First elk! with cast LEE 320 50 cal

[ChristopherO]

If you are still not getting the accuracy out of the REAL with the Plumber's lead try using less powder. The REAL's bands are quite thin and may be shearing in the rifling due to the velocity.

I am not too surprised about the lack of evidence for expansion on last year's elk, not because of lead hardness but because of the nose profile of the boolit. The first deer I punched was with a T/C Maxi Ball at about the same yardage as your elk. She tore out off into the foliage but I hear her slide through the leaves in a few seconds. She was dead but the wound showed no expansion at all, .50 in and .50 out. When I purchased a mold it was for the Maxi Hunter, which has a rounded nose profile. Those did expand some, as I have a few recovered in my collection. Still, a 50 caliber hole is hard to argue with.

[rjz5400]

Well now I'm testing the dead soft roof lead loads and 2 things are very clear.

1. Y'all was right! I can start and seat these new soft bullets easily with my "ball" starter.

2. I am getting a huge jump in velocity with my 2nd and 3rd shots. I'm getting 1350fps and then 1600 ish then 1750fps and seems to stabilize there.

I'm planning on close shots but would be good to know how to avoid it and I have considered shooting a fouler when I arrive at hunt camp and then carrying the reload for the few days. Anyone else do that? Leave it dirty for a while muzzleloader hunt? 7 days here with pyrodex ff

[white eagle]

excellent and well done
I like to see that type of trophy

[rjz5400]

Thanks!! We are still eating on the elk, finally got a steak recipe that the wife really likes. No more eating the same thing 4 times in a row for me, good and bad I guess

[Dan O]

I wouldn't leave it dirty possibility of corrosion starting. Learn where your clean bore shot hits and the following shots. Then clean it and repeat to verify your results.
Dan

[MT Gianni]

I have not left them dirty but I have left them less than for the hunting session. Wipe the bore out good and oil it then fire a few caps in the morning before you load. Make sure it is displacing dirt or snow when you fire it into the ground before you add powder. Final clean should be hot hot water.

[siamese4570]

Good job! It's great to see folks get it done without using the latest/greatest equipment. That makes it a hunt. I'm the only 0ne in my group that still use a traditional m/l. Seems a little more fair, but each to his own.
Siamese4570

[rjz5400]

Thanks for the encouragement and the ideas, I'm not seeing a lot of impact variation at the different speeds so I'll probably just wipe it out really well from the storage lube and go for a first shot success! It worked last time.

Also this is the ONLY "primitive muzzleloader" in the whole state. Nm allows all the advantages with every other tag so that's why I put in for this one. With Sabots, smokeless pellets, shotgun primers, breech loading, scopes; seems like a rifle to me? Why bother......

Anyway wish me luck just got let.ission from the wife for most of the FAD hunt next week. New thread coming....

[rodwha]

A bit of an update after all the support i got on this thread last year,

I just was at the recyclers buying a MAF sensor and picked up 15lbs of what i believe is dead soft roof flashing LEAD sheets. it was 60c a pound so i figured 9$ should last a loooong time, I only shoot my BP bullets dead soft. i think my "soft" WW mix is fine for my shotgun slug loads.

I was easily able to flex it with my hands and i even tore a sheet in half to get right to the 15 weight i had prepaid for.

The hunting news is that I drew another tag this year! a FAD fork antlered deer IIRC likely to be a large (hopefully) desert mulie down in south eastern new mexico. im planning on shooting the same REAL 320gr bullet and I wanted something as soft as I could get for hopefully better expansion on a smaller mule deer.

I also am hoping to buy an OTC Javelina tag and unless i see one while mule deer hunting with the minnie ball loaded; I am planning on hunting those with the 490 round ball side of my LEE 2 cavity mold and ill use the Dead Soft lead to cast new round balls as well. I havent shot those yet so that will be fun, working up that load and testing at diffrent ranges (javelina are a small target)


Thanks again for all the congrats, the ELK has been eating great and we are coming up with new things to do with it. ill start a new thread for both of those tags when i get a litle closer to actually hunting. It sure is nice to have a full freezer during these uncertain times when the supply chain is disturbed.

When the harder bullet took your elk nicely appearing to have not expanded why would you want an easier expanding bullet on a much smaller animal? Not saying it’s a bad idea, but wondering why you feel the need/desire.

[rodwha]

Well now I'm testing the dead soft roof lead loads and 2 things are very clear.

1. Y'all was right! I can start and seat these new soft bullets easily with my "ball" starter.

2. I am getting a huge jump in velocity with my 2nd and 3rd shots. I'm getting 1350fps and then 1600 ish then 1750fps and seems to stabilize there.

I'm planning on close shots but would be good to know how to avoid it and I have considered shooting a fouler when I arrive at hunt camp and then carrying the reload for the few days. Anyone else do that? Leave it dirty for a while muzzleloader hunt? 7 days here with pyrodex ff

Never with Pyrodex. More than a decade ago I as told by a competition BP shooter that I could leave a gun over night. So when I spent almost 9 hours at the range until it got dark with 2 revolvers and my rifle I decided to leave the rifle. That morning there was orange crap all over it and it took untold hours before I got any sort of a clean patch, and years before I could store it and check it 6-12 months later and not find that light stain. I’ve been thinking of boring it out just because I know it can’t be in great shape on the inside.

A fellow on another forum ran a test burning powders on steel plates and leaving them in his garage (Midwest) claiming it very hot and humid. This was the result after running a steel brush across all but the T7 plate since it wasn’t necessary:



As you can see Pyrodex P was far worse. However you are in a more arid area so maybe it wouldn’t be an issue. What I can say I was told and learned was that applying an oil (I have and tried Ballistol for several days) to saturate the fouling (doesn’t take much) keeps a problem from arising. I tested this during a Texas summer, it works if you won’t have time to clean. Doubt this would be conducive to what you are looking for so I’d either test your barrel keeping a VERY close eye on it or finding a different substitute. I hear many others, including Triple 7, don’t rust so readily:

[Castaway]

Congratulations. Where were you and when? I was headed to CO for 2nd season, got 900 miles into trip and double checked fire status. Turned around and came home. More, bigger next year.

[DanWalker]

Nice elk. I'm headed to NM in the spring to have a look around and maybe do some feral hog hunting if I can find any. VERY intrigued by your primitive ML area. How's the Javelina population over there? Bowhunted them in AZ this spring, but never got a shot. Them little buggers are a heck of a lot of fun to chase around with primitive equipment.

[Big Ben]

Congrats!