My Minie Experience with the Zouave
Saw that this thread was old but I am too so, in the interest of information for those looking for it, I thought I would post this.
I wound up with 2 of the Zouaves. Both of these were made by Zoli and both nice looking rifles. After doing alot of searching on the net, I decided to give it a go with what I had plus the addition of another mould. I even wound up buying a few .580" Minie's from Track of the Wolf (TOW).
Turns out the Alliant Black MZ that I picked up at our LGSworked the best with the heavier Minies but with a lighter Lyman design, I had better luck usig 777 powder in 2f granulation.
All my shooting was done at 50 yds. I avoided Pyrodex due to my experiences with the rust it caused in a gun I had when Pyrodex first came out. I just won't use it anymore.
The first Zoli liked slugs cast at .578" on up so I wound up getting the best accuracy using the TOW .580" Minies. I was getting 1000-1100 fps using 70-80 gr. (by volume)with the Alliant Black MZ. I also got good accuracy using 60-70 gr volume of 777 but with alot more kick and same velocity using less powder. The lighter weight Lyman "target" minies did just great with 60 gr. 777 and got velocity in the 1200- 1250 fps range. They only worked after "beagling" the mould out to throw a .578" slug. (Go to castboolits-gunloads.com & look up "beagling".) The Black MZ took more powder to get same velocity. So, these are good propellants to use although I think the Black MZ is a lot easier on the shoulder.
The 2nd Zoli tuned out to be a completely different animal. It had a smaller bore so liked .575" Minies. However, I couldn't hit a 12" target at 50 yds and the shots were all over the place. Long story short...The first rifle was glass bedded and Zoli #2 was not. After glass bedding #2, the accuracy came right up there. Both rifles shot high and one had the front sight soldered(brazed?) on off center. That was the #2 POS rifle. I might get around to rectifying that one of these days.
So, the rifles both put the Minies into 1-1/2 to 2" 3-shot groups @50 yds. Plenty good for deer. Will have to take it out to 100 yd. range now & see what it will do this coming summer.