An update on my 1863 Springfield project.

[Crispy]

I fired it 10 times today and all went well.
I used 50 grains of Goex FFg with minie balls from Cabellas lubed with 50% Crisco and 50% beeswax.
Shooting at a man silhouette from 100 yards I hit the right arm first shot!
It seems I need to aim at the left shoulder to hit center mass.
Also, the barrel fouls quickly and the 4th shot was way off and low.
Next time I'll patch it every 3rd shot or possibly after every shot.
For a 150 year old rifle I'm quite impressed, far better than I'd hoped for, it would be interesting to recover a couple minies and see how well they're engaging the rifling.
I'm not too impressed with the home made lube and may try bore butter next time.
Man, if you want to see a fantastic range of "internet opinion" try a search on "bullet lube"!
Chris.

[holdover]

I shoot at N-SSA in Winchester. You lube should work although I use 75% Crisco and 25% beeswax by weight. I also use a Northeast arms inside outside luber. I can shoot my musket a whole competition of about 40 shots without cleaning it and no loss of accuracy and no problem getting the bullet down the bore. My load is 45 gr goex FFF. I size my bullets to .001 smaller than bore dia. I shoot a 2 band and it will put 10 shots in a 2" circle from a bench at 100 yds. My favorite bullet for ranges up to 100 is the Hodgon, for the long range matches at 200 yds I use the Raphine 510 gr bullet with 64 gr FFF. Been shooting these things for well over 50 years.

[Southron]

You will get a lot less fouling using FFFg.

Weigh your Minie Balls and separate them into "Lots" of Plus or Minus 1/2 Grains. The "Light" Minie Balls get sent back to the manufacturer because they have hidden air voids that would destroy their accuracy potential.

Of course, the usual Safety Rules apply:

1. After firing, leave the hammer down on the spent cap. Load the gun AND THEN, pull the hammer back and flick off the old cap and replace it with a new one. Most people have a tendency to pull the old cap off first and then reload...not a good idea because that leaves the flash channel in the nipple and breech open for air to travel down. That "fresh air" might keep a spark burning in the breech....and this would cause a "Cook Off" during the reloading procedure.

HINT: Always seat the cap fully down on the nipple. That prevents the cap from "fragging" when it is fired. IF your cap does "frag" OR you get gas back in your face when you fire the gun....that is the nipple's way of telling you that it is worn out and needs to be replaced IMMEDIATELY. Tresco Ampco Nipples are the best...many times better than steel nipples. Dixie Gun Works sells them.

2. Never, Never "Thumb The Ball" down into the muzzle during loading, use ONLY two finger on the Minie Ball when loading and ONLY two fingers on the ramrod during the ramming process...just in case you have a Cook Off.

3. Never, Never, Never point the muzzle of the gun at yourself (or anyone else) during the loading procedure.

4. Always wear eye and hearing protection when shooting your musket.

Now...to have a LOT OF FUN AND EXCITEMENT (and live East of the Mississippi River) then consider joining The North-South Skirmish Association. Can you load and fire your musket 3 times per minute and HIT what you aim at? Then you and your Musket Team have a chance of winning medals and honors at Skirmishes!

www.n-ssa.org/

Here is some "Useful Information" about musket shooting, everything from "
Tuning" your Springfield's lock to casting bullets:

http://www.nwtskirmisher.com/useful.shtml