Zouave Anyone?
 

Well the flintlock got pushed back in the buying schedlue again because I ran across a deal on a .58 caliber Zouave rifle thatI couldn't pass up.

The guy I bought this from ($250 and he threw in 25 lbs. pure lead) says he bought it in 1955 when he was in the North-South Skirmish Association, and used it for two years before cleaning it well, putting a heavy coat of grease in the bore, and hanging it over the fireplace. Made in Italy & imported by Navy Arms Co.

Need to find some .58 balls before the weekend.

RE: Zouave Anyone?
 

wow that stock has some excellent grain to it!

RE: Zouave Anyone?
 

Yeah! I thought it was pretty nice also.

RE: Zouave Anyone?
 

Beautiful rifle, what ya gonna shoot in it? What is purpose of the thing in front on the trigger guard, what is it called?
Chap Gleason

RE: Zouave Anyone?
 

Very nice indeed, that stock is absolutely beautiful, make me want to wipe the dust off of mine & see what she'll still do with some mini's.

RE: Zouave Anyone?
 

Chap,
Thats a sling attachment loop.
Good looking rifle!!!!!!!!!
I'll bet it packs a wallop with a .58 minnie. ;)
(You'll probably need to invest in a mould)

RE: Zouave Anyone?
 

Yep, it's a sling loop. I really hadn't planned to shoot minies, though I may give them a try one day.

I figured it ought to shoot PRBs right nice.The bore is fine. It has 3 lands and groves of equal size. The lands have sharp sholders and the grooves look to be about .010 deep.

RE: Zouave Anyone?
 

first ML I ever saw shot was a Zouve, in 58. A couple guys wth them came out to where we did our clay shooting and fired them off. I was about 15. Dad got me a .45 derringr kit from CVA that year at Christmas. I could never hit a thing with it, but had lots of fun. Sure have had lots of fun burning charcoal since then. I'd like to get a Zouve, that would be cool. Thanks for showing it to us.

RE: Zouave Anyone?
 

Just got finished checking the twist. It's 1 in 62". A roundball shooter fo' sur'.

RE: Zouave Anyone?
 

Thats gonna be one cool arse rifle to shoot! Thanks for the bigger pic, that stock has some amazing lines on it!
What do you plan on shooting out of it first?

RE: Zouave Anyone?
 

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?

RE: Zouave Anyone?
 

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.

RE: Zouave Anyone?
 

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.

RE: Zouave Anyone?
 

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.

RE: Zouave Anyone?
 

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.

RE: Zouave Anyone?
 

How did you check the twist? Chap Gleason

RE: Zouave Anyone?
 

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

RE: Zouave Anyone?
 

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.

RE: Zouave Anyone?
 

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

RE: Zouave Anyone?
 

Makes sense, thanks Semisane. Chap Gleason

RE: Zouave Anyone?
 

The number on mine is 2048.

The top of the barrel is marked NAVY ARMS CO.
The right side of the barrel is marked Made In Italy.
The left side of the barrel is marked .58 CALIBER XX, then there's a shield with something in it that I can't make out, with a five pointed star inside of a sunburst-like symbol over the shield. Next to that is PN with the star/sunburst over it. Then there's FINITO with the star/sunburst over it.
On a second line, there's F.A.R.A. 2048
The shield/star/sunburst is repeated on the tang.
The serial number is also stamped in the barrel channel of the stock.
The barrel has three lands and grooves of equal width.
The bore is shiney, smooth and even. The grooves are about .010 deep.
The lands havesharp edges that are slightly rounded for the first 1/8" at the muzzle.

The guy I bought it from says he bought it in 1955 and was very definite about it, but the inside of the trigger guard is stamped 1969 - whether that's a date, part number, or whatever I do not know.

Are these markings pretty much the same as yours? If so, do you know the manufacturer?

RE: Zouave Anyone?
 

Well this is getting curiouser and curiouser. Found a web site that matches Italian gun proofmarks to the year of proof. http://www.berettaweb.com/DL1.htm

It tells me the XX on my barrel means the gun was proofed in 1964. Kind of blows the seller's story that he bought it in 1955. Oh well, he was a pretty old dude (even older than me) and memories do get confused.

Found another web site that ID's gun manufacturers. Found out the FARA on the barrel means it was made by Guisuppe Zoli. http://www.earmi.it/armi/database/brand_z.htm



Picked up some .570 balls yesterday and will be making smoke with it Saturday. I have two pounds of JSG FFG which I've never shot before. May as well try it it the Zouave.

RE: Zouave Anyone?
 

Mine is similar but no FARA and Navy Arms is on the sideplate only. I do have a mechanical compass like logo on the left side of the bbl and in it appears to be "Antonio Zoli" stamped. The trigger guard has the serial number stamped in it as does the butt plate. In the patch box is an extra nipple and the worm. Navy Arms was started in 1956 and I'm not sure when they started selling our guns or where they got them.

All I know for sure is mine is a great shooter, lots of fun, lots of smoke and large holes in targets(don't need binos to see where it is hitting)...

Let me know how your's shoots or if you learn it's date for sure...

Thanks
Doug

RE: Zouave Anyone?
 

Mine also.

RE: Zouave Anyone?
 

My dad had one of these and it is now mine. From what he told me, the Zouave was made to shoot miniballs the best. I'm not sure about yours, but the rifle lands and groves in mine are extremely wide. About 4 times wider than what I would consider normal. I was thinking about hunting with this gun too and was going to shoot the mini.

I am interested to see how it turns out for you. If you could, let me know what you have the best luck with and how the PRB turns out.

RE: Zouave Anyone?
 

Will do Moebedda, but it will be more a test of my old bifocal eyes than of the gun. I just don't see iron sights that well anymore, and the ones on this gun are sure not what you would call target quality.