Minie' Ball Sizes

[Moses Milner]

Hello All--
Apologies if this has been addressed elsewhere, but am gonna ask anyway...
I read (somewhere) that different manufacture muskets generally will shoot better with certain sized balls.; eg. Euroarms generally does better starting with .577, Navy Arms with .575, etc.
Does anyone have any info on this?
(I fully realize that each individual weapon will shoot better with it's own individually worked up load and sized and lubed ball).
Appreciate any help.
Thanks.
Moses Milner
(Joe B)

[Maillemaker]

Hi Joe,

For optimal accuracy, you're going to want a bullet that is only .001"-.002" under bore size. You probably won't be able to make a generalizations based on manufacturer. My Euroarms P1853 had a bore that was .585". Now I bought it used, and there is no telling what had been done to it before, but that's what the bore size was. There is probably variation even among the same manufacturer.

If your musket has an odd number of lands and grooves, as many do, it's hard to measure the bore diameter with calipers or similar linear measuring tools. An easy way to determine your bore size is to just buy or have a team mate make bullets in different .001" sizes and try them until you get one that doesn't fit. Use the next smaller size. :)

Another option is to buy a set of plug gauges from a place like McMaster-Carr. But they can be expensive.

What I do is take a long minnie bullet that is slightly oversize and I push it into the bore so that one ring goes in (you want to be able to pull it out). Then I pull it out, turn it a bit, and push it back in again. I repeat this until the lands have acted like a sizer and shaved the entire diameter of the base of the bullet into a uniform size. When you are done you should be able to spin the bullet in the bore. Now you can pull it out and measure that diameter with a set of calipers. This should be your bore size.

Steve

[Moses Milner]

Thanks Steve.
MM