Accurate Molds

[frontier gander]

Got in touch about a 50cal mold sized in .500" with smooth sides " paper patch style" They sent me this info.

325 grains
http://i293.photobucket.com/albums/mm53/thepowerbeltforum/50-325P.png
http://i293.photobucket.com/albums/mm53/thepowerbeltforum/50-325P-D.png

I want to order it in .500" and then knurl it up between two files to around .504 towards the middle of the bullet.

What do you think for a 1:28 twist barrel?

[wgr]

i shoot pp in my 1:28 twist with good results . i use a rcbs. adjustable mold.

[Nobade]

A couple questions - how big is the bore of your rifle? How thick is your paper? You will want to have the boolits sized to bore diameter minus four thicknesses of paper (two wraps) minus .001" or so or you're not going to be able to load it. In my own rifle with a .501" bore I use boolits of .493" patched with 9# onionskin up to .500". The boolit should slide down with just the weight of the cleaning rod on it. Any tighter and the patch gets torn and results in no accuracy and a leaded bore. Also, with muzzle loaders there isn't any need to knurl the boolits. That's a smokeless powder thing to get a slick through the throat without the patch slipping. You won't have to worry about that here.

One other thing, that's a mighty stumpy boolit. 1:28 twist is quite fast for a 50 cal, and will stabilize boolits upward of 600 grains. In my own rifle I shoot 500gr. boolits to very good effect, and even that is pretty short. I would be worried about tipping and poor accuracy (since it's nearly square) with that 325gr. one, but you never know until you try it.

[frontier gander]

im not paper patching them, im going to knurl them up between 2 files to the size i need.

Its going to be longer than a 245gr powerbelt and they shoot accurate in the 1:28 twist so i dont think there will be any accuracy issues.

[frontier gander]

Actually look at it like this.
http://ts1.mm.bing.net/images/thumbnail.aspx?q=4732878550664768&id=e215864a12ba64ff7502535bfa9005c9

[Nobade]

Aha! That makes more sense! What do you use for lube? I've never tried a bullet in a muzzle loader unless it carried lube or was paper patched. Do you have to wipe between shots? Do they lead the bore?

[frontier gander]

Im using blackhorn209 so no i will not wipe between shots. I may tumble them in Alox or Soft TAC lube that I got a while back. Im not into greasing up bullets to be snot slick so just a bit to keep things running clean.

Im sure if i push them hard @ over 1600 fps I will get some lead build up over time, but I figure i clean at the end of the day anyway so no harm done by some lead build up.

I'll use wads with them as well to help seal up the gasses.

Should be fun to see how they do, id like to start hunting with my own bullets.

[Pat I.]

Tom's pretty good at making changes to existing designs and I'd bet that if you asked him to scale up either of the designs below to 50 caliber he could do it. I use the 45-300S in my 50 caliber with sabots. The larger meplat would be a definite advantage for hunting. Especially at the lower velocities. Or you could ask him if he could increase the size of the meplat on the bullet you're looking at to .300 or so. I know he can do it because he did it for me on the 300S.

http://castboolits.gunloads.com/imagehosting/thum_8045029ae062d971.png (http://castboolits.gunloads.com/vbimghost.php?do=displayimg&imgid=6252)

http://castboolits.gunloads.com/imagehosting/8045029b0020a9eb.jpg (http://castboolits.gunloads.com/vbimghost.php?do=displayimg&imgid=6254)

http://castboolits.gunloads.com/imagehosting/thum_8045029ae2837919.png (http://castboolits.gunloads.com/vbimghost.php?do=displayimg&imgid=6253)

[frontier gander]

wow thats a damn nice looking bullet.

I was actually thinking about a round nose added to the bullet plan above.

[HARRYMPOPE]

[QUOTE=frontier gander;1810708]Im using blackhorn209 so no i will not wipe between shots. I may tumble them in Alox or Soft TAC lube that I got a while back. Im not into greasing up bullets to be snot slick so just a bit to keep things running clean.[/QUOTe)

try Planet Waves "step 2" carnuba wax for wood interments http://www.bassstringsonline.com/Planet-Waves-Step-2-PROTECT--Liquid-Carnauba-Wax-Protectant-and-Sealer_p_740.html. I use it with bare conicals with very good luck.Its dries fairly hard to touch and easy to use.


George