Home Forums Reloading Bullet Casting .................................. .................................. ...............................thr ee band enfield .577......... which bullet dia.?

New to casting....What dia. of die would I need for a period correct miniball for my reproduction three bander (.565, .570 or what).
Where would I buy a die like that and do I need to use 100% lead or can I also use wheel wts.?

Use only pure lead for black powder. Bob

The correct diameter for the Enfield (or Springfield) is .575. I assume you mean mould instead of die.

If you want a period correct then Lyman #575213-os is the correct mould. Or as close as you can get since originals did vary wildly and nobody makes a mould for the Hale cleaning ball which one of which should be in each arsenal pack of cartridges.<img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

Lee made a mould for the minie ball which was pretty close to the peiod style Lee #90481.

All minie ball need to be cast of pure lead so the skirt will be soft enough to obturate the bore.



BCR

Sorry my three bander is an Enfield (.577) not a Springfield(.58). And by period correct I mean; would be mosy like the ones used in The War Between The States...........Thanks Bob

I thought that is exactly what I said. For either the diameter is .575.

BCR

It's been a lot of years but it seems like, IIRC from my Civil War Skirmish Association matches, both the Springfield and Enfield shooters were using the same Lyman Minie moulds. Either the 575 213 @ 505 grains or the 575 213 OS @ 460 grains.

I see Lyman does not catalog them on their web site, but they are listed in their new print catalog. Also in the catalog is listed a 575 213 PH called the Parker Hale. This is a little heavier (566 grains) and may be the correct mould for your Enfield.

I may well be wrong, but as I do recall there was a certain sense of superiority by the Johnny Rebs, who were mainly the ones shooting Enfields, about their completely "authentic" equipment, which would of course include a special Minie ball mould for their "English" bore. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

In either case we all used a 60 grain charge of FFg with our "Top Hat" musket caps.

Good luck and good shooting.