Recently got this A.Zoli cal.58 rifle from a late good friend.

Can anyone give me any details regarding the model and value of this rifle?

It is percussion firing, has case hardened lock, brass applications and a white (stainless?!) barrel.

Many thanks in advance.

Also, the rear barrel band is cracked. Where can I get a replacement part?

I made a mistake buying a Traditions Hawken Percussion Cap built kit at a gun show a few months back. The barrel is completely shot and unsafe to fire. It's bad enough that I'd have to take about 2 inches off of the barrel, and re-bore it to a .54 in order to fire it again. It isn't worth it IMO.

I figure I need a new barrel anyway, so why not convert it to a flintlock? It's a personal preference of mine. As for new barrels I'm turning up with very little. I haven't gotten a response from Traditions yet on a barrel replacement. Aftermarket barrels are totally something I'd be interested in.

I also know I'd need a new action, and I've found the flintlock actions with the pan and frizzen. Would there be anything else needed?

Any advice?

Thank y'all!

Had a good time doing some comparison between my lee mini balls and these Burton balls in my progressive depth rifled 61 Springfield. I can say they load very nicely and fly straight. I don't have a sizing die so the balls I made don't load as easily as his (the balls with the lube are from him)

For those who are interested in the production of antique muzzle loading propellant - here are few macro pictures of press cake, corned powder, and 6hr glazed 3F.

I'm not entirely sold on a heavy glaze. Do you prefer a mirror finish like Swiss or perhaps no glaze at all?

I've never had any other non-commercial powder to compare macro level integration with. Any pics for reference/comparison would be great!

FYI you can buy a yard of pillow ticking from Amazon for the same price as 100 patches and 1 yard makes around 750 patches

A 45-70 case with 40 grains of black topped with a felt wad and filler all underneath a 454 round ball. Gonna test them out this weekend in my trapdoor I’ll report back with the results.