot better. I haven't tried all the .54 bullets in the world, so I'm not going to say it's the absolute best bullet, but it certainly is the best one I've tried so far and another bullet would have to be significantly better to get me to switch from that six-cavity Wilkinson mold.

That may not be the bullet for you if your barrel has been relined. Bobby Hoyt tells me the rate of twist on an original was 1:56. The twist on my regular gun appears to be 1:64, my second original was relined by it's previous owner to a 1:48 twist and more and deeper lans and grooves. My third original is with Bobbie Hoyt right now, getting a 1:56 four lans and groove reline like the originals.

[Don Dixon]

Rick,

I have a number of them, and I regularly shoot them

The Austro-Hungarian Army (k.k. Army) ordnance standard for the barrels of their Muster 1854 family of arms was 13.9 mm/.547-8 inches, not the .540 inch U.S. ordnance standard. So, generally, they are .55s, not ".54s". Having said that, the Federals imported some M 1854 Austrian rifles that were made by contractors to the U.S. standard. Other M 1854s were bored out in Europe and the U.S. to .577 to .600 inches. Ergo, the first thing that you have to do is very carefully slug your bore. The result will drive all further decisions regrding bullelts.

If the bore is .540 inches, or has been relined to that diameter, one of Greg Edington's .540 Wilkinson/Lorenz bullets will work well "naked." The single compression groove"picket" bullet is the easiest to work with. 45 to 50 grains of Swiss FFFg, with the bullet lightly dipped in MCM lube works. If you fill the compression groove(s) with lube the bullet doesn't work since the lube prevents it from compressing. The k.k. Army used a roughly .540-2 swagged bullet, paper patched to .547-8, with the paper greased, and NO lube in the compression grooves. You can't do that in the N-SSA, since paper patching is against the rules.

If you have an original bore, the only "naked" bullet that I have found that works well is the Minie from the mould that Pedersoli makes for their M 1858 Bavarian "Mauser" rifle. It casts at .547 inches. To my knowledge, no one makes a Wilkinson/Lorenz bullet mould that produces bullets properly sized for k.k. Army ordnance standard barrels.

Regards,
Don Dixon
2881V