Several years back, I purchased an Armi Sport 1842 rifled musket. The only comercial mold available was the Lyman which cast around .694" The bore on my rifle is close to .700". I made an expanding die which flared the skirt of the minie ball to .698 -.699". In theory, the idea was good. The minie ball started in the bore with resistance but after the first inch in the barrel, it would nearly fall to the breech on its own weight with a clean bore. Groups at 100 yards would be sporadic. At times a decent group would emerge but then a flyer would end up 6"-7" outside the group. At a loss, I tried paper patching the undersized minie ball. Results with the paper patched minies was better than those with the expanded or flared skirts but consistent accuracy just isnt there. Is there any other idea out there that I may be overlooking or do I need to give in and have a custom mold made up for this particular rifle?
I have never experimented with the .69 rifled musket, so I have no idea what to expect for accuracy at 100 yards. I know with with several 58 caliber rifled muskets that I have 3" groups at 100 yards with proper sized bullets can be pretty typical results.
Bookmarks