A question for the real pros.

[docone31]

I got this great Brandy New! Minie mold for my wife's Hawken.
It drops at .545.
Her bore is .54.
I got the Minie' for easier loading, now it is an hammer special like the R.E.A.L.
Is this unusual?
I do not mind hammer starting the Minie', I do it for my R.E.A.l.s.
I now understand false muzzles a little better.
Any ideas here, I do not want to send the mold back, I waited months for it to come.
I always thought they slid in.

[Underclocked]

Not a real pro but ... are you casting in pure lead (purest you can find). Is that measurement at the top band/nose? What does it measure on the bottom band?

[59sharps]

I got this great Brandy New! Minie mold for my wife's Hawken.
It drops at .545.
Her bore is .54.
I got the Minie' for easier loading, now it is an hammer special like the R.E.A.L.
Is this unusual?
I do not mind hammer starting the Minie', I do it for my R.E.A.l.s.
I now understand false muzzles a little better.
Any ideas here, I do not want to send the mold back, I waited months for it to come.
I always thought they slid in.

If your bore is 540 you need to size the minnie to 538. your 454 as cast is .004 over the bore that will not work!:castmine:

[oldhickory]

I agree with both the above posts, cast your Minies of pure soft lead and size to .001-.002 UNDER bore dia. and lube with a soft non-petroleum lube. That will work very well for you, they should slide right down with little pressure on the ramrod.

[masscaster]

Hi docone,
The Lyman Minie projectile that the folks around here get from me is a #533476 - 410 gr.
It casts slightly larger than that, but this is what alot of them get from me.
I don't have a .54 cal. ML, but at .534 Pb 99.00%/1.00% Tn it works well.
Jeff @ Forefather's

[docone31]

Yeah, I went to the range today and fire one. I had to hammer it into the bore, and pound the rod to get it into battery.
It fired well, hit hard on the berm, went where I pointed it, but, it is too wide.
I will be sending it back for the .533 Minie. The .540 Minie is too large.
Found some rust in the bore from the previous owner. I sent several R.E.A.L.s down the bore with lapping compound on them. Got less rust resistance as I fired.
I also smeared some on some patches. The balls fire real well also. They were .535. A .530 sould go down real sweet.

[mooman76]

I bought minies(3) for my 50's for the same reason. All the Lees come out just over .50 like .502 or .503. The first one goes in not too bad but after the first shot they are light and I might as well use the REALs. Lee spects them out to .500 which I have never understood. My Lee 58 mould drops at .575 and works great. I'll have to break down and buy a sizer one of these days.

[Freebore]

A Minie boolit should be undersized to the bore in diameter, but your's may not be. I'd say mash some lead into the muzzle, and micrometer (mic, measure) the slug. It is obvious that you have a mismatch of dimensions. The Minie boolit should be an undersized projectile with an expanding rifiling engagement skirt. Measure your cast boolit too. Good luck!

[Freebore]

I'm sorry, I got ahead of your first post. It seems that your mold is not right for the rifle. You have measured the cast boolit and it is too large, so another mould option seems necessary.

[docone31]

I found the box it came in, and I am going to send it back.
I will have them send me a .530 ball mold. I do have R.E.A.L.s for it, and they work absolutely great! I mean dead on at 100yds.
Don't really need a Minie'.
Thanks for the input guys.

[KCSO]

First IF your rife has a twist suitable for a minnie (54= 1/32) the minnie should slide down a clean bore with little or no resistance. The whole iidea of a minie is to speed loading. You size minnies just like you size any other bullet and Dixie use to sell the sizing dies. How could a mould manufacturer make a minnie that would just slide down your bore and everyone elses? The REAL may be your best choice if you have to fire a bullet as they work in a lot slower twist than a minnie.

Now, what is wrong or percieved to be wrong with a round ball? A 50 caliber ball backed by 80 grains of FFg will shoot clear through a buffalo side to side and drop him dead. A round ball properly loaded will shoot into 3 inches or less at 100 yards. What are you doing with the gun that demands more bullet weight, or is the gun designed for bullets?

[docone31]

KC, the rifle is a Dikkert Plains Rifle. The ramrod makes 1/2 twist down the bore while cleaning. I think, 1-66 twist.
I finally got a .490 mold for my Hawken and tried it.
You are right about the round ball!
I am sending the mold back and getting a .530 mold for my wife's rifle. We have .535s now. They are a tight fit. I could literally shove the patched ball in the bore with my .50.
I like to experiment. This one was a no fly.
Patched balls, and R.E.A.L.s. They do seem to work best.
My home made lube is really effective. No fouling, fast cleanup. Hot water almost dissolves it.
It stinks though.