Playing With The .58 Zouave
 

I haven't shot the Zouave with the LOL sights for a while.All of my previous shooting with this gun has been with
either Pyrodex RS or JSG FFg, so I figured I ought to give it a go with my recently obtained supplyof GOEX FFFg.

I'll say right up front - I got better groups with GOEX than I did with the other powders. Here's how the range
session went.


I shot one round at a tree stump to foul the bore, thenset a target up at 50 yards. Took five shots using .570 Hornady
balls and got a 2 3/4" group. That's about an inch smaller group than I previously got with Pyrodex or JSG.

Here's the target.




Then I took five shots with the same load and patch, but with .575 balls from WARREN, a company in Ozone, Arkansas.
WOW!!! A 1 1/4" group. Here's the target.



Those first two targets were fired with patch material from a table cloth I bought at a Good Will store. So I decided to
repeat them with WalMart pillow tick patching. Here's the group with the .570 Hornady ball.




And here's the group with the .575 ball.



Looks like I should stick with .575 balls, or maybe try a thicker patch with the .570 Hornadys. Anyway, I figured I'd finish
up the session with a target at 75 yards. Here it is - not too bad for bifocal eyes and a home made sight.

RE: Playing With The .58 Zouave
 

Hey Semisane, that's some good shooting there. Was the Goex more consistent all the way around?

RE: Playing With The .58 Zouave
 

I dont know if people still use this method or not, but we used to shoot a very light load like 15 gr into some thing very soft like a cotten bail then hunt the ball up and look at the imprint made on the ball by the patch. There should be a strong imprint where the rifleings pressed the patch into it and a light imprint where the groves are. Lee

RE: Playing With The .58 Zouave
 

That is some real good shooting there... That would be a deadly deer rifle.

RE: Playing With The .58 Zouave
 

Thanks guys.

SuperKirby, I found GOEX more consistent than Pyrodex, and about the same as the JSG. But GOEX clearly hasmore energythan JSG. As stated, I was wiping the bore between shots with both sides of one dry patch. I found there was noticeablyless fouling with the tighter ball.

Good idea Lee, I may give it a try.

Hey Cayugad, I do plan to use the Zouave for some of my deer hunts next year. But I'm wondering if 70 grains is enough of a load. What do you think?

RE: Playing With The .58 Zouave
 

That is more then enough powerfor a deer unless you were shooting some extreme distances. With 80 or 90 grains (I really can not remember) I shot through two deer at 80 yards with a .54 caliber. 70 grains will drop a deer with no problem. Especially with that caliber. The person who introduced me to black powder shooting used to hunt with a CVA Mountain Rifle in .58 caliber. His load was 70 grains and a patched ball. He'd knock the snot out of these big Wisconsin whitetails with that load.

I have one .50 caliber rifle and with 70 grains it is just deadly accurate. The rifle itself is in terrible shape. It was one that was given to me as junk, but I got it shooting. I loan that out to gun poor friends, and almost everyone of them shoots deer with 70 grains and a .490 ball. They have yet to loose one.

RE: Playing With The .58 Zouave
 

That was a great range session you had there Semisane. What is the twist rate of the barrel on that gun?

RE: Playing With The .58 Zouave
 

hey semi,

it looks like the lol sight is nothing to laugh at w/ goex and table cloth patches. good shooting.

cory

RE: Playing With The .58 Zouave
 

Yo, Yoeman. Twist is 1 in 62", near as I can measure. But the rifling isshallower than what you would want for a patched ball.

Like so many things in muzzle loading, there are a lot of things to explore.I was using my favorite home made patch lube (25% bees wax, 25% Crisco, 50% olive oil). Maybe pure Crisco, or pure olive oil, or some other lube would be better. I'm convinced a tighter patch will be better with the .530 balls. What about a felt wad under the ball? Also, I stuck with 70 grains powder for all of the shooting, so I need to check out heavier, and maybe even lighter loads. At any rate the Zouaveis a real fun gun to shoot and recoil is hardly noticable withthe load I was shooting.

RE: Playing With The .58 Zouave
 

Interesting!
I had poor results with my last WalMart pillow ticking? Could it be the quality is not so good? (maybe too loose a weave)