Shot the Zouave Today

I shot it today with .562 and .570 PRBs, and a few .575 Minies. Just some offhand shooting from about 35 yards. The first three shots were on top of 50 grains of Goex FFg but after those I bumped it up to 60 grains. For ignition I used Scheutzen musket caps.

The .562s load easily with a .020" patch while the .570s are a tight fit with the same, but once started seat easily on the powder. The .570s were noticeably easier to load with 0.018" pillow ticking patches.

I lubed the patches with Hoppe's No. Plus and the Minies with Bumblin Bear Grease that I smeared on with my fingers. I didn't need to wipe the bore until after I was done.

The Minies loaded easily as well. They are from Track of the Wolf, were cast in a Lyman 575-213 mold, and should weigh about 510 grains (well over an ounce).

With the 60 grain service charge it's only doing about 950 - 1,000 FPS. On a sunny day you can see them go downrange. However, because of the weight they have a ton of momentum. During the Civil War, if these struck bone in an extremity it meant amputation if the poor guy didn't die from shock. Even with today's medicine the result would often be same. People talk about the "high powered 5.56mm bullet used in AR-15s," but it's nothing compared to a Minie ball.

Recoil of the patched round balls and Minies was pretty mild in the ~9 lb. Zouave. I'll probably just use round balls if I take it hunting but bump the powder charge up to 70 or 80 grains, mainly to flatten the trajectory. At close range even with 60 grains a patched ball would have a good chance of blowing right though a Pennsylvania whitetail, but loading it hotter will make it easier to hit past 50 yards due to less drop.

Incidentally, that's a .45 caliber rifle to the left.

I'm used to shooting rifles with set triggers so the military trigger of the Zouave took some getting used to, but overall I'm really happy with the gun. Offhand accuracy was good but of course I'll both bench it and shoot it offhand at 50 yards to see what it's really capable of. But it's looking promising for use during the early antlerless deer season here in PA.