Lee real and cabelas/investarms hawken

[chickenmcnasty]

Hey all,

Just started casting and I'm considering the .50 lee real. It comes in 2 different weights. Does anyone have experience with this boolit in this gun? I'm not sure if I should go light or heavy.

[mooman76]

I have one and it shot ok but not great. Mine has a slow twist though. If yours has the 1/48 twist it should do good with either weight.

[musty nugget]

The only problem I have found is that in warm weather they like a stiff lube and in cold weather very soft. So soft that they are messy to reload in a treestand.

[chickenmcnasty]

I'm not too worried about mess in the stand. I will likely carry a prb load for a follow up shot if I need to reload quick

[Eddie2002]

I've been shooting the Cabella's Investa Arms .50 caliber Hawkens for about 4 years. No hunting just paper punching and like it. Haven't worked up any loads for it past 50yds. The barrel is real tight and I have to use the .005 cloth patches with the .490 round ball. I have the rocklock and am using FFF black powder for the charge and frizzen. Last year I had to retemper the frizen and oil quench it to get a reliable spark back. It shoots better than I can on a good day and needs a clean fliint for good sparking.

[10 ga]

I have the Cabelas in 50 and 58, both caplocks. If you have the 1/48 twist I'd suggest the lighter REAL. Lube with a hard lube, if homemade that means more beeswax and less tallow and oil, and use a "cookie" or a lubed wad under the REAL, that helps soften the fouling and helps accuracy too. Same goes for Minnie bullets too. I've shot both and commercial conicals but prefer patched roundball, and for hunting I shoot the prb "hot", like 110 gr of FFF Swiss. I also cast my rb hard, like 1-1+2%. REAL and minnies need to be soft as possible to load and shoot. You can't shoot minnies very hot as you can "blow' the skirt and ruin accuracy. Minnies might be big and slow but that is the way and if you hit your game they kill real good. 10 ga

[mooman76]

I have the Cabelas 50 and 58 also but I bought mine used and in good shape and it was a comb. One gun two barrels. One of my favorite guns.

[Omnivore]

Chicken; By all means try them. I got excellent accuracy with the lighter REAL at 50 yards with 90 grains Goex 2F and a lubed wad. They did much less well at 100 yards though. I still have yet to find something I like better than a soft lead, tight, lubed patched round ball (which I consider to be a 100+ yard load for white tail deer). My PRB load is 110 gr. G 2F, .095" ball and a lubed patch that results in a tight (as in you must use a short starter) fit. This is in an Investarms (Lyman Deerstalker) 50 cal with 48" twist.

If I had any other advice I'd say get a round ball mold first, and all others would come in second as being for specialty applications (larger game). A round ball will kill the heck out of a deer.

Oh; the Lee REALs also kind of need a short starter to get them fully seated into my .50 Investarms bore. You can start them part way with the thumbs because the first drive band or two, toward the base, are smaller. I pan lube my REALS, but they can be hand lubed of course.

[chickenmcnasty]

Darn it! I went ahead and ordered the heavier mold before I saw these replies...i hope it will work.
I do have a .490 rb mold as well. That with my homemade ticking patch is yielding excellent groups with 60 grains 2f

[Omnivore]

I wouldn't fret it. Experiment with the heavier REAL, and a felt wad under it. You may get some good results. The main thing is to fisk it out over time with various powders and charge weights and end up knowing what it is capable of and what it is not capable of at different distances. This takes method and time. That's most of the fun in this anyway. The 48" twist can stabilize most conicals up to at least the 380 grain plains bullets OK, and you're below that with the heavy REAL. Still I bet you end up hunting deer with the round ball. Much bigger game may call for the heavier bullet though.

I know a guy here who killed a bison bull outright with one 300 grain .45 Hornady XTP in a sabot from a 50 cal 48" twist smokepole with around 110 grains Pyro RS. Your round ball on a deer, if you want to look at it this way, has a lot more "power per pound of critter" than that 300 grain bullet on a full grown bison. Full pass-throughs and near pass-throughs are common on deer, even when the round ball hits shoulders and ribs along the way. Such is my experience anyway, on more than a few white tail kills. It's a very efficient transfer of energy.

Another way of looking at it is; if you have a load (any load) that you're experienced and confident with, that's the one to use for hunting. There won't be much difference in effect whether you hit a deer in the right place using a ball, a medium conical or a heavy conical-- So long as you hit it in the right place you have a good, sure kill.

Since confidence in accuracy is (in my opinion) one of the most important factors in selecting a hunting load (within reason of course), there's something else to consider here in all this;
Since it stands to reason that all or very nearly all hunting shots will be taken from a cold, clean bore; check your accuracy by taking every shot for the group from a cold, clean bore. In other word, swab the bore thoroughly between shots and leave it it just like it would be when you first head out hunting. Then compare that accuracy to that of firing "follow-up" shots from a fowled bore and see how much difference it makes. POI and velocity WILL change between shooting from a cold, clean bore to shooting a warm, fouled bore. Know what that difference is in your situation.

Also; if you hunt in cold weather, practice in cold weather. Things tend to change from that nice day in June when you tested everything on paper to when you're out in sub freezing weather shooting for blood.

[chickenmcnasty]

I also purchased the 1/16" thick vegetable fiber wads. I thought the idea of a felt wad is great, but it's hard for me to justify the price tag of those things. Hopefully these will work in the same fashion.
I've gotten great accuracy at 125 yds with the 45 xtp bullets and harvester sabots, but they are high priced and sabots just don't seem right! Ultimately I'm trying to find a lead boolit that will be similar in accuracy to the sabot.

[chickenmcnasty]

Well the lee real mold arrived and is ready for tomorrow's casting session. I also have 1000 circle fly vegetable wads to try in this weeks session.
Is it a good idea to pre-lube the wads before my range time this weekend?

[mooman76]

I usually lube on the spot. A little messy but not a big deal. I just have a wipe rag handy.

[chickenmcnasty]

What lube have you found to be best?

[mooman76]

I haven't tried allot of lubes so really can't say what's better than others. I use spit patch for RBs most the time and TC wonder lube now. I have also used Crisco with satisfactory results.