Lubricating and sizing a .58 minie ball

reindeer

I have a Lyman 4500 lubrisizer and am a novice. I bought it to lube .45-70 bullets. I need to lube up about 100 minie balls for a public outreach event. I am tired of doing it be hand and would love to lube them on the Lyman but could not find a h&i die big enough for the minie. Can anyone out there help me find the solution to yet another shooter's problem. Thanks, reindeer

eastbank

just put a little crico in the hollow base and shoot away, i use a lyman hollow base 575213 mini ball mold. about 60-65grs of 3f for 1000-1100 fps. eastbank.

reindeer

I am a novice to the lubrisizer, not b/p. I only lube the grooves, keep the base dry, and use 45 grains of ffg. Plenty of whoosh and not to much push. Now, what can you tell me about where to get .578 dies for the lyman 4500? Thanks and keep on whooshing. reindeer

eastbank

i have never seen or read of any for the mini-ball, you may find something for the 577 bullet that was used in the big english martinie rifle cartige 577-450. i read years ago about rolling the soft mini,s between two flat pieces of steel to reduce their dia. he put several pieces of drill rod that he had machined to the bullet dia. he wanted and rolled the bullets and rods as the bullets were sized down the rods kept the bullets from being sized down any fathrer than the dia. of the rods. you could set your bullets up in a pad and pour melted lube up to the grooves you want filled and use a 28ga. brass shotgun shell with the head cut off to push down over then to cut the bullets out of the hardened lube. i did cut small cardboard wads to glue over the base after i put a little crico in the base,it worked but was a pain in the A** for what i wanted,as i hunted with it and i thought it would be quicker to reload, but i found out i could load a second mini with out lube and it still shot pretty good. eastbank.

reindeer

Well, again I wish to thank all for their efforts. I was able to find a company that sells these over-sized lubrisizer dies. S and S Firearms in New York do. They were away all week at the N-SSA competitions in Virginia. Lubing minie balls without a maohine is a pain and the finished product is a real mess. The lubrisizer makes quick work and a neat product. Thanks, reindeer

eastbank

let me know how it works out for your mini,s,eastbank.

reindeer

I purchased a die and top punch for my Lyman 4500. I read the directions one evening prior. I had no problem with the lubing and sizing and handled 100 bullets in less than 40 minutes. The only problem I had was in removing the die. The bore is so large that the normal removal tool didn't catch the die. I had to use a dowel to drift it out. Overall, A+++. reindeer

eastbank

reindeer,let me know how they shoot. thanks,eastbank.

tbrennan

Reindeer
Have you gotten your sizing dies yet? how did they work out? What type of shooting are you doing and with what type of gun? I compete in N-SSA and have found the crisco in the cavity to be the best and can shoot 15 to 20 rounds with out brushing the bore and still maintain accuracy.

mosquitofish

my 50 cal. cva wolf rifle. uses 320 gr mini ( no sizing) w/ 80 gr fffg. driver tacks. [8D]

rgerge

I just liquify my bees wax lube in the casting ladel and dunk them, takes two minutes. Save your money.

reindeer

Sorry for the delay. I did buy the dies and lubed and sized 100 rounds in a very short time. The task would take hours when done manually and was nowhere near the mess. The 100 rounds were used at an outreach event for teens. Accuracy was not measured but the event was a blast. reindeer

eastbank

reindeer, try some for accuracy at 100 yards, my repo 63 remington zouve 58 with peep sights will shoot three shot 3 inch groups at 100 yards from a rest with 60-70 grains 3 f dupont. with a little crisco in the hollow base lyman regular 575123 mini ball. i have thought about setting the mini,s upside down and pouring a little melted black powder bullet lube in and letting it harden and seeing how that would work, i don,t need to size my bullets as they slide right down a clean bore,lyman makes a 575213 over size mold and a old style that wieghts a little less the the regular 575213. i have a healthy respect for the civil war rifles and what they could do. eastbank.

reindeer

What was the standard military load--60 grains? How does it feel to shoot a .58 with that much powder? I use 40 - 45 grains and I would love to goose it up. reindeer

tbrennan

I have shot mine at the N-SSA nationals and had no problem with a 50 grain load in back of a 510 grain Lyman 575213 molded mini with cavity filled with Crisco. Enough ooomph at 50 and 100 yds and hit what I shot at. it has a comfortable recoil. My guess, it is about 1/2 of a BP factory load 45-70 cartridge fired in an original Remington Rolling Block.

swearengine

I shoot an original 1863 Springfield and my wife shoots an original 1861 Springfield. We both use 60 grains of black powder. The recoil is minimal. The furthest I have killed a deer with mine is 107 yards and my wife killed one at 89 yards. The load has more than enough power to penetrate completely through a large; 175-225 pound; whitetail buck at those distances. I have killed in excess of two dozen whitetail deer with mine and have only recovered one ball from those animals.

eastbank

the trouble is not that the gun will not stand more powder,it,s that the mini ball(the original design) scirt will deform and accuracy will go out the window. val forgett of navy arms had a mold made that had a thicker scirt for the 58 and he killed elephants with it. i once shot a junked car at over 500 yds after i had the sights adjusted for that range and from a rest i would not miss it and the mini,s went thru both sides. it must have taken 2-3 seconds for the bullet to get there as i could stand up from the rest and then hear the bullet hit. eastbank.

rgerge

Thompson center makes lube tubes, I'm not sure if they come in .58, they should but I've never seen one. I have a .50 and a .54, great for field use.

Try dipping them in molten bees wax, I have an extra smelting pot I use just for that purpose, it works very well, I shoot 510(?)grain .58's from a 1860 musketoon, I can't make a 500 yrd shot but 200 yrds at a door sized object is doable.

eastbank

rgerge, have a trigger job put on your rifle, 4-6 lb. trigger pull and a good set of long range peep sights and you will be able to make 500 yd. shots on car size objects and smaller with a little pratice. i also shoot a browning 1885 in 45-70 with a soule long range tang peep sight and a 525gr postal bullet. it,s down right scary how accuret that rifle is. i have killed a few ground hogs at over 300yds.(missed quite a few too). eastbank.

rgerge

Eastbank, What do you have for a rifle? The musketoon I have, only has a 24" barrel. I had a 61' Springfield that was very good at a distance. Dinner plate sized objects at 2oo to 300 yrds, with the factory sights. Anyway, if I spend any more money on "upgraded gun parts" ya'll can start calling me Roberta, cuz the MRS. will cut 'em off...............................[B)] If you got any slightly used parts, let me know, I'm an expert at flyin' under radar. Thanks for the tip& happy 4th!!!!!!!!!!!!!

eastbank

rgerge, i have several muskets, but the one i use the most is a early repo navy arms rem. 1863 zouve .58 cal,with a trigger job and good sights. i have no extra sights, as i bought them before the prices went sky high. i started shooting the muskets in the mid-60,s. you will need a new front sight plus a good peep sight of the soule class, it,s a ladder type with fine elevation and windage adjustments. if your gun shoots at all the new sights and trigger job will amaze you. with the low volecity of the mimi ball it drops quite a bit over 500 yds, but with the new sights you can raise the mimi,s impact out to 500 yds easily, i use the lyman 575213 mimi cast out of plumers lead with 60-65grs 3F. eastbank

rgerge

Eastbank, is that the 315 grain minie` Lyman mould or the bigger one, I have both.

My musketoon is a euroarms, it has the ladder sights, I'm gonna try playing with those first before I spend any of my wife's money. Thanks for the insight, I'll let you know if I get any better with it.

Just a side note; I did drill out my musket nipple to about double the factory size for MUCH better ignition. Thanks again.

eastbank

rgerge, it,s the heavier ball weights about 500-510grs depending on alloy of lead. it is made in two sizes. thats all i shoot in my rifles. believe me you will need a good peep sight, the open sights just don,t make it at long ranges and you will need a lighter trigger. when i got my repo rem. zouve the trigger was about 20lbs, way to heavy. eastbank

rgerge

Eastbank, my barber's renovating his building (7 store fronts) in a 150 year old building, he gives me about 300 pounds of old lead pipes evry two weeks or so. I'm pretty sure they're almost pure lead, they melt very quickly and make a great minie`ball. I pull them out of the wood at my gun range and check the rifling marks and they are really getting ahold of the barrel. If you know of any place I can get the upgraded sights, I'd appreciate the info.
Thanks.

Email me your mailing address and I'll send you a batch in a few different sizes.

eastbank

new marbles sights are availible and ones for the sharps amonge others, they can be mounted on the wood at the wrist or on the tang(thats what i did) also on out the barrel at the open sight locacation, what you have to do is find the one with the right curviture for where you want to mount it. the best for me was on the tang,i had two holes drilled and tapped for the distence between the holes on the base of the sight, the closer to your eye the better. you will want a good sight with a positive detent when its up right in the shooting position. i would have the rear sight put on first and shoot it to see how high you will need the fron sight to be, a shorty ramp is good as you can put on higher or lower front blades as needed.(a lyman 17-a globe is good also and you can change inserts, but may need a dove tail cut into your barrel). eastbank.