Loading Minnie in Rifled Barrel

[Nhgrants]

Is a 58 minnie designed to be loaded with part of the paper cartridge wrapped around it?
Or is it supposed to go down the barrel with out any paper around it?
Thanks

[45-110]

Naked is the way you load and shoot them.
kw

[Bob McBride]

Lube in the grooves.....

[Daryl]

Exactly.

[45-110]

For range shooting you can also just fill the base with Crisco the way many N-SSA shooters do. You can use a small cake decorator plunger and apply a dab in base or use a popsicle stick right out of the container.
kw

[Daniel Coats]

Of course you can make a paper cartridge for a minnie bullet. There are pictures on the web of original cartridges made such. What's practical today maybe a different story I always used the Crisco base and groove fill method myself.

[stuart cee dub]

Enfield minne rifles were loaded with a lubed paper patched bullet but most of it's mid 19th century contemporaries used a naked minnie with lube in the grooves.(yes there were some continental
exceptions )You will get differing opinions on filling the base , I don't fill the bases on the projectile styles I use .

Being cheap I dig my fired bullets out of the sand bank .
The lead for a minne has to be consistently super soft. I segregate my molding lead leaving the very softest for minnie use only and recycle the ones I have shot.
 
Anyway upon retrieval I noted there was still lube in the bases. This  made me think that this might cause a variation in the projectile weight also since it wasn't melting it wasn't helping keep my fowling soft.What was important was having enough grease in the grooves and having the right kind .Some mold styles run out of grease before the projectile leave the barrel , you can feel this when you clean where the fouling is hard and soft. I use a combination of beeswax ,bore butter and a pinch of ballistoil .

You can preload minnies not only using various historic patterns for making paper cartridges but also using plastic pipe thread protective caps  (see S and S firearms out of NY state ) which happen to be the right size and are both washable and reusable.
These come in a variety of colors too. For team competition of hunting these preloaded rounds work well .
For target work loading out of the box works well as you can tweak the loads on the spot. 

Round ball is less frustrating to shoot . (unless you're new to flint ;>) Most minnie shooters have more in molds that they do in their rifles .
Must be masochism .

   

[Daryl]

I experimented quite a bit with my Bill Large .58 barrel using patched round balls, but also several of the Lyman Minnie moulds from the 315gr. up to the 570gr. mould.
I shot them all, lube in the grooves only, can't quite remember what lube was used, but something like a mix. of lube 1000 with beeswax.  I had no fouling problems, even
after turning the base plugs for thicker walled Minnies so the walls wouldn't blow out from muzzle blast due to the powder charges I was using. This was in the later 70's.
Pretty much all of my shooting was at 100 yards, benched with bags. The .575213OS (Old Style) was my favourite with skirt thickened a bit to weigh 480gr.  The 580gr. Lyman
#57730 altered to weigh 675gr. was best for 100yard accuracy using 150gr. and 160gr. 2F of 1977's Gearheart Owen's, giving 1,250fps and 1,325fps respectively. These were
sub 2" up to 2 1/2" loads. They were the result of my reading about Val Forget shooting an elephant with a .58 rifle with modified Minnie and 175gr. 3F- article in the Lyman book.
All bullets shot bare.

[smylee grouch]

Daryl, I got my 58 bill Large barrel in late 60s early 70s also and Bill told me to make sure to try the minnie balls because they would shoot great in that barrel. Wide cuts with around 8 or 9 thousands deep cuts. It shot the Round balls so good I just never tried the slugs.

[bob in the woods]

Late 70's early 80's , my experience  was with a Parker Hale Musketoon  . Modified Lyman for heavier  skirt as already mentioned.  Super weapon for hunting. 

[Daryl]

Mine, an ArmySanPolo with a 5-groove PH progressive depth rifling barrel, made 3" groups for me at 100 meters off the bags. I was quite happy with that & used .021" denim and a .562" ball.
The barrel was actually undersized with a .574" bore. A .575" ball would sit on the muzzle. I started off using 75.0gr. GOEX 2F, but switched to 85gr. 2F GOEX as it was slightly more accurate &
the 200yard sight setting range true on our steel plates at 100 and 200meters. I had soldered on a higher front sight blade and a new rear sight notched plate (soldered to the sight boss) as the
rifle shot slightly to the left with the factory notch.

[Clowdis]

  I had no fouling problems, even
after turning the base plugs for thicker walled Minnies so the walls wouldn't blow out from muzzle blast due to the powder charges I was using. This was in the later 70's.
Pretty much all of my shooting was at 100 yards, benched with bags. The .575213OS (Old Style) was my favourite with skirt thickened a bit to weigh 480gr.  The 580gr. Lyman
#57730 altered to weigh 675gr. was best for 100yard accuracy using 150gr. and 160gr. 2F of 1977's Gearheart Owen's, giving 1,250fps and 1,325fps respectively.

It's a wonder to me that you have any teeth left. A service charge of 60 grains with a 525gr. minie is kinda brutal.

[Daryl]

The rifle "design" takes care of recoil, however that hooked butt plate was hard on the shoulder, young as it was then.
My 9 1/2 pound .69 doesn't kick much with it's 'service' load of 165gr. 2F and 482gr. round ball.
Here's a mere 140gr. 2F GOEX - picture taken almost at full recoil. Just a push. The over 2" wide butt plate makes it easy.
The .58 Hawken was around 11 to 11 1/2 pounds.



Round ball load in the .58 Hawken - 285gr. ball and 140gr. GO 2F.