50 cal Lyman GPR & Lee modern or improved minie ball? Anyone?

[bedbugbilly]

I have a flint Lyman Great Plains Rifle in 50 cal (purchased from RFD a while back). I have always shot round ball and saved "minies" for my 58 cal. rifled muskets.

When I sent an order in to Titan a while back, I had them throw on one of the Lee 50 "modern" hollow base minie ball molds - this is the one that looks like a wadcutter with tumble lube type grooves the length of it. For the price, I thought I would give one a try. I cast a few up the other day but it will be a while before I can get to try them out.

Just curious if anybody has tried these out of a 50 or even Lee;s 54 cal minie out of your 54 cal rifle? All of my rifles have "slow twist" so I'm kind of curious as to whether they'll fly well or if it will be a fizzle as far as accuracy? The ones I cast the other day seem to be a good fit at the muzzle. If you use either of them, what charge are you using. (I only use black powder). I'm sure they would work better out of the faster twist "Hunter" barrel but it seems like if the right charge was found, they'd be OK out of a slow twist at shorter ranges.

So has anybody tried them out of their GPR with a slow twist barrel?

I have a Mowry rifle that is .50 but it is an iron receiver model that had the unsupported tumbler and it is on the "loose-goosey" side. I haven't had time to call Deer Creek yet to see if they have any of the internals and if not, if I can't make the repair I'm thinking about to tighten the action up, I'll probably pull that barrel and have it so I can switch it out on one of my under hammer rifles. The barrel is pristine so I'm kind of hoping that either the "modern" or "improved" minie ball might work well. It would be fun to have another projectile to switch off to for a change from the tradition patched round ball just to mix things up a little.

Thanks for any info you can share.

Jim

[mooman76]

I tried them out of several CVA rifles. A Mountain rifle and a Inline and a couple others. They shot ok at best or at least good enough for deer but I gave up pretty quick. They fit a little tight for any of my guns, especially after the first fouling shot. I figured if they didn't slip down the barrel very easy, I might as well stick to the REALs. I thought about a sizer but would have to have one made since they don't have one that size. I actually tried both of their minies in the 50 cal. and they shot about the same for me.

[koger]

Having tried them years ago, my results mirrored those already posted. IMHO, there are too many other good slugs and molds out there, to go with this one. I have been making Lyman .50 and .54 Plains bullets, and shooting them with great accuracy, in a 1-48 twist.

[Edward]

I had that same mold and dumped it after 1 range session using my lyman 50 /1-48 and my TC Hawken 50 with GM 1-28 barrel ,you might find it works for you
but I consider it a small ingot mold

[bedbugbilly]

Thanks all - greatly appreciate your comments. I heard from another experienced shooter and he pretty much echoed what all of you have said. The ones I cast up were a decent but tighter fit at the muzzle than what I would prefer. I'm used to shooting rifled musket where I like my minies to be about .002 less than bore diameter - these Lee .50 are nowhere near that. When I looked at the mold, I was thinking . . . or rather asking myself, why Lee wouldn't make them a tad under .500 as in .498 -.499. As mentioned, after the first shot, my concern is the fouling and I have a feeling they would require a patch between shots. I also considered that they could be "sized", but there doesn't seem to be much in the line of sizers that will work for BP boolits like these in the correct dimensions.

I figured for the inexpensive price of the mold I would give it a try. If it doesn't work out, I can always sell or give it away to someone who has a faster twist barrel that they might work better in.

Greatly appreciate the info. Sort of like using conicals in a BP cap and ball recover. I have shot 51 Navies for years and many years ago, I decided to give conicals a try- well, for some, they work and thats fine. For me, I went back to the round ball as I still get the best accuracy out of them. My conical mold went bye bye and my RB mold is still serving me well after 50 sone years of dropping 'em. LOL

Thanks to all!

Jim

[mooman76]

I was wondering why he didn't make them a tad smaller either. The larger moulds are a tad under bore size. Min usually come out .501/2 and I have to struggle to get that. After the mould heats up good, they come out even bigger so I try not to let the mould get too hot.

[rfd]

them REALs are bullets and so require a faster twist than had with a slow twist PB barrel, so they'd work best in a GPH, not a GPR. i've used 'em in GPR (1:60) and lyman trade (1:48) rifles (both were .50's), and for me they can be minute-of-deer at shorter distances, but that's about it from my experience. if there is a larger need to shoot REALs or minies from these guns exclusively, a caliber make-over by a good barrel man like bobby hoyt can be a gun changing experience. open that .50 up to a .54 with a real fast twist and now yer talking some REAL fun.

[Good Cheer]

bedbugbilly,
My GPR's are left handed and so couldn't get a fast twist flinter barrel. I've never fired a shot through the .50 barrel on the GPR, only shot the .54. That deeper GPR rifling can work with a thick walled hollow base but it requires enough powder to slam shut the gaps to prevent gas cutting. The 60" twist is effectively "faster" in .54 than in a .50...

I got no idea how well a thick walled fifty cal minie and heavy charges to seal off would work.
Maybe a .492" diameter hollow base paper patched? Or maybe fifty minies patched and sized to fit in the bore?

[Good Cheer]

Hey by the way, does anybody know offhand what the groove diameter on fifty GPR's might be?
Figger .50 plus .010 on each side... that's .52. So for a lubed boolit you might want to have the leading band .52 to act like a maxiball or REAL and the hollow base .50?