.50 cal. single shot ML pistol - 360 gr. HB minie? Yea or Nay?

[bedbugbilly]

I haven't shot single shot muzzleloading pistols in years as I shoot C & B revolvers. I had the opportunity to get a Traditions Percussion Trapper .50 caliber single shot though and I snatched it up - don't have it yet but it's on the way. Got it mainly because it came along, same caliber as my one ML rifle I have set up for target shooting and it looked like a lot of fun.

I have .490 RB mold that I know will work fine out of it patched. My question is for those that have and shoot single shot pistols - particularly 50 caliber.

A .490 round ball should weigh up at around 177 grains + or -

I also have one of the Lee molds that casts the 360 grain hollow base Lee improved minie - which cass a roundish nosed flat point minie ball. Have any o you tried this particular HB minie out of your single shot percussion or flint pistol?

The HB minie is + or - 183 grains heavier than the normal standard .490 round ball and what I consider a good sized chunk of lead, but, it seems like the pistol should handle it alright. My thinking is that I would probably start out at around 25 grains of 3F Goex/Grafs BP and tweak up or down. From the couple of videos I have watched on the Traditions Trapper, it seems like a good solid single shot but my intention is to not abuse it. I'm strictly looking at plinking and playing - not using it to hunt.

Thoughts on the Lee .500 360 grain hollow base minie out of a .50 single shot percussion or flint pistol? Yea or Nay?

Thanks.

[mooman76]

I never tried them in a pistol but in a rifle they shot ok, good enough for minute of deer but they loaded tight. All mine came out .501/2. Since they loaded tight, I had to use some force to get them down the bore and figured I might as well be shooting a Maxie. They would be harder to load in a pistol unless they were sized first.

[Edward]

I haven't shot single shot muzzleloading pistols in years as I shoot C & B revolvers. I had the opportunity to get a Traditions Percussion Trapper .50 caliber single shot though and I snatched it up - don't have it yet but it's on the way. Got it mainly because it came along, same caliber as my one ML rifle I have set up for target shooting and it looked like a lot of fun.

I have .490 RB mold that I know will work fine out of it patched. My question is for those that have and shoot single shot pistols - particularly 50 caliber.

A .490 round ball should weigh up at around 177 grains + or -

I also have one of the Lee molds that casts the 360 grain hollow base Lee improved minie - which cass a roundish nosed flat point minie ball. Have any o you tried this particular HB minie out of your single shot percussion or flint pistol?

The HB minie is + or - 183 grains heavier than the normal standard .490 round ball and what I consider a good sized chunk of lead, but, it seems like the pistol should handle it alright. My thinking is that I would probably start out at around 25 grains of 3F Goex/Grafs BP and tweak up or down. From the couple of videos I have watched on the Traditions Trapper, it seems like a good solid single shot but my intention is to not abuse it. I'm strictly looking at plinking and playing - not using it to hunt.

Thoughts on the Lee .500 360 grain hollow base minie out of a .50 single shot percussion or flint pistol? Yea or Nay?

Thanks.

If for plinking stick with a PRB ,why use all that lead ? You cant kill targets any deader and lead is getting hard to find or impossible depending where you shoot/Ed

[Texas by God]

The manual for my Lyman Plains Pistol(.54) advises not to use Minies because; a loose fitting bullet might slip forward in the muzzle down position of belt carry- creating a dangerous air gap between bullet and powder. Careful range use would be the way to try it, but it won't shoot to the sights and that is a lot of lead per shot. I vote Nay.

Sent from my SM-A716U using Tapatalk

[bedbugbilly]

Thanks everyone - greatly appreciate your comments and all are valid points.

mooman76 - I've only done one casting session with the mold and mine dropped at .500 and that batch seem to fit the barrel of my Lyman Trade Rifle that I set up for target shooting about as perfect as could be. BUT - who knows what they will drop at the next time with a different batch of soft lead, etc. I have cast and shot thousands of .58 minies in both Lyman and Ideal HB Minie molds but I do have to say I was impressed with the Lee mold as it dropped them like butter and cast very well.Unfortunately with having to have some surgery earlier this past year and then all of the COVID hullabaloo, I haven't had the chance to try the minies in the Lyman rifle. I have no idea of what the bore will be in the Traditions Trapper so am anxious to see with it gets here what the fit of the minie to bore looks like - I really don't want to have to force a slug down the barrel to seat it so RB will probably be what I end u-p using.

Edward - your point is well taken on the waste of lead! LOL While I decided to pick it up as a "fun gun" - I would have been just as happy if it would have been a smaller bore - .45, .40 or .36 just for the fact that for the plinking I'll be doing, the lead use would have been much less but still allow for plinking at cans, a pigeon board or a gong. Since I have the minie mold, I was interested to see if anyone had used it and the results, but as you suggest, I will probably stick with the RB and more than likely, will do the same with the rifle I bought the mold to try the minie in.

T by G - you make a good point on a minie possibly moving once seated. The fit of a hollow base minie to the bore is important and over the years, I have seen that very thing happen on rifled muskets where guys utilized an undersize minie and through handling the rifle while hunting or carrying in the field, the minie took a trip away from the charge - fortunately, they were smart enough to check it with a ramrod once they got seated to hunt or got ready to shoot. It happens.

Again - many thanks for your input and I'll stick to the patched .490 RB - it makes sense.

[Capn Jack]

I also have the .50 cal. Traditions Trapper Pistol and a .50 cal. Rifle I built around a slow twist barrel.
For both I use a LEE Duplex mold. The round ball,(170 gr. .490 Dia. .010 lubed patch )I shoot in the pistol with 30 gr. of FF.

I use the Bullet (lubed and sized .498), or the RB in the rifle both with 70 gr. FFG. Both bullet and RB will group under 4" @ 50 yards, with the heavier bullet grouping 4" lower than the lighter RB.

[Good Cheer]

I'd load them backwards if I was going after feral watermelons!
Seriously though, a relatively small powder charge should expand a thin skirt and shoot OK. I think it probably would any way but then again I don't know how much you'd need to very quickly produce the expansion.

[CTI1USNRET]

Longer bullets require a faster RPM to stabilize. From your pistol the bullet can't be pushed fast enough to impart a stabilizing spin from a barrel with a slow round ball twist.

If you want a heavier projectile maybe you could treat the pistol like a smoothbore (shotgun) and design a hollow, nose-heavy bullet like a shotgun slug.

[fixit]

I have that pistol, and it shoots great! I've done the r.b., of course, but have also done the conicals. With a minie or Maxi, it's going to let you know when it touches off! I ended up trying sabots with a 250 grain lead bullet, and it shoots wonderfully out to 50 yards. Having a 1 in 20 twist means it will stabilize a surprisingly heavy bullet, and it's constructed stout enough to go 60 or 70 grains, but not by factory recommendation. Really the main limiter is will the powder charge burn in that short a barrel. I have considered building a 12 to 14 inch accessory barrel for mine, so I could legally hunt with it during the Indiana deer season.