Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Muzzleloaders Anybody shoot .58 Minie' bullet?

I've got a .58 Huntsman and have tried Minie' bullets in it. Accuracy is like homemade sin. First of all, they are .570 diameter, and almost fall down the bore. I know that since they are hollow based they should swell up to bore size but, don't show it. I may be pushing them too fast. I'm loading 80 gr. 2F black. Any ideas?

try a lubed felt wad over powder and under minie. my .54's all like that. only minie's i shoot.
are these bought or cast?. if cast are they dead soft lead? 80g should work ok to expand the skirt.
when loading, give the seated minie a good thump with your rod. sometimes helps spread the skirt.
best of luck.
ps how does it shoot patched round ball?

I've never tried the lubed felt wad. Yes, they are cast from pure soft lead. It does in fact shoot patched round balls pretty good.

Measure the twist.

The 58 cal Huntsmans were twisted 1:70 or 1:72, which is great for a patched roundball, as you've said, but not nearly fast enough for conicals or minies.

I once had a repro Enfield Musketoon. Would not shoot a conical worth a darn. Loved patched RB. You can buy bigger diameter bullets as well. Or try FFFg.
Try the RB.

Bingo. Lesson learned here the hard way back in another lifetime.

It's normal for a Minie ball to be undersize and push easily down a bore. That was the whole idea and reason for them back in the day - so a poor scared sh*tless soldier could continue shooting after having fired many dozens of shots previously without cleaning.

I shoot Minies in my original Enfield P53. Twist rate is ~1:78" and the old military load of 68 grains bp works quite well with a .578" Minie. I don't know the bore diameter of a Huntsman, you may need a larger diameter Minie. People more knowledgeable than me recommend .001"-.002" under bore diameter.

I thought Enfields had gain twist rifling, which might explain a lot?

Have you tried Lee's REAL bullets. I've had very good results with them.

https://leeprecision.com/mold-d-c-58cal-440

From what I've read some early manufactured P53s had gain twist but most were 1:78". They all had progressive depth rifling to facilitate loading a fouled bore as did the Springfield musket of the time. Quoted from the North-South Skirmish Association forum:
"Progressive depth (or decreasing depth) rifling was used in Springfield and Enfield muskets. In Springfields, the grooves are 0.015" deep at the breech and taper to 0.005" at the muzzle. The rifling twist rate is a constant 1 in 72 for Springfields and 1 in 78 for Enfields."
I just ran a tight patch down the bore of my 1857 vintage rifle and got about an eighth turn in 12" from the muzzle, so that corresponds petty close. A hollow base Minie can shoot well out of a slow twist because they're fairly short for caliber and front heavy, kinda like a Foster slug or a badminton birdie. Finding the bore diameter of the OPs Huntsman would help determine if a .570" Minie is too small to load concentric with the bore. Also an 80 grain charge may be too much if it's a thin skirt, there are thicker skirted Minies that'll handle heavier charges.
But I'm certainly no authority so take it as such. Good luck finding a load that works for your rifle, it's always fun to experiment.

If it were mine I'd stick with the patched roundballs but sometimes it's just fun to fiddle dance with experimenting.

Hell, it'll either shoot 'em or it won't.

Isn’t there an old saying “There ain’t many troubles a man can’t solve with seven hundred dollars and a .58 ball”?

I probably will stick with the round balls but, just wish I could get the Minie' bullets to shoot.

If you look around, you can find a fair selection of Minies for sale. Once you find one that shoots well in your rifle, buy a mold or just buy more.

80gr might be a bit much for most Minies. Those skirts are thin and easy to blow out. If you can dig a few out of the backstop you can check for that. YouTuber capnball typically starts at around 40gr.

I shot competition with a Remington Zouve replica. Numrich seven groove barrel. Neither it nor the original barrel would shoot the traditional minie worth a hoot. They would shoot the short semi wad cutter minie with about fifty grains of powder. The Numrich barrel won me a first place fifty yard ten shot record at Friendship using round balls. The load was a .570 dia ball, ticking patch, sixty five grains of fffg and a 20 ga .070" card over the powder. Powder was old duPont. Wet and dry patch between shots. Oh, and a #11 cap instead of a top hat musket cap.
Minies were tricky. I even made a mould for a paper patched minie of about 400 grains but it wouldn't shoot either. A buddy made a minie mould of a strange design, four narrow driving bands, sized to .002" over bore size and loaded with a hand made false muzzle and starter. He shot it out of a Hy Hunter Zouave with fifty grains of fg. Made a whooshing sound and a loud smack when it hit the target. It shot really well. I sold my Numrich gun, sadly, and years later picked up the twin to the Hy Hunter bought at the same time and same lot as my buddies, around '67. Have not shot it yet but do have the short mould to try.....someday.

No Enfield had a gain twist. Progressive depth, yes, but rate of twist was constant. Depth started at .015 in the breech and ended up .005 at the muzzle.
.570 is way too small for your Huntsman. Wads are fine for flat based conicals, but not so much with minies.
Slug your bore and get minies .001 or .002 undersize. Lube only the grooves.
My old EuroArms P53 would shoot Lyman 575213OS and 60 grains of 3f Goex quite well. 3 inch 100 yard groups were the norm, and not infrequently, she'd go under 2 inches if I did my part.

I still have the mold for a .54 Minnie that I bought to try in a Renegade with 1-48" twist. Kicked so hard I gave up on it.. not sure why I still have that mold. But I think I still have at least one in .58 as well.

The P53 with 1860 Birmingham proof marks that my friend brought back from Afghanistan and gave me shoots Minie' bullets over 60 grains of 3-F pretty well. A man sized target at 100 yards offhand is an easy shot. I'm tempted to try for a deer with it, just haven't gotten around to doing it yet.

I shoot the Lee ".578 Flying Trash can" bullets and they are like a wadcutter in an old Enfield , no problem hitting a paper plate at 50-60 yards. 70 gr FFg Holy Black .