New (to me) Springfield 1863. How do I measure the bore?

[dougstrong]

I am a new guy here. I am an experienced BP Cartridge shooter but I am stumped for how to measure the bore dimension on a muzzle loader. If this were a breech loader I would slug the bore by pushing it through. That would tell me the correct dimensions to size my bullet to. This has me stumped.

Mine is an original 1863 Springfield that I bought on this board.

I am sure it is a simple matter but I cannot come up with it.

[Francis J. Miller Jr, 02601]

Doug,

The commander of my team is a retired high school shop teacher, and when he retired, one of his students made a set of "bore gauge plugs or pins" turned down from steel rod in .001 increments from I believe .571 to .585. That is what he uses to measure the bore diameters of ours, or anybody's muskets. You keep trying plugs until they slide in and are snug in the muzzle, then try the next size plug, and if it doesn't go in, the plug used before that one is your bore size. Then you will want to size your minie ball .001 to .002 under bore size. Example: Bore size is .577, then you would size the minie to .576 or .575 and try them and see which size groups the best for you. Hope this help. And rest assured you will get more information then mine. No loss of talent within the N-SSA.

Regards,

[Southron Sr.]

Pull the breech Plug and then: Oil your bore and then drive a soft lead plug through it. I generally just upset a Minie Ball and drive that through.

OR....go to the Grizzly.com website and purchase a set of machinist "Plug Gauges" that go from .500" to .750" in Thou incriments, and use that to measure the bore diameter of your musket at the muzzle. That set will cost you around $60.00 to $75.00.

[gemmer]

Pull the breech Plug and then: Oil your bore and then drive a soft lead plug through it. I generally just upset a Minie Ball and drive that through.

OR....go to the Grizzly.com website and purchase a set of machinist "Plug Gauges" that go from .500" to .750" in Thou incriments, and use that to measure the bore diameter of your musket at the muzzle. That set will cost you around $60.00 to $75.00.

How do you measure the slug, assuming it's out of a three groove barrel?

Duane

[Lou Lou Lou]

A micrometer or a caliper. Not impossible, easier with plug guages.

[Gary Van Kauwenbergh, 101]

Doug,

I have a set of guages, and will be at the Bristol skirmishes. Send me a reminder to bring them if you're going to make any of the skirmishes there, and I'll bring them. See the schedule at http://acwsa.org/Pages/Schedule.htm.

[snapcap14]

OVERSIZED MINNIE start in muzzle keep enough out to get pliers on it. twist 1/4 turn pull out and measure do it to several of thm. measure them. size .001 .002 under the number you come up with

[Maillemaker]

If you don't want to shell out the dollars for a set of bore gages, or if you don't know someone who has some, another option is to order bullets from someone like bulletman in a set of sizes, as they probably have a whole set of sizing dies. Order pairs of bullets in .001" increments around where you think your bore is and try bullets until you get a pair that just fits.

In this way the bullets themselves become your bore gages, but it's a lot cheaper.

Steve

[marv762]

why not try sending an email to the seller? if he was shooting the gun he should know what size bullet he was using. this could be the easy solution to your problem. Marv jr.

[dougstrong]

that is brilliant.I will do that.