casting ML maxi boolits

[matthewquigley]

ok i scored 100 lbs of new stick-on weights 99.9 % leadnew in boxes:) i have a Lee .515 500 grain mold i just made a bullet/sizing lube of 3/4 pound crisco(white), 1/2 pound clean fresh beeswax, 2 teaspoons of bore butter i will pan lube and then size in a lee .510 push thru sizer then again thru a custom lee .505 sizer (push thru) to make a bore size conical for my knight 50 cal , and for the 54 cal guns i have(knights) then thru a push thru lee .501 and into a purple sabot
my guns all like real heavy bullets and 70-80 grain charges(495 grain no excuses shoot great in my 50 cal) :castmine: i just wanna make 'em myself :twisted: any flaws in my plan?

[rob45]

The lead should work fine.
I have no experience with the mold you're wanting to use, but you might want to check the dimensions on the lube grooves. Lots of times when you size a bullet down too far either the lube grooves collapse or may even disappear altogether, but like I said, I do not know the particular dimensions of your mold. Course that won't matter in a sabot in your .54, but still might want to check in the .50
Let us know how it works.

[Underclocked]

It will probably be a fairly slick-sided bullet with not a heck of a lot of lube groove left at the .505 and I expect you to see significant shearing at .501.

But you won't know until you get there to see if they are actually going to shoot well in sabots.

.505 might be a skosh big for that Knight .50 unless it's one of the older models that had somewhat bigger bores. Could be pretty tough to start.

[docone31]

I find it a little confusing.
However, dish soap should be a good lube if you are going to sabot the loads. Any other lube will be lost in the translation. The sabot will be enough.
It sounds like you are going to use the prime casting as the core sabot. The dish soap washes off really quickly. Just run some hot water over the castings after sizeing. Piece of cake.
They should be good stout castings.
Let us know.

[mooman76]

I've never shot sabots but I thought you didn't need to lube bullets when using sabots anyway. Am I wrong in my thinking?

[Ohio Rusty]

When I had a .50 caliber hawken years ago (before I fell into the sickness of historical re-enacting) I would lube my maxi bullets and roll the bullet up in a piece of wax paper and twist both ends shut. I would put 6 or 8 of these wrapped lubed bullets in my bag. Thw wax paper kept the bullets clean, and when I needed to load a bullet, I would tear off the bottom of the wax paper cartridge, and squeeze the bullet out of the wax paper into the end of the barrel. The wax paper helped keep the lube gooves filled, and it didn't matter if I used soft or hard lube. I preferred soft lubes like bore butter, or lubes with a crisco like consistency.
Ohio Rusty ><>

[Underclocked]

He's going to need the lube for the full bore sized conical for his .50 caliber Knight. The lube will also help prevent collapse of the lube grooves while sizing. He really doesn't need it for use as a sabot load in the .54, but the shearing may be pretty terrible in getting it sized down to .501.

My guess is the two-step sizing to get to .505 would work and produce a decent conical (not a Maxi at all, by the way), but the 3-step sizing may yield a pretty badly distorted bullet.
That's only a guess though and it won't hurt to try it.

Bullshop does size some from .515 moulds down to .504 or even a bit less. They look a bit funny due to the compression along the sides, but they shoot GREAT.

[matthewquigley]

will my lube mix be a good one??????? for sizing and shooting in the 50?

[Underclocked]

I think it would work just fine but that's only a guess as I've not used that mix.

What are the two teaspoons full of bore butter supposed to do for ya? :)

[matthewquigley]

well it worked out !!!!!!! i have a conical that is 502 grains and it sized down to.510 and then .505 perfectly(50 cal knight)!!!!!!!!! and down to .5015 (for my 54 cal sabot loads) and it still has its lube grooves with lube in them!!!!!!!!!!!!!!:drinks: it also has a bigger metplat than the noexcuses slug! now for the shooting! woo hoo deer beware!!!!!!!:twisted:

oh the bore butter was in the recipe i was given for blackpowder lube :coffee:
1 pound white crisco or beef or mutton tallow
1/2 pound clean beeswax
2 teaspoons of bore butter

[Underclocked]

Got pics of the final products? :)

Have you run one through the bore of that Knight yet?

[matthewquigley]

i gotta figure out how to do a pic:smile: :lovebooli

the .505 dia engraves the bore with a ball starter tight but about like the 495 gr no excuses slug i was using in my 50 cal!!!!!!!!!!! tried a .501 in a purple mmp and it is awesome in the 54 knight 10-15 lbs down the tube!!! till it hit the charge i will shoot this weekend hopefully i will be looking for a 45 cal mold approx 300 grains to use with a sabot with WW alloy in my smokeless savage ml10 next if these shoot

[rob45]

Glad to hear you're doing well on making the bullets; let us know how they shoot. You aren't planning on deer hunting with that Savage in IN, are you? I write letters every year arguing how senseless that law is. Funny how they'll let us use up to a 50BMG on anything except deer!

Anyways, best of luck at the range, and please keep us posted.

[matthewquigley]

rob45,

you can use the ml10 in indiana's regular gun season and muzzleloader seasons! they are legal weapons since it loads from the muzzle it qualifies as a ML I bought one for the reasons of its legal, no maintenence, great accuracy and TOTal reliability the outdoorsman sport shop in greenwood indiana sells 100's of these a year

[rob45]

Hey, that's great! When did they change it? Had to have been within the past few years? I haven't hunted IN deer season in over 10 years because I always went south so I could use the rifles. I did see where they finally allow a couple years back the rifles chambered for handguns, but I have yet to act on that.

Guess that's what happens when I don't keep current; just never needed to since I've been hunting away from home for so long. There's another thread asking about the Savage ML in which I also stated this inaccuracy, man, do I ever feel like an idiot now!

Thanks for the heads up, and I'll go to the other thread and correct myself.

You still going to the range this weekend? I'm interested in how your project turns out.

[matthewquigley]

well i finally got to shoot!!!!! the .5015 bullet (the .515 500 grain lee made for bp rifles) in an mmp purple and 85 grains of 3F 777 was into an inch and a quarter@100 yrds!!!!!!!!! my .5045 version of this same bullet in my 50 cal knight with 70 grains of 3f 777 was all in a ragged hole @100 :holysheep wow this was a blast and the lube i made for these was awesome!solid and almost non sticky!!!and barrels cleaned up with coupla brakekleener patches and windex :smile::smile::smile::smile::smile::smile: