Shooting the new Early Virginia .58 caliber rifle
 

The other day was a funny day. I wanted to shoot the .58 caliber Early Virginia rifle but could not load a round ball down it. I mean, powder in, patch set and lubed, and when I went to drive the ball under the muzzle it was so tight, I hurt the palm of my hand on the short starter. Alarms went off in my head!! Is this the right ball, the right caliber.


So I pulled the ball out and checked it. Of course my calipers would not work. So I tried to eye ball it. Now these were Speer brand ball, my favorite. I tried a could more and again, very very very tight. Pulled them back out. Opened a new box of ball (the old box is what I shot out of my Green Mountain .58 caliber) And again very tight. So I leaded a .54 instead and shot the powder out of it. I shot it a few times with other ".58" ball I found around, but was really not sure of the ball size or calibration.

After shooting I called Greg at TVM. He assured me it was a .58 caliber and then told me he had ran into fresh ball that were over sized. He suggested I get a new box of Hornady ball and try them. He also told me how to fix a set trigger problem the rifle was having.

Got on the phone and ordered new ball. Hornady .570 ball. Also ordered a .562 mold just in case I had a tight rifle. And a new caliper. All came in yesterday. So today I was ready.

The Hornady ball with pillow tick patch fit perfect. Tight, but perfect. There is no way you are loading a second on a dirty bore. Hence the .562 might come into play here. I brought out the new shooting stand and set it up. Loaded the .58 caliber and set out a empty quart isopropyl alcohol bottle filled with water (wonder what that attraction is). Back to the shooting bench. 34 yards. Held just under the label of the alcohol bottle, squeezed the shot and the bottle exploded. Ball hit one inch under the label of the bottle.

SWABBED that tight barrel and reloaded. Aimed at the label next time and Boom!! bottle went flying, right in the label. So the rifle hits right where its aimed. We then swabbed and shot at old pieces of apple in the snow. And finally after ten shots I noticed a crud ring forming in the breech area of the rifle really bad. Swabbed it out and every shot after that it was getting hard to even swab with the fat (old cotton socks) patches I used. So after 12 shots I called it a day. But the gun never misfired, and was accurate.

Went back and measured those other ball. Realized they were cast now swag, meaning someone made them. Measured them and they were .575 ball. Went in the garage to my mold cabinet and low and behold I have a .575 mold. Don't remember buying it, but I must have. I do remember shooting some that Semisane sent me in the GMB .58 and being really impressed with them. So I am guess I purchased the mold and cast a box of ball for the GMB.

If I go to a thinner patch I think then the rifle would load the .575 ball. If not I will shoot them out of a different .58 caliber rifle. But it was so nice, sitting out there in warm weather, no jacket, shooting rifles. Just a nice way to spend the afternoon.

Also that new rifle cleans up real easy.

So from what I understand you were shooting a .570 with a .018 patch (pillow tick) and it was tight but loadable? So maybe a .575 ball with a .010 patch may be just right. I'd try that before I go casting any with the new .562 mold. You may just want to return it.

that makes sense. A .575 is a really big ball to use with a .018 patch.

I will say this, that barrel is really tight! I mean there is no way your sending another fast ball down that barrel without swabbing first. So I was thinking that smaller ball might just be the ticket. Besides for what I paid for the mold, I have wasted a lot more then that on foolish things. So I will keep it. Kind of excited to cast some ball out of it and try them. Maybe some old cotton blue jean. Have to measure that.

How does it load on a fully clean barrel? On one of my mountain rifles, it had some over spray of cerakote in the bore and was causing fits with reloading. Might have a bore that needs a good polishing to remove the nasty stuff. Obviously yours doesnt have the coating,but we all know how bores can have the unknowns that hold fouling.

On a clean barrel loading is "snug" if that describes it. I can tell the bore is nice and smooth as once the ball in inside the barrel it slides right down but a .570 ball with a pillow tick patch is snug. When the bore is dirty, then I think you might end up with a real problem if you forced the issue.

Huh... I for one am curious to know what the actual bore dia. of that rifle is.

BPS

Cayugad, I have the Lee .575 mold and the .562 mold. The .575 with .018 pillow tick is my go-to ball/patch combo for my Green Mountain .58 barrel. It loads tight, but I swab between shots anyway so it's no big deal. I tried the .562 balls with poor results. But all I had on hand at the time for patch material was the .018 pillow tick. I'm sure they would have done better with .022 denim - and probably would load easier than the .575's. However, I never got around to trying a thicker patch.

Here are some comparison 50 yard targets with .575 and .562 with the same load/patch/lube.

.575 Ball


.562 Ball

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I had a long session with the .58 H&A Minuteman yesterday and will be posting a report with comments about ball/patch fit.
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