.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!!

[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.

[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

[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.

[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.