.58 caliber

[jmoore]

Is there a product code or link handy? I might be willing to cut a shell or two open if they're available locally and don't cost a fortune.

Information

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[browningautorifle]

I shoot a .690 round ball out of 12 ga...with a Winchester white...

[jmoore]

I saw some Remington 12 Ga. green tipped .58 cal. slugs at a local store this week. Heavy copper jacket. If tight, you couldn't start it down the bore. If loose, it won't be any better than a loose round ball, and probably worse.

Cut open a new 20 Ga. shell and pushed the conventional Foster type slug out. It measures about 0.610" or thereabouts. Would be fairly easy to size those down to fit. But the quality was not good! Chunk missing from the outer base and a big flat on on side that must have been there when loaded.

[A. F Medic]

If any body has an Enfield, are they cheek placement sensitive like drawing a bow ? Mine is a tack driver at 50 yards and at 100, the bullet drops two feet! I have tried everything I know except filing down the fron sight little by little. Could be how I position the rifle on my cheek hold?
This BP season, I am going to limit myself to 50 yards on a deer and pray!

On the underside of the barrrel, it says to use 2 and 1/2 drams of powder. About 70 grains right?

[Patrick Chadwick]

Mine is a tack driver at 50 yards and at 100, the bullet drops two feet!

It does indeed sound as if the bullet is crawling out of the muzzle. 70 grains of powder should be adequate.

Cheek hold will hardly affect the drop.

Which target are you using at 50 yards? At 100 yards? And which hold? If you use 6 o'clock at 50 on the typical ISSF pistol target (8" black) then, when you move the target out to 100, the reduction in apparent size of the target means you are, in effect, raising the line of sight and thus the POA by about 2", thus compensating a little for the trajectory. Yes, there still is a sizeable drop, but 2 feet seems excessive.

How is the grouping? If it is good at 50 yards and bad at 100, with the large drop as well, then it would be a good idea if you could chronograph the muzzle velocity.

PS: I just dug out the sighting targets for my 2-band Enfield. It seems that I have used, at various times, 48 grains of Swiss No. 2 = FFFg (?) (marginal for base expansion) through 67 gns No. 3 = FFg (good) to 75 gns No. 3 (good, but just a touch hard for my shoulder).

Finally, I do hope you are using pure lead bullets - no alloy whatsoever, otherwise the obturation will be poor and the muzzle velocity lower than with pure lead.

[Patrick Chadwick]

it says to use 2 and 1/2 drams of powder. About 70 grains right?

Near enough to be on target.

[gsimmons]

The issue sights start at 200 yards, so if you want a six o'clock or centre hold you'll need to put a tall front sight on, which are readily available so you don't have to make one.

[Patrick Chadwick]

.....you'll need to put a tall front sight on, which are readily available so you don't have to make one.

Are you thinking of Lee Enfields? The thread is about Enfield muzzle-loading percussion rifles, on which the front sight is fixed.

[A. F Medic]

Are you thinking of Lee Enfields? The thread is about Enfield muzzle-loading percussion rifles, on which the front sight is fixed.

Yes. I am talking about the BP Enfield. The man that owned it before me. Was a reenactor. Next day he had a heart attack and died! Left me with no knowledge of how he handled it or shot it.

Contacted a man who makes bullets for a living and he suggested about 8 lead types to try including the Parker Hale type. (Bulletman-Lodgewood.com. Now out of business) I still have most of them except the PH.

Mine is a 2 band Enfield with the rear sight marked on the outside in steps, 1,2,3,4, (yards?) The flip up with a slider is marked 5 through 9.
If I move the slider to the outside 2, the bullets go over the target bank at 100 yards!

After seeing the great help being offered here, I am going to have to take everybodys information back to the firing range and start over. I do not make my own bullets so I may need some help in finding some PH bullets

[Patrick Chadwick]

8 lead types

That would be pure lead, pure lead, pure lead, pure lead, pure lead, pure lead, pure lead, and pure lead.
Nothing else.
And sized so that the bullet is almost a slip-fit on a clean bore.
And use the short-skirt (shallow base) version on a 2-band P1858 Enfield. The long-skirt (deep base) version is for the 3-band P1853 Enfield which has a slower twist.