Is your P-H an English built one? What is the serial number?
Is your P-H an English built one? What is the serial number?
Gil Davis Tercenio
# 3020V
34th Battalion, Virginia Cavalry
Great, great grandson of Cpl Elijah S Davis, Co I, 6th Alabama Inf CSA
Lou: Hi Lou, nice to hear from ya. I do have a teammate or two within an hour drive so I might call them up for help.
Jim: I tried the shim idea. I started out with shimming just under the tang but it was requiring an absurd amount. So I took out some shimming thickness and added some shims to underneath the breach area just proximal from the bolster. I was able to get a paper-width worth of clearance between the bolster and the lock. But now the problem is that the rest of the barrel is essentially "free floated" without the barrelbands. I was afraid that this will create really funky barrel harmonics once the barrel bands are installed so I backed off. I put a very small out of shim on the breech face and that pushed the bolster forward just enough. So with shims in 3 spots, the lock is free and the barrel still sits properly in the stock. I used regular paper as shims but will find something a bit more sturdy later on. I hope this will improve things!
Gil: I think it's the English one. My serial is 1794.
Last edited by Obi2winky; 02-03-2019 at 11:18 PM.
While you are shimming the barrel tang, take the bands off and tighten the tang screw. The muzzle should not lift out of the stock when the tang screw is tight. If it does, add more shim. If the tang itself is not well bedded and the barrel isn't laying in the stock stress free, it won't shoot well. I like 1/64 birch plywood for tang shims. It is available from Michaels craft stores, hobby shops or Aircraft Spruce & Specialty. It's thinner and more stable than milk cartons.
"Gil: I think it's the English one. My serial is 1794."
In my limited experience, the English made Parker-Hale muzzle loaders are very consistent. I own a 1853, a 1858 and a 1861 and all three are .577. I use a .576 Minie in each of them.
Last edited by Muley Gil; 02-04-2019 at 12:06 AM.
Gil Davis Tercenio
# 3020V
34th Battalion, Virginia Cavalry
Great, great grandson of Cpl Elijah S Davis, Co I, 6th Alabama Inf CSA
That's exactly why I insisted on waiting to find a low serial number P-H P58. But unfortunately, mine seems to be odd. I guess I'll find out more once I get the pin gauges in.Originally Posted by Muley Gil
Is yours an authentic 1st issue, English made model? They have a Enfield Stamp that has the stamping filled with the stocks finish. The bogus ones are stamped through the finish and you can see the lighter raw wood through it. Should be using 43 gr 2f, a much smaller dia bullet, 500 gr bullet if it is.
N-SSA Member since 1974
Don't be afraid of casting. Once you have a reliable source for pure lead you can make all the bullets you need on a Coleman camp stove and a cast iron pot. Get your lead to about 700 degrees and watch for voids above the base pin.
Don't try bumping up your bullets. Buy the right sized mould that will cast with pure lead. There are lots of very good mould makers available to us. My first place to go would be The Moose. I guarantee he'll have what you need, and probably on the shelf. As I think more about it, I'm pretty sure you don't have a .587 bore. Since most barrels have an odd number of lands and grooves, are you SURE you didn't measure to the bottom of a groove? I had a Zoli Zouave that had a bore that eventually measured .582, but I just kept trying different moulds until I got one that threw the right size. A thinner skirt might swell up into a larger bore size, but you need to beware of the skirts coming off in the barrel. You can also get a thick skirt to swell up more than the minimum .001" by shooting heavier charges.
I have a lathe, time on my hands and no fear of producing scrap so I make my own base pins. My "design" pushes the skirt out to the required diameter and makes sure the bottom edge is the same all the way around. Seems to help me.
Bob Anderson
Ordnance Sergeant
Company C, 1st Michigan Volunteer Infantry
Small Arms Committee
"I won't be wronged. I won't be insulted. I won't be laid a hand on.
I don't do these things to other people, and I require the same from them."
- John Wayne in "The Shootist", 1976
Mine looks like this.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
I tried casting for the first time this past summer. My source of lead was just some guy online. BHN was about 8 if I used the LEE hardness tester kit correctly, so figure it was soft enough. Was that a poor assumption? I read that bottom pours were not great for big haunkin bullets like minie so I got a used RCBS easy melt.
You could be totally right and I may have measured the groove. The measurement I made was on the shiny marks that were left on my 0.600 bullet (for my snider) when I gently tapped it in the muzzle. Super sketchy measurement for sure. I ordered a few pin gauges from amazon. So I'll find out wednesday!
Buying lead from an unknown and therefore unreliable source will cause you all kinds of problems. If your lead is too hard you might see larger group sizes and bullets tumbling. You ever see a keyhole on a target?
I use the Lee myself and I'm not sure the 8 is soft, or rather pure, enough. As I remember, their instructions were not complete enough to read dead soft lead.
You're right about bottom pour pots. In my experience, they are OK for casting round balls up to about .54 caliber. Like I said earlier, a camp stove converted to propane and a cast iron pot that holds between 10 and 20 lbs will cast loads of quality minies. Use a casting thermometer to make sure you are at least 700 degrees before you start pouring. (Harbor Freight sells laser thermometers that should work but I've never used one. I use a Lyman dial thermometer.) Remember you only get about 14 500 grain bullets from a pound of lead. Use a bottom pour handheld ladle to keep the dross out of your bullet.
Bob Anderson
Ordnance Sergeant
Company C, 1st Michigan Volunteer Infantry
Small Arms Committee
"I won't be wronged. I won't be insulted. I won't be laid a hand on.
I don't do these things to other people, and I require the same from them."
- John Wayne in "The Shootist", 1976
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