Never shot an inline before but picked up a Traditions G4 ultralight to give the flinters a break during elk season. I have the LEE 320 REAL mould but am not able to push her fast and accuracy at 100 yards suffers. Was hoping someone could recommend a mould that would fit this rifle, shoot a bit faster and flatter and produce good groups at 100 yards.
look into paper patching threads here.
you'll soon be barraged with tips, hints, suggestions by the paper-patch crowd. but if ya don't want to get that involved ya might try the Lyman Great Plains bullets.
earlier today there was a mould available in the swappin & sellin section.
oops, looks like that mould is sold.
Never used it in my inline, but that is my go to bullet in my Hawken. I've killed quite a few deer with it
For what it's worth, it's pretty easy to get decent performance with the plastic sabots and .44 SWCs. I've killed a few deer with those in my inline.
Try some of the Powerbelts. Legal in Idaho leads my gun, but the copper plated shoot like a house afire.
lyman 370gr maxi ball mould.
i have one of these molds. not enough bearing surface for a fast twist unless you harden up the lead a little so it will not strip.Originally Posted by FrontierMuzzleloading
For a stock bullet mold my advise would be the Lyman Plains, it is a 395 Grain bullet. IN MY OPINION The Key to shooting this bullet well, and any other bullet is a good Over powder wad, .060 thou Vegetable fibre, or .060 Poly. Another good option is Oxyoke wool over powder wads, for .50 Cal i would advise you get .54 Cal wool wads to create the best possible gas seal behind the bullet.
Are you interested in shooting paper patch bullets? If so, That is a WHOLE different deal, With more options. You need a few more things to Paper Patch, but more than well worth it in my opinion and MANY others!! If interested I'll gladly give advise, and pictured results. If you are NOT interested there is no need to go any further on the subject.
You mention not being able to push the 320 Grain Lee R.E.A.L. Fast, Are you looking for a particular Speed number?
What .54bore said - +1. Only you can find your desired level of performance. Paper patching isn't as troublesome as it might first appear. On the other hand, over-powder cards and wool wads can really allow you to speed things up with accuracy.
If wanting a mold only.
No store bought products.
Anybody's maxi or solid B/P cast bullet will show average results. But there are better techniques and bullets to get extreme performance from a 1-28 twist. Some here prefer paper patching a heavy weight pistol bullet. (I) prefer only one manufacture who makes the best bullet / sabot combination I have ever experimented with.
As far as the REAL cast your already using. Maybe a change in powder brand or the addition of a button wad would help? I wouldn't just give up on the Real. Keep experimenting. That's the only way I know to improve/ overcome and turn a thought disappointment into a bona fided winner.
Last edited by OverMax; 06-08-2017 at 08:57 AM.
That faster twist will probably work better for you with more lead rather than flatter.
Maxi's work as well as they do mostly because of the longer bearing length providing alignment. An even heavier boolit with long bearing length might be a good thing.
Have you checked out Accurate Molds? He makes an awesome mold, not cheap. Measure your bore and go and look at his online catalog. There is a 400grn made for the White Muzzleloader 50-400w? i think. Its a .502 diam. Also you can buy on line from "no excuses " he sells slip fit lead conicals his measure .501 he can make .500 if requested. I've shot them in a 1-28 twist and had decent results.
the 370gr maxiball mould is a great shooting bullet in the traditions barrels. I used to cast them and shoot them from a traditions LDR and a Strikerfire.
80gr Clean shot, CCI Inline MZL primers, home cast 370gr Maxiball @ 100 yards.
this is how you make your very good rifle shoot tight groups at any range. the math never ever lies. a bullet 1.2 long. pure lead. if your going to paper patch it, dry wrap it and before that, size to .492 before you wrap. if your using a cast grooved lubed bump up bullet, make it about .498 sized to go down the bore with out diff. use a 60 thousands stiff wad behind the bullet. if you muzzle of your gun has the lands relieved for easy loading of sabots, forget cast or paperpatched bullets until you have the barrel cut back behind it and recrowned. either dry wrap with number nine paper or single wrap as you load with 18 pound freezer wrap paper. i use the very method i posted to you and my 50 cal paperpatched bullet stay in one hole at 100 yards with out ever any fliers. the math and this method never gives bad groups, it the science of shooting accurately.
A bullet 1.2" long will weigh 600 Grains or more and is ABSOLUTELY unnecessary! I went this route 1 time and it was by far the worst advise i have recieved on this forum. The Lyman plains bullet i mentioned is .85" and weighs right at 400 Grains, i have shot super tight 1" Groups CONSISTENTLY through my 1:28" Green Mountain LRH in .50 Cal, i have also shot this same exact little .85" bullet through 2 of My TC Scouts and they are REALLY fast twist at 1:20" twist, The .85" bullet shoots just as good in both of my Scouts. I have tried the Long 550 grain bullets from BACO in my 1:28 twist 50 Cal and they shot worse than anything ive tried! The shorter 450s Shot pretty well. This bullet length to twist in these Muzzleloaders is GARBAGE! It might come in to play at 1000 yards, but what good is it at 1000 yards if they dont shoot good at 100 yards? Totally DEBUNKED!
Well, I have had decent luck with a 550gn, 1.2" bullets. BUT...the problem is to keep them supersonic at range and stay within the load limits of my gun (Lyman GPH). At 70yd they are ok. Don't know if they will hold up past 100yd.
450gn PP bullets are good to 100yd. Have not tried them further. Same with the Great Plains 385gn bullet.
The stability equations do work, BUT, you do have to take into account that the 'common ones' (greenhill and miller) are intended for supersonic bullets. When the bullets fall below supersonic the transition does funny things to ballistics. Bullet stability is an interesting science. Played with it a lot when in the service.
i strand by the math. why do i get one hole groups at 100 yards using this math. why do all the shooters ive advised through my web site shoot perfect groups? 100 yards, 500 yards and beyond. why did the british army use the very math i use/ because it is rock solid. the two brothers i taught this to and helped design a bullet for who wins every 500 match they go to with hand sized groups win. its the math. badger 50 cal barrels use a 1/27 twist and shoot a 600 to 650 grain bullet to win matches.you use words that are quite strong but give no facts. just because you cant make them work, is it no one else can? i have no probem, neither does any one of the many phone calls for help i get every week. all of them are building rifles with my math and no and i mean no one has ever said it didnt work perfect. marine corp gunney sarg. col. in the marines, other gun builders. im very sorry you have failed to do the same. im not going to try to try to figure out why but you can keep down grading my work and math. then why do i keep getting phone calls every week and they are all happy. my math is correct and my guns are shooters. many have said so here that own a gun i made. you can keep saying the things about me that you do but it wont change a thing. im sought out for advice, are you? im trusted and well known for giving away information for free and the joy of it. that will remain so and you have also helped me receive more phone consult calls every week. thanks for that. i wish you the best luck with you shooting, and your printed big words will not change anything for me, just make it better. thanks for that.
charlie b, im sorry but the green hill formula was invented in the 1800/s not for supersonic bullets. using the factor of 150. now days a factor of 120 is used for 1000 yards shooting, a factor of 135 is used for 500 yard shooting and for 100 yards a factor of 150 minus 1 or 2. the green hill was never ment for super sonic. badger barrel when they were made used 1/27 twist and shot 650 gain bullets. when lone star remingtons made a 50 cal they used a 1/24 twist and shot 700 to 750 grain bullets. i sold a custom 50 cal side lock to a man to hunt elk with with a 1/23 twist shot a 724 grain bullet pin point accurate all the time. i have a lot of satisfied customers that shoot my accurate rifles, all with barrels cut to the math i figured for them. not a bad one in the bunch. my current custom inline muzzleloader with the pp 50 cal bullet for it gets one hole groups called bumblebee groups. that is the size of them at 100 yards. i dont have to prove anything or tweek anything thats already been done. i have a lot of joy passing this info on to those who want to use it.
Another thing one needs to take in to consideration is Recoil, the average man will shoot a lighter bullet that kicks far less a bunch better than a big heavy bullet that belts you like a mule kicks, now take that recoil into consideration when trying to squeeze the trigger on a long distance target, say 200-300 yards, it starts to play mind games with you and the average joe will start flinching.
As most have seen i am shooting my .45 Cal GM LRH 1:30 twist all the way out to 500 yards, one of the BIG reasons i am able to do this is quite simple, LIGHT RECOIL compared to say my .54 Cal With 535 grain bullet. One can play MACHO/He-man all he wants, but eventually the big recoiling guns will start to break you down.
According to the 'MATH' for a 1:28 twist the S&W 500 is not long enough at .9, and the Lyman Great Plains is even shorter yet, at .85, How come these rifles shoot these short bullets so well?
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