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Thread: Three 54 Cal ML bullets

  1. #1
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    Chill Wills's Avatar
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    Three 54 Cal ML bullets

    The back story is of a Lyman Great Plains rifle kit I built in the 1970’s. It had the slow RB twist of either 66-1 or is it 60-1. I knew but don't remember what they are now. It shot RB well enough and soon after I thought I needed a T/C Maxi-ball for it. That rifle shot the maxi-ball very well to 100yds plus and I used it for hunting mule deer and elk here in Colorado.

    After who knows how many times it was loaded and shot in 40 plus years and likely not too carefully in the early days, the accuracy dropped off. Sometime about spring of last year I found a drop-in Lyman replacement barrel and installed it. The new barrel is a faster twist. A Hunter barrel I think and maybe it is a 32 twist.

    Right off I started with the T/C Maxi-ball and had a great deal of trouble getting any kind of accuracy with it.
    Chill Wills

  2. #2
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    Try the Lee Real with a wad behind it

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    I started out with the Hunter in .54, and used T/C Maxis, Hornady Great Plains, and some others conicals with decent-to-good results. I could shoot 3-4" groups at 100 yards, resting my elbows on a bench. I always used an over-powder patch with conicals. Later I switched to the slow-twist PRB barrel.
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    Quote Originally Posted by Chill Wills View Post
    The back story is of a Lyman Great Plains rifle kit I built in the 1970’s. It had the slow RB twist of either 66-1 or is it 60-1. I knew but don't remember what they are now. It shot RB well enough and soon after I thought I needed a T/C Maxi-ball for it. That rifle shot the maxi-ball very well to 100yds plus and I used it for hunting mule deer and elk here in Colorado.

    After who knows how many times it was loaded and shot in 40 plus years and likely not too carefully in the early days, the accuracy dropped off. Sometime about spring of last year I found a drop-in Lyman replacement barrel and installed it. The new barrel is a faster twist. A Hunter barrel I think and maybe it is a 32 twist.

    Right off I started with the T/C Maxi-ball and had a great deal of trouble getting any kind of accuracy with it.

    Cut an inch off that ball barrel, recrown it, re set the front sight- ya proly get it back like new.

  5. #5
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    Last winter sometime I picked up a used Lyman mold No. 533 476. It is a hollow based mini. Then for some strange reason I got the idea I needed to try the LEE HB mini. I do not recall the name of their bullet but it is similar, in a LEE way to that Lyman 533 476.

    Getting ready for ML this season I started off with the Lyman 533 476 and worked through two grains at a time powder charges of Olde Eynsford, shooting three shot groups at fifty and one hundred yards. I started at 75 grains which looked better than anything with the T/C Maxi shot. By 79-80 grains of the Olde Eynsford I stopped shooting the 50 yard target. 81grains looked good and by 83grains elevation was showing up in the group. 85 was a little worse. I cleaned up and returned to the shop.

    At my loading bench I threw 25 charges into my corked glass bottles with anything scaling between more than 79 grs and less than 80 grains and starting shooting more groups at 100yards.
    Sorry for my cruddy re-used targets.
    The left target is seven shots, Lyman 433476 and the right target is the LEE bullet with the same charge of 79grains. In fairness to the LEE bullet, I had not worked up a loads for it. I was just shooting the accuracy load for the Lyman bullet. I would bet anything that low shot on the left target was my poor sight picture.
    Attached Thumbnails Attached Thumbnails resizecropDSCN1769.jpg   resizecropDSCN1768.jpg  
    Chill Wills

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    Quote Originally Posted by indian joe View Post
    Cut an inch off that ball barrel, recrown it, re set the front sight- ya proly get it back like new.
    I allready did that. We think alike. It did not shoot any better!

    Here are the three bullets I have been playing with...
    Attached Thumbnails Attached Thumbnails resizedMLbulletsDSCF3798.jpg  
    Chill Wills

  7. #7
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    The lee bullet is just a little large in diameter to make an easy fit into the muzzle of my rifle. At 0.543" it is a hard start. The T/C Maxi just goes in at 0.540" for the lower bands. The Lyman is smallest of all at 0.536" almost free falls to the charge. However, it is a shooter!

    I had to size the LEE bullet down to 0.540" or so to make it field friendly... And to get any lube to stay the tiny grooves I run it through the lube/sizer.
    Chill Wills

  8. #8
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    I bought a T/C HAWKEN in .54 caliber in 1988, bought a T/C .54 MAXI-BALL Mold at the same time. I can't tell you right now what the weight is. But I lubed with T/C lube in one of those adapter's they used to sell to screw on the tube mouth. Squeeze the tube and push the bullets through to lube them, it's a great device, discontinued now. I also used Bear fat once, I got from a friend. It was great.
    I got great accuracy at 100yrds with the MAXI, tried the HODGDON with the dry lube. You have to start with a very clean dry bbl with the HODGDON or you're just wasting powder & some very Expensive Lead. About 75cents(1994) a shot.

    I bought some LEE real bullets at a gun show. Didn't work for ****.

    Round ball in .530 &.535 with 3 different patch thicknesses. Never gave me as good accuracy as I would have liked to hunt with. I did sell the 2 RB Molds. Sticking with the MAXI

    I told myself I would scope the HAWKEN someday, haven't got around to it yet.

    Since I've had such good luck with Lee molds lately. I'll probably pickup a .54 HB Mold to try. But it will be a while. I've 200+ MAXI's cast and lubed sitting in the back of the garage fridge, and 20 odd HODGDON Bullets.
    Last edited by Walks; 09-12-2018 at 02:08 AM.
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  9. #9
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    Quote Originally Posted by Edward View Post
    Try the Lee Real with a wad behind it
    I picked one up earlier. It arrived, the box said REAL and had a picture of that trashcan with mini grooves looking bullet but the mold inside pours a hollow based Mini bullet of some kind. It is in the picture above. It does not shoot that well - at least yet and needed to be sized even to load.

    What 54 cal wad are you recommending? I might try one behind the T/C Mini-ball. Not sure why though. The Lyman is doing pretty well for hunting accuracy.
    Chill Wills

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BP Bronze Point IMR Improved Military Rifle PTD Pointed
BR Bench Rest M Magnum RN Round Nose
BT Boat Tail PL Power-Lokt SP Soft Point
C Compressed Charge PR Primer SPCL Soft Point "Core-Lokt"
HP Hollow Point PSPCL Pointed Soft Point "Core Lokt" C.O.L. Cartridge Overall Length
PSP Pointed Soft Point Spz Spitzer Point SBT Spitzer Boat Tail
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