1861 Springfield .58Cal musket revisited

[Marshal Deadwood]

A pard got himself a .58springfield ,,Pedersoli...rifled musket,,and is in a delima about what size mini bulllet to shoot in it. There are a couple of different sizes,,skirted, and 'heavy' skirted,,solid base,,etc,,and he wanted me to see if you fellas had some expertise you would share on bullet selection as he gets started learning his rifle/musket.

He is worried more about a 'too small' bullet moving forward off the powder charge right now.

Thank you

MD

[Joe Lansing]

    The 2008 Dixie Gun Works catalog recommends a .575 minnie for the Pedersoli 1861 Springfield rifle musket.

                                                                             J.L.

[Arizona Trooper]

What is he planning to do with it? For plinking out to 100 yards, I'd suggest the Hogden mini. I believe RCBS sells the mold as the N-SSA bullet. It weighs ~420 grains and is very accurate. The ballistic coefficient is rather low, so it starts dropping fast past 100 yards. For longer ranges, it's hard to beat the Lyman New Style Mini (which is an N-SSA adaptation of the Harpers Ferry designed "Old Style") A very good shooting bullet is the Bridesburg Armory Wilkinson. That is a flat based bullet with wedge shaped grease groves. It expands by collapsing the grooves. It shoots very clean and is very accurate, but needs to fit the bore pretty closely, so you really need to know the bore diameter of your musket. All of these need to be cast in pure, soft lead to shoot well.