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Thread: What is the best Minie' ball mold for live firing of Pedersoli 1861 Springfield

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    mrappe is offline
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    What is the best Minie' ball mold for live firing of Pedersoli 1861 Springfield

    I just got a new Pedersoli 1861 Springfield and while I do reenacting also ,my primary hobby for the past 23 years is Cowboy Action Shooting which is using live ammo. I do reloading and have cast round balls for my cap and ball pistols. I have never shot a musket with live ammo so if I buy any gun even for reenacting I would also like to shoot it at the shooting range with authentic type Minie' balls. I was wondering which bullet molds and sizers would be best for this particular manufacturer's barrel .
    Thank you,
    Mike

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    there are many good minie moulds available. I use a Moose Old Style minie in .578" that I size to .576" in a bore that measures .577" (.001" under bore size works best). Always use soft lead. With 45 grains of 3F it will shot a five shot group with all rounds touching from the bench at 50 yards. I am shooting a two band Springfield equipped with a Dan Whitacre barrel.
    Last edited by ms3635v; 11-15-2017 at 06:29 AM.
    Mike Santarelli 03635V, Adjutant
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    Hi Mike,

    Here is a video of CapandBall shooting the Pedersoli Springfield:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jWkDPscNyD4

    He has good luck getting good accuracy out of the Pedersoli guns.

    A lot of skirmishers in the N-SSA like to shoot the RCBS-Hodgdon "skirmish" bullet. It is a semi-wadcutter that makes good clean holes in the target, and it is relatively light (400+ grains) and shoots with a charge of 45 or so grains of 3F powder. It also has generous lube grooves.

    Some people also shoot a more historical expanding ball bullet, like the Lyman 575213OS.

    As Mike S. pointed out, you'll want to use pure lead in an expanding ball, or otherwise the bullet will not expand to take up the rifling very well. Also as he pointed out, most of us size our bullets to insure a tight fit to our gun and insure roundness. I run them through sizers in .001" increments until I find the size that won't fit down the bore, then back off by .001". Some people will also weigh their bullets and discard any that fall outside of, say, +/- .5% of average.

    I am coming around to the conclusion that it is very hard to get voidless hollow-base bullets using a bottom-pour pot. Ladle casting gives much better results. You can verify this yourself by casting up a dozen via bottom pour and casting up a dozen via ladle pouring and weigh them and notice the difference in consistency in the weights. With bottom-pouring of hollow-base bullets you will very often notice a void, or bubble, at the apex of the hollow cavity. But I suspect that even when you do not see it break through into the cavity it is still there in the bullet at least some of the time.

    Steve

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    LeoSkully is offline
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    As Mike S. pointed out, you'll want to use pure lead in an expanding ball, or otherwise the bullet will not expand to take up the rifling very well. Also as he pointed out, most of us size our bullets to insure a tight fit to our gun and insure roundness. I run them through sizers in .001" increments until I find the size that won't fit down the bore, then back off by .001". Some people will also weigh their bullets and discard any that fall outside of, say, +/- .5% of average.

    Thank you very much! I'll be taking note of this as well.

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    mrappe is offline
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    I have used Cerrosafe in rifles but how you slug the bore in a musket since you cannot remove anything by pushing from the other side. i have tried measuring with my calipers but that was not working since it was hard to get the lands and grooves to line up.
    Mike

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    I don't slug them. Though I have heard some people do this by putting a brass rod down the barrel, and then pounding in a bullet, and then jerking the barrel up and down to let the brass rod pound out the slug.

    As I said above, I just run the bullets through sizers in .001" increments until I find one that does not fit, and then I go back to the next smaller one.

    If you don't have a batch of sizers to try out, you can also buy pin gages and use those to determine your bore size. You can buy a set or a few sizes around .575.

    https://www.ebay.com/itm/MHC-Plus-50...kAAOSwqfpZ2X2m


    Steve

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    Take your barrel to about any machine shop and they will have a three way to measure it properly. I use to do it several times a year for decades until I finally purchased one
    Never squat with yer spurs on!!!

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    Lou Lou Lou is offline
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    Fellow in Region, made slip guage .574,.575, 576,577, 578,579, 580, 581,582 each step Is about 3/4 long. works great
    Lou Lou Lou Ruggiero
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    That sounds neat, Lou!

    Steve

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    Lou Lou Lou is offline
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    a step gauge made on a lathe. Go/no go bore gauge
    Lou Lou Lou Ruggiero
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