Live Firing Question

[stx]

This weekend I've come upon the opportunity to live fire my enfield for the first time. Of cource I have everything (powder, caps) but I don't have any mine balls. I called a few of the local sporting goods store, but most of them didn't have anything of the sort. I did find one store that had 57 or 57.5 calliber round balls (which I know defeats the purpose of the rifling and what not), but if I take either paper or squares of cotton t-shirt (as suggested by a hunter friend) would I be able to safely fire these balls? As always, any help would be appreciated.

(Mods, I thought I put this in camp of instruction, please feel free to move)

[Curt Schmidt]

Re: Live Firing Question

Hallo!

First comes all of the usual WARNING and caveats about "live-firing" with the same gun as one reenacts with- such as badly cast Minie balsl leaving lead rings, etc., etc.!!

Commercially cast Minie balls are available from a number of vendors, such as the Log Cabin Sport Shop in Lodi, Ohio- usually sold in poly-bags of 25.

What the historic "Minie" or "Pritchett" ball did was eliminate the need for patching to transfer the spin of the twist of the rifling to the bullet. Previously (other systems so noted), patches were used- and tried to "fill the gap" between the under bore sized round ball the rifing. The Minie eliminate the need for patching, as its hollow base expanded the skirt of the bullet to grip the bore's rifling- and spin as it was fired out.

Yes, you can fire a CW era muzzleloader with patched round ball. Short answer.

However, for any kind of accuracy you should know your bore diameter as the Italian guns can vary from about .570 to .582.
Ideally, for example, if you had say a .580 bore, and a .570 ball, you would want a .01 lubed patch so that .570 ball plus a .01 patch equalled a .580 bore.
The greater the difference between the ball size and the bore ("windage"), the thicker the patch needs to be to impart good spin. Otherwise the rifling is not utilized "optimally." Things being near equal though, a too thick patch in the same relationship is harder to load and the gets worse as blackpowder fouling unevenly decreases the bore diameter.

IMHO, IF this is your first time "out," I would suggest having a skilled and experienced person or two along to help you!

Others' mileage will vary...

Curt