(New to me) boolit design For my TC Hawken .50 fast twist

[Edward]

Thanks to the generosity of johnson 1942 I got to use his custom designed 50 cal mold made by Steve Brooks ,said make a pail but I only got to 46LBs and quit as I hope to get his design in 45cal to shoot to 600 yds /been to 400 so far . These get knurled mid way on the borerider end and dipped in BLL ,yup that"s a round ball on the base (gets a thin patch ) !All of this as cast in pure comes out to 543grains probably 85 percent of the time and 15 percent (off) +or minus 1/2 grain ,great for me with heavy boolits!And as I found out it shoots my 200yd zero in 50cal .I will start sorting groups and get serious if it gets a bit warmer (40)
Both my GM fast twist barrels like 90 gr 3F / P.P. Lyman 11mm 45 and S+W 501 in the 50 (thanks idahoron) . Shot a few the day I got the mold (not a patient man) 50/100yd and 1 at 200yd recovered slug in my sand burm private range which weighed
exactly 543.1gr . Not a bad way to beat shoveling snow !190153190154190155190156

[54bore]

I will be following your progress on this! Very interested in how these pan out for you. They sure are odd looking critters! But cool as well

[Edward]

I will be following your progress on this! Very interested in how these pan out for you. They sure are odd looking critters! But cool as well I could send you some as you probably have better eyes and I would like to diversify the research and development ( share the wealth ) and anyone else who is interested (idahoron) being one that comes to mind .Myself or johnson 1942 could run the loading process for you and you will probably be looking for a copy of this mold before to long as aside from paper I suspect 543 grains coming in such a (distinct form ) critter killing will become easy as they will tend to stare until it is too late :bigsmyl2:

[dcryder]

I would be interest in a few as I have a hawkens .50 caliper rifle I would like to try out.

[johnson1942]

they are made for a 1/28 twist 50 cal. how to use them is this. you knarl up the front end by running back and forth between two large clean flatfiles. then lube with a grease that stickes to it(the front part). if your useing real black powder it would be a black powder type grease, if 209 powder , lee alox works very good. to load make a starter out of a 1/2 in wood dowel with a nice square end. put a handle on it. place the bullet over a precut patch on the muzzle. of course the round ball end. the ball measures .493. tap into the bore with a small rubber mallet so the top of the bullet is even with the top of the muzzle. then use you nice home made starter to tap into the bore about 6 inches. when you make your starter you have to thin the diam. of the 1/2 dowel some so the dowel fits in the bore. now with your home made range rod made out of a 1/2 inch thinned wooden dowel push the bullet onto the powder. use no wads under the bullet as the cloth patched base ball end seal the bore. the front part of the bullets slightly engraves and bumps up when the gun goes off. it loads as easy as a roundball does and maybe even easier. it is made for the 1/28 twist 50 cal barrels. i use 80 grains of powder behind the bullet. i get tight groups at 100 yards. never tried it at greater distances but there is no reason it wont shoot as far as you want. again, i did the math so the length of the bullet is made to shoot as far as you want in a 1/28 twist 50 cal rifle. the patch comes off right at the muzzle. the thing about this bullet is its not fussy at all. wipe between rounds and put it on the powder charge that works for you and it will always preform. that 540 grain bullet is a freight train coming and will take anything in north america. now this is what i did to make sure the cost of a mold was worth it. i made a jig for my drill press and with predrilled undersized holes through 50 cal round balls i attached a round ball to a 50 cal cast bullet nade for the 1/48 twist thompsons. i predrilled the hole in the bullets also uses a sheetmetal screw to attach the roundballs to the back of these type of bullets. it looked much like my bullet from my mold. they shoot just as good. so when i saw they shot very accurately i had the mold made by steve brooks. there is now reason you cant make a jig and attach a 45 cal roundball to those thompson cast bullets for a 1/48 twist 45 thompson. that would made the ball bullet combo shoot in a 1/48 twist 45 cal barrel perfectly. no need to make a mold. make a jig for your drill press to drill the holes on center in the ball and bullet. drill them undersized then the sheet metal screw and their you are a new type fast twist bullet. im good at making something out of nothing and the nothing turns out to be something.

[Good Cheer]

Hats off to you sir on that design.
If there was an award for common sense innovation in muzzleloading it would grace your mantle.