I bought a Colt Reproduction 1863 Springfield Rifle way back when Colt first produced their Series of Reproduction Black Powder Firearms. I finally decided to try to shoot my 1863 rifle. I have zero knowledge of black powder. I have watch Hitchcock on youtube load and shoot his 1863 Springfield.

I am looking to get information from members who have experience with Black Powder Rifles and the 1861/1863 Springfield rifle.

Your advice and suggestions will Greatly be Appreciated.

Dane

1) Look up Casting Minnie Ball Bullets - YouTube
2) Make your own black powder
3) Profit! 
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OK, I am having some fun with you here.   But srsly, my Pop's hobby is fireworks, and I've come over to the house in the summertime, and he's running a drum tumbler on the back patio in the sunshine, full of black powder and 60cal lead balls. He makes his own lifting powder, but all you do to change black powder from one use to another is grind it to a different grain size.

The Colt Signature Series musket was an 1861 Special, not an 1863. The parts were actually made in Italy and assembled by Colt. It's sort of a hybrid between a Springfield and an Enfield.

The good news, I think that musket had rifling more like originals, as in a gain twist or progressive twist.  From what little I recall, I think better able to stabilize a good minnie and prevent stripping of lead.  I don't think the cheaper replicas have this.

The thing is this, good quality minnies that are accurate may be difficult to buy or find readily available.  Perhaps there are some reliable makers of quality minnies out there now.  When I had a musket, the minnies you could buy reliably weren't that good.  To have it shoot accurately, you may have to cast your own minnies from a high quality mold.

So when you are ready to shoot, you want some .575 minie balls, and usually 2F black powder, or Pyrodex RS 2F powder substitute.  You need a good muzzle loader powder measure, usually you will load around 60 - 70 gr for a minie, that or a little more for a patched round ball.  Measuring powder is strictly by volume.  You need a good ball starter if you are going to shoot round ball.

You also need some lube for the minie, I used Natural Lube 1000 from Thompson Center in plastic tubes.  You can get regular scent (yellow) or pine in green tube, great stuff, also to protect the bore after cleaning, smells great.

The musket will also shoot round balls .570 diameter, using patches for .58 cal .010 or .015 thick, I recommend pre lubed T/C or other pre lubed type patches.

For cleaning, you want a rod for a .58 cal musket, cleaning patches (I think I used shotgun patches), a brass jag for .58 cal.  For cleaning, nothing beats Black Solve concentrate, blue in plastic bottles.  Makes 32 oz of cleaning in a std spray bottle you can get at Home Depot.

Last but not least, recommend you get a black powder reloading manual of some kind that covers muzzle loading rifle and musket basics.

Almost forgot, you'll need musket percussion caps that go on the nipple for ignition.  

To go on the cleaning rod, if you shoot round ball, you will want a stuck ball remover (like a little corkscrew thing), or you can get a compressed air devise that goes on the nipple.  Sometimes, rarely, you can have misfires, failed ignition, and need to get the ball or minie out.

Finally, for cleaning, the Black Solve concentrate comes from Dixie Gun Works, a long time supplier of black powder shooting.  They also sell minie's that might shoot decent in this rifle.  They make a brass scraper attachment to screw on end of cleaning rod (just like the jag & ball remover),  it scrapes crud off the face of the breach plug at bottom of barrel.

I see that the OP is located in Pennsylvania. That's not too far from Winchester, Virginia, where the North-South Skirmish Association Nationals are held twice a year. (The next one is coming up May 18-21.) The sutlers at the event will have everything you need for shooting, including the best-designed Minie balls. All the well-known suppliers, including Dixie Gun Works, S&S Firearms, Winchester Sutler, etc., have stalls there on a regular basis.

Instead of trying to load with loose powder and ball, you should use paper cartridges like the Civil War troops did. Much more convenient, and you are less likely to make a mistake like double-charging.

Thanks!

Dane

Dane,

AlexanderA is correct.  The N-SSA Spring National is your best bet to get the items you need to shoot your rifle musket.