Lee 515-450 boolit in 50 BMG, doable?

[15meter]

A friend is going to buy a 50 BMG, we chatted about the possibility of using the Lee 515-450 in it. I have the mold for my 50-70.

Any thoughts? Anybody try it before?

Always looking to expand my catalogue of mouse fart loads!

[Don Purcell]

I would think with that big of a case using a cast bullet that is @ 250 grains less than normal, matching a powder up for it would be an interesting exercise. Love shooting the "Big 50". Keep us informed.

[missionary5155]

Greetings
Fill a case with 3F BP and let it rip !
Mike in Peru

[kens]

I concur, fill the case with Holy Black, and touch it off.
I have shot full case of Black in .375 H&H. the only thing that happens is a mediocre velocity.

[15meter]

I was thinking trail boss or 5744, not sure if my friend wants to get into the black powder clean up drill on a new rifle.

I've had great success with a number of other big bore cartridges shooting light for caliber cast boolits, 480 Ruger cast boolits in a 470 nitro express, lyman's 457122 in a 450 nitro, a 41 mag cast boolit in a 450/400 nitro and a couple of others.

I was hoping to find a starting point from someone who had already tried it.

[RU shooter]

Greetings
Fill a case with 3F BP and let it rip !
Mike in Peru

don't know exactly how many grs that would be , but it's a heck of a lot more than I shoot in my 50 cal flinter ! Would be interesting to see the Fire and smoke plume outa the muzzle !

[Screwbolts]

I would think either of your listed powders would do fine, I believe any medium burn rate powder would also do fine. the cost of the bmg primer will be your most costly component, but has enough flame to light any powder anywhere in that case, IMHO

Being a plain Base boolit, I would think any load data for the 50-70 or the biggest 50 straight cases will be fun. the bmg will most likely be a 1x15 twist. You may want to just neck size or see if the cast unsized boolit is snug in the neck without sizeing the case. the gas seal will be best that way.

the weight of any bmg will hold the recoil in check to being none existent. What rifle is he getting, all have good brakes.

Ken

Have fun.

[17nut]

Quickload says @30grains of TB for @1200fps from a 28" tube.

That shold help the bullet stay together and not strip rifling.

[mudygmc]

There used to be a load for the 300gr barnes original on reloaders nest for the 50 bmg. That load used 250gr of H4350 was fast like 4k range. Dont know if its possible with the bullet but the powder might be worth a try.

[17nut]

Problem is not to get speed but to keep it down below 1500fps for a cast plainbase bullet.

[15meter]

Quickload says @30grains of TB for @1200fps from a 28" tube.

That shold help the bullet stay together and not strip rifling.

That would make it shoot the same velocity as my 50-70, may have to give this a try.

Thanks.

[RichardB]

I too have been looking for a cast bullet load for the BMG. I managed to snag a bunch of surplus bullets, not the FMJ tho. But a nice cast load would be fun to plink with. As others have said with the muzzle brake it hardly recoils with full loads so I doubt it will move much with the cast loads.

Guess I will also try the TB loads and see how it goes.

RB

[dogmower]

check arsenal, noe and other mold maker's websites. i know at least one of the them makes molds specifically for the 50bmg, up to 850 grains or so. since they're gas check designs, should be good to about 2200 fps. i'd powder coat them if you have the capability. should make an interesting project to say the least.

[15meter]

Still interested in using the mold I have, at 850 grains Noe's mold would make a giant sucking sound in the lead pot in an awful hurry, probably faster than I can scrounge lead to feed it!

The 450 goes down fast enough.