I have a Armi sport reproduction 1861 Springfield and I can load round balls really easy in it but every conical bullet ive tried are too big. They wont enter the barrel more then the first ring on the bottom of the bullet if i push really hard it starts shearing off some of the lead. Is the barrel on the musket not the correct dia or are the bullets too big?
Ive tried the hornady ones and the TC maxi balls, the TC ones I cant even get the first ring to go in the barrel

It's probably got a slightly under-size bore, since you don't have issues loading PRB's, that rules out a crown issue. If you check around, you can find mini molds in different diameters, you need to slug/cast your bore and then find a mold that will drop the bullet diameter you need. If you can get the over-size bullets to start in the muzzle strait, they will likely work but if they are too tight and/or enter at an angle, they ain't gonna work.

easyist way to slug the bore. take the over sized minnie start it down the barrel leaving enought sticking out that you can get a pair of pliers on it. turn it 1/2 turn pull it out and mike it. get a bullet that is .001 to. 002 under the size you come up with. how loose is the round ball you tried. mike it to. see what you get.If you are going to use minies suggest you also get a sizing die one you know what size you need.

one last thing minies need to be dead soft lead or the base will not expand to take the rifling.

Going to mention this, even though it's as make-shift as anything ever posted.

So long as we are talking pure lead and hollow base mini-balls, this has worked, but you have to be careful.

Two pieces of plate glass (mostly becasue i had it on hand...could use anything hard and smooth).
Place bullet on one, and ROLL IT with the other while pressing down firmly.
Stop and measure often.


Can end up with bullets that just barely won't slide down the bore, but with the traditional HP, will expand and take rifleing. Get ham-handed or too lazy to stop and measure, and you'll get them too small.

ribbonstone, thats true mountain-man engineering:D. another one for you is using a candle shoved down bored,pulled and measured for bore size. seen it done.

Am willing to bet the same two procedures (rolling and a candle for slugging) were not so uncommon back when these guns were all there was.

ribbonstone,we can only dream of those days. today we dream of taxes:cool: