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Now I am waiting for delivery of a parker hale copy of the 1858 Enfield musket, I think it is going to be a very nice rifle. Made in Birmingham england. cal 58.This one was made in about 1973, guess I have to cast some minnies now.
1858 enfield
Now I am waiting for delivery of a parker hale copy of the 1858 Enfield musket, I think it is going to be a very nice rifle. Made in Birmingham england. cal 58.This one was made in about 1973, guess I have to cast some minnies now.
Last edited by noslack 327; 03-18-2011 at 09:57.
One made in that era should have the proper rifling for accurate shooting and should indeed be a very nice one. Unless you can find decent quality lead minnies on the market that shoot well in your rifle, you are in for casting your own using an appropriate mold. Let us know when you get it and have a chance to try it out.
I have a Parker Hale M1853 I bought at Camp Pendleton in 1975. I never could get it to shoot my own minies but I wasn't sizing them. I think if you are going to shoot Minies be prepared to learn a lot about casting, sizing, and lubing. I never did.
I took it up to Vermont for the Smugglers' Notch Primitive Biathlon in 2002 and shot it with patched round balls because they don't allow Minies, and I wanted to use the Enfield and be a Victorian Canadian redcoat. Once I figured out the load and the patch thickness I got it shooting well with Hornady .58 round balls. I made up cartridges with my pre-lubed patch Krazy-glued to the ball. I'd tear open the cartridge, pour in the powder, then start the ball with a ball starter, and ram it home with the ramrod. Accuracy was fair, about 4 1/2" groups at 50 yards, not as good as my tackdriver .50 el cheapo Spanish .50 Hawkin of uncertain make! The beauty of it was all through the matches people were getting in a hurry and calling for ball pullers as they'd forget to put in powder first, cartridges avoid that problem.
Last edited by Griff Murphey; 03-21-2011 at 08:36.
I think it will be a while before I shoot it, Now I have to learn how to and what to use to patch a minnie. My mold will cast a proper .577 minnie ball but they fall down the bore, so I have to find info on how to patch it.
You don't patch a minnie. Load it and see how it shots. The minnie will upset and fill the bore when you fire it.
Yes however it will fall out the bbl with nothing around the minnie, Like paper from a paper ctg.Originally Posted by Doug Rammel
Not trying to be a smart a$$ but it sounds to me that it wasn't a 577 minnie but more like a 570. The 1858 endfield is a military rifle so you want get a tight group. If you want a target rifle buy a Whitworth.
The Brit Enfield WAS .577. The Parker Hale Enfield duplicates a feature of the original Enfield which is: there is a slight taper to the bore so it gets tighter at the muzzle. So the fact that it almost falls to the rear is not necessarily bad. I guess that means you fired it; surely you did not drop one down on an empty chamber??? If so I guess you got it out!
Minies do not "upset" as one of the comments said; actually, the skirt theoretically expands and grips the rifling. The grooves are supposed to be filled with grease and you can buy various forms of lubrication like "Spit Ball" or just use Crisco. Some minies were "patched" by wrapping with paper but I don't know how they made that work. My biggest problem with minies was that when I cast them I had trouble getting a uniform size. Some almost fell in, others had to be pounded in. The loose ones seemed to shoot the best. When ever I got a real tight one I learned to fire it off into the butts 'cause usually it'd hit somewhere crazy. Serious minie makers cast them, then select the most uniform by weight, and size and lubricate them.
Hornady made some "Great Plains" Minies. I have some .58's but never got around to testing them since I could not shoot them in the match. Haven't shot my 1853 in 9 years...
Last edited by Griff Murphey; 03-25-2011 at 09:00.
Thanks for the info, I am new to attempting to use the minie. my cast bullets measure .577 from the lyman mold, my bore measures .580. I understand how the skirt is supposed to work, how it will expand when fired, what i am afraid of is the minie moving forward of the powder rather than remaining seated on top the powder, or worse carrying the rifle muzzle down and both the minie and powder falling out. any way thanks to all for the info.
I shoot .575 minnies out of my euroarm 1853 enfield, and it hits gallon milk jugs at 150 yards with ease
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