Lee improved Minnie

[peter nap]

I tried some Lee Improved Minnies in my half stock 58 with the DeHaas barrel. It's a 1:48 and shoots patched round balls well enough to hunt with but not brag on.

Boy does it love those Minnies though. After a fouling shot and brushing in between shots, I put three of them in front of 95 grains of Goex FF, in one fairly neat hole at 25 yards.
At 50 yards, a tight cloverleaf and at 100, a looser but still nice 2 inch group.

[docone31]

Way to go!
I was wondering about them.

[Hellgate]

That's a nice deer or elk load. My Musketoon, 58 Hawken, and Zouave all like a heavy skirted minie like the 575213-OS or the 577611. I'll have to check out the improved minie. Are you shooting pure, dead soft lead or a slightly harder alloy? The reason I ask is the thinner skirted minies flare out under heavy charges and lose accuracy. I'd just LOVE to get a 2" group at 100yds. My 90gr charges or FFg & FFFg in my guns are set to shoot 5" high @ 50yds to be right on at 100 yds.

[peter nap]

That's a nice deer or elk load. My Musketoon, 58 Hawken, and Zouave all like a heavy skirted minie like the 575213-OS or the 577611. I'll have to check out the improved minie. Are you shooting pure, dead soft lead or a slightly harder alloy? The reason I ask is the thinner skirted minies flare out under heavy charges and lose accuracy. I'd just LOVE to get a 2" group at 100yds. My 90gr charges or FFg & FFFg in my guns are set to shoot 5" high @ 50yds to be right on at 100 yds.

The mix was 1 pound WW to 3 pounds of stick ons. I guess that fits in the sorta soft category.

[Hellgate]

The stick ons are pretty soft. I suspect your WWs are adding enough strength to the alloy that you are getting a good upset and seal with the heavy loads that you might not get with a light target load (40-50grs FFg). Try a lighter charge and see if they hold their accuracy. I found if I had anything harder than dead soft lead the thicker skirts would not upset and I got poor accuracy.

See photo for proof of effectiveness of the Musketoon & minie.

[peter nap]

The stick ons are pretty soft. I suspect your WWs are adding enough strength to the alloy that you are getting a good upset and seal with the heavy loads that you might not get with a light target load (40-50grs FFg). Try a lighter charge and see if they hold their accuracy. I found if I had anything harder than dead soft lead the thicker skirts would not upset and I got poor accuracy.

See photo for proof of effectiveness of the Musketoon & minie.

You might be right. I'll drop back and see what they do at 50 + grains. I wanted to work up a hunting load so I started on the higher end. If the accuracy drops off, I'll leave the WW's out and try again.

As hard as BP is to find now, I need to start shooting lighter loads at the bench. I lost my local dealer for Swiss and had to buy Goex but the Goex dealer died and the people running the store now, are starting to fuss about the cost and regulations involved with it.