Paul Niskanen

I have a buddy that let me shoot him 45-120. Loaded with 120g of Bp and a hand cast bullet. That thing was awsome. It felt like it took a full second for the bullet to leave the barrel. We were shooting at a target out to 300 yards. with the vernier long range sight and globe front sight it was pretty easy to hit a 2ft X 2ft target. I would love to have a gun like that, but my wallet won't streach that far.

cayugad

They are costly, that's for sure. If I lived in a place where I could get some distance to shoot, I would buy one. Just to plink with.

cayugad

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qLi7AkaxKGk

this person hit a man sized target at 800 yards open sights with a 1861 Springfield rifled musket, shooting a minnie ball, 777 powder with a black powder booster.

rafsob

I have a Zoli Zouave, .58 cal. and I am still amazed at the accuracy I can get from it. I cast my own mini's and really enjoy this rifle.

cayugad

What does one of your cast minnies weigh? Where did you get the mold? And how much powder do you put under them? These rifles are really starting to interest me, and you know what that means...

rafsob

Because this is an N-SSA gun, I only use 41 grs. of Goex FFF. the mini is called the Hodgdon bullet and I believe it weighs in at 400 grs. The mold is my friends and I am borrowing it now. It is a RCBS-Hodgdon 578 mold. I had to update this info after looking at my target. This is the bullet:



Five shot group at 50 yds:

cayugad

WOW!!! nice shooting.. Is that normal that so little powder is used? Now I know the average load during the Civil War was between 60-70 grains of 2f black powder. Of is this what they recommend for that bullet? That looks like it would make a good hunting load. I bet even with just 40+ grains of powder, that big heavy conical would knock the snot out of a deer.

rafsob

That load is just for N-SSA targets. I would use 65 grs. for hunting. In Virginia we must have a minimum load of 50 grs. while hunting big game. I got nice results with 65 gr. load.

You are right about the civil war and the loads they used. 60-70 grs was the norm from what I have been told. But the 41 grs. I use is perfect for hitting the targets they use. They use a board with multiple clay birds as one type and then they use a frame with hanging tiles for another. Then each team lines up and then they start the clock and then all teams proceed to shoot all the clays or tiles.

When at the range in Winchester, Va. for the nationals, it gets really neat with all that smoke. When they do this it is supposed to be the longest shooting line in the U.S.

cayugad

Now that would be fun to watch!!