First batch of these...

[koehlerrk]

Made my first batch of these tonight. Food for the hungry muzzle loader!

Can't wait to see how they shoot.

Left to right - Lee .490 ball, Lee 320gr REAL, Lee 360gr Modern Minie

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v690/koehlerrk/MZLBLTS.jpg

[newton]

Hey, those are good looking. If you ever have trouble with the fill out on those REALs just smoke the mold real good. Every now and then it's hard to get a nice rim on that top band from my mold. Smoke helps a lot.

[shredder]

Can't wait to hear how they shoot. I have been looking at the modern minie for a long time and always wondered just how hard they would hit a deer with that big soda can profile. I bet they make a lasting impression in front of 100 or so grains of black.

[koehlerrk]

Thanks guys... took a while to get them casting right last night, had to crank the heat up a bit more than normal... Yes, I know pure lead has a higher melting point than an alloy, but even with it melted, it needed more heat to stop making wrinkles... my guess was the lead was solidifying before it completely filled the mold, and yes, the mold was hot, but not hot enough. Cranked it up a bit more and they started looking like the ones in the pic. Made about 5 lbs of lead into these last night... yeah, can't wait to see how they shoot either. Range report will be coming when I get there...

[Rattus58]

Made my first batch of these tonight. Food for the hungry muzzle loader!

Can't wait to see how they shoot.

Left to right - Lee .490 ball, Lee 320gr REAL, Lee 360gr Modern Minie

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v690/koehlerrk/MZLBLTS.jpg

Nice examples.... I shoot the LEE traditional minie which I shot my first buck with my volunteer with and its a handy killer of deer at close range. I sized those to .452 down from .454 and I had Lee shrink the pin some to thicken my base. I think in retrospect, I'd prefer the trashcan but I've not been ever able to find it in .45.

Aloha.. 8-)

[warboar_21]

I was looking at molds of the 320 and 360 last night on Midway's site. I have been thinking of getting my Hawken out of the safe and shooting it again. Haven't shot it in several years and would like to take it out and have some fun with it.

[Sergeant Earthworm]

I was looking at molds of the 320 and 360 last night on Midway's site. I have been thinking of getting my Hawken out of the safe and shooting it again. Haven't shot it in several years and would like to take it out and have some fun with it.

Before buying a mold, I highly recommend seeing whether you can try the bullet in your rifle to see if it works. For the longest time I used either round balls or store bought TC Maxi-Balls in my Hawken because they worked so well and I didn't shoot it much. When I decided to start casting conicals for the Hawken, several guys recommended the 320 grain REAL. I bought the mold and casted some and they don't shoot worth a darn in my rifle. So, I ended up buying a Lyman 370 grain Maxi-Ball mold and now she shoots just fine again, last week I put three shots into about an inch at 50 yards from the bench.