.58 caliber

[A. F Medic]

I was in a gun shop today and I saw an advertisment for Reminton Red tipped deer rifle slugs. What caught my eye was that they said they are .58 caliber (12 guage).

I have a Parker Hale enfield that shoots .58 caliber. Would it be possible to remove the deer slug from the casing and fire it through a .58 Enfield? I do not have the OD measurements of the slug and I know my rifle takes minie balls slightly undersize,

The slug is copper coated, does not have a skirt, nor grease ribs. Maybe I just answered my own question? Any ideas?

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[gsimmons]

I think you answered your own question. There is no advantage to going to all that trouble in my opinion.

[gew8805]

As gsimmons said, not in any way worth the trouble. Also, keep in mind that the .58 rifle musket is not a 12 ga., it is 24 ga.

Your best bet is to buy a proper sized mould and cast your own bullets of pure lead. The slug you are looking at is likely hard as a rock and, without a skirt, will certainly not expand to fill the bore and shoot with any degree of accuracy.

[A. F Medic]

I have a supply of swaged bullets and I guess my idea was a little off kilter. The bullet looked a lot like the Power Belt I use in my TC.45 flint.
From Remington ad below regarding .58 caliber. ( You can't compare bore size of a musket to a shotgun?)

In field testing, this huge .58-caliber slug produced gaping wound channels and crumpled every deer it touched with a single shot. From 5 to 200 yards, it yields perfect mushrooms and over 95% weight retention thanks to its spiral nose cuts, bonded construction and high-strength cartridge brass jacket. With performance as revolutionary as its appearance, this is one tip sure to get stunning results. Available in 2 3/4" or 3" 12-gauge and 20-gauge versions. Thanks!!

[gew8805]

You can't compare bore size of a musket to a shotgun?

Sure you can. Whether smootbored or rifled, there is a large difference in bore size, .58 caliber is a 24 ga., 12 ga. is .729 caliber. Quite a bit of difference.

[A. F Medic]

You are right. I put a .58 in my 12 guage and it dropped right in! I should have tried that before. At least I know a 12 guage is 72 caliber now

As far a a link, I googled Remington red tipped deer slugs.They are $15 for 5

[Patrick Chadwick]

this huge .58-caliber slug .... Available in 2 3/4" or 3" 12-gauge and 20-gauge versions.

The only way I can make sense of those dimensions is to assume that it is intended to be used as a sabot slug, not a bore-sized slug.

---------- Post added at 10:35 PM ---------- Previous post was at 10:30 PM ----------

I have a Parker Hale enfield that shoots .58 caliber.

Are you sure? P-Hs were very accurate copies of the original patterns, with a .577 bore. Some .577 Enfields/Sniders were marked with a 25 on the barrel, in the vicinity of the proof marks. This is the caliber expressed as 25 gauge, not an inspector's number or manufacturing code (as might otherwise be thought).

A real .58 minie bullet will require hearty whacks with a hammer to start it down the bore, thus distorting the nose of the bullet and missing the whole point of the minie design. Not a good idea.

[A. F Medic]

Mine are undersize and with bore luib, they go down with a gentle tap with the wood ball starter. As you know, Enfields have progressive rifling and they are tighter at the muzzle.

Thanks to everybody who chimed in here and I learned a lot. Now I need to understand what the battle sight setting is. 200 yards, then 300, then 400 yards?..
Flip up sight? I understand that the Brits had to shoot at a bull's eye and hit it 7 times out of 20. This was up 1,250 yards.

Not bad for a 500+ gr minie ball with 68 grains of BP

[Patrick Chadwick]

Mine are undersize and with bore luib, they go down with a gentle tap with the wood ball starter.

OK for the first shot. The trouble is, competition rules "in the spirit of the original" usually forbid cleaning between shots. So what went down with a tap for the first shot will become noticeably tougher with succeeding shots. As a pragmatic method, try sizing the bullets so that when you load the "clean bore" shot, the bullet almost slides down by itself, requiring no more than thumb pressure. Make no mistake, after that first shot, with no subsequent cleaning, minié bullets are "crud-riding". Which is why one must use pure lead to ensure proper expansion of a bullet that is necessarily undersized for a clean bore.

You'll know that you have the right sizing/lubing combination when you can fire 15 shots without cleaning!

[jmoore]

A real .58 minie bullet will require hearty whacks with a hammer to start it down the bore, thus distorting the nose of the bullet and missing the whole point of the minie design. Not a good idea.

Actually my 1860 dated Tower likes the Hornady Great Plains bullets better than anything. Has a slightly smaller base but steps up at the front band, so it requires driving into the bore. I use a short starter and give it a good smack or three! Then push the projectile home. A little nose distortion doesn't hurt a thing.

So, yes, the tight fit isn't good for close quarter combat. But the accuracy is very much better.

Was hunting with it today, in actual fact.