I plan to shoot PRBs first, over about 60 grains Pyrodex or JSG. That is - if I can get some balls by the week-end (no jokes now!).

I will be shootingthe "Great Plains Experiment" ordered by Underclocked onFriday afternoon or Saturday morning, andhopefully shooting theZouave after I get that done.

Can't wait to get to the range, but I really don't expect anything special from the Zouave except funshooting because of the course military sights and my bifocal eyes. I may be too ashamed to post targets. I'm just hoping to hit paper at25-yards and see where it goes from there.

What does a .58 caliber ball weigh, anyway?

I found one site where the Zouave was listed with a 1-66 twist, and I thought what a nice roundball rifle. I wonder if it would like a .570 or .575 ball and patch combination? Most of them started their loads with 70 grains of powder but some people really pushed them much harder.

Last I knew Black Jack Hill had minnies for that thing. And I think they measure .577. I had some and they did not shoot well out of my .58 caliber.

The guy I bought it fromgave me five minies he still had in an old cartridge pouch. They measured at .579 as far as I can tell. Minnie balls have to be the hardest bullet in the world to get an accurate micrometer reading on. They fit the bore just perfect - lightly kissing the lands.

I just checked Midway and Midsouth for what they have available.Both Speer and Hornady make .570 balls (278 grains) that would seem to need pretty thick patching. Hornady makes a .58 Great Plains @ 525 grains and TC makes a MAXI @ 555 grains. Bet those are THUMPERS on both ends of the gun.

http://www.thunder-ridge-muzzleloading.com/buffalo.htm#balls

Thunder Ridge has roundball on sale. The .575 are the cheapest I have seen. They also carry minnies of all weights for that rifle. You might want to buy out the roundball if you like as I see they have a limited supply. I was thinking of doing that myself, but I just bought four hundred of them and a mold to make my own.

THANKS for the Thunder Ridge tip Cayugad. Just put in my order for two boxes of the.575s. I will be at the "card holders" opening of the new Cabelas about 50 miles from here tomorrow,and hope topick up some of their .570 balls. After Isee what size shoots bestI'll be ordering a mold. I've accumulatedabout 75 lbs. of pure lead that needs shooting.

How did you check the twist? Chap Gleason

Yes I see it now in the 2nd picture.Thanks Chap

Takea 3/8" X 36" wooden dowel and wrap masking tape around one end until it fits the bore snugly, but not real tight. You want the tape tight enough in the bore to engage the rifling, but not so tight that you can't movethe dowel up and down in the bore fairly easily.

Insert the dowel fully into the bore, then back it out an inch or two. Put a pencil mark on the dowel right against the muzzle where the sight is (the twelve o'clock position).

Slowly withdraw the dowel, letting it rotate with the rifling, until the mark has rotated 1/4 turn (either the 3 o'clock or 9 o'clock position, depending on left or right twist in the barrel). Stop after 1/4 turn and put another mark on the dowel right against the muzzle.

Measure the distance between the two marks, and multiply by four.

You can use a ramrod to do this, but I find a clean wooden dowel easier.

S,

I have the same gun, probably the same vintage, mine is a 3 digit serial number 9XX, what is yours? We also paid about the same, I was in a gun store a while backwhen a guy came in trying to sell it to them. The store owner was going to give him something like 100 bucks saying things like everyone wants inlines and etc. I took him out in the parking lot and gave him close to what you paid (can't remember the exact price but it might have been 225.00). Mine was unfired near as I could tell, even the sling looked unused and had never been loosened.

Conicals and Minies will pound you with recoil and were not all the accurate for me, especially the conicals. A .570 roundball with a thick patch loads like a dream and is just abouttouch-hole accurate for me @ 50 yards with 90grains of 2F BP. That sounds like a heavy load but recoil is pretty light. The .575 balls shot the same just loaded harder even with a thinner patch, but I don't have to range clean the gun while shooting either size, the bore stays clean. Mine shot very high, over a foot at 50 yards. I ground off the front sight since I couldn't do much with the rear. Cut a slot in the base, silver soldered an old quarter in the slot and filed it down to regulate it on paper.

http://s135.photobucket.com/albums/q137/a1873/?action=view&current=Allison013.jpg

You are gonna love this thing, it's not that heavy because the bore is large and the bbl is thin. The trigger needed some work and the sight as mentioned but that's it. I took it hunting last year for the first time, had a 100lb doe get up in front of me as I was sneaking through, it stopped about 60 yards out and peeked around a tree to see what I was. That ball hit her right at the base of the neck (where I aimed) and she went nowhere but down and what an exit it made...

I need to find a cheap bayonet, just incase a heard charges me...LOL

Doug

Makes sense, thanks Semisane. Chap Gleason