Conical CB's & the .50cal. Knight Bighorn

[Maven]

As earlier testing of Lyman & T/C Maxi-Balls produced some impressive results, I decided to try again today, but with 2 additional CB's: A Lee Improved Minie that I cast from a mold obtained from Starmetal Joe and T/C Maxi-Hunters that I purchased. You may recall that I got only so-so results from the 250gr. & 320gr. Lee REAL's, and thus didn't want to waste powder & Pb on them. Of the 3 conicals I tried today, the T/C Maxi-Ball was the most accurate, but it was closely followed by the Lee Minie. The Maxi-Hunter, unfortunately, was inconsistent in that it grouped 2 within 1" @ 50yds., but the remaining 4 were 5" from them in random fashion. I've also discovered that each of the conicals had different "preferences" with respect to powder charge and granulation and bore condition. I.e., since I was shooting for groups @ 50yds., I used no more than 60grs. Pyro. P (to get rid of it!) and damp swabbed the bore only occasionally. I quickly learned that combination wasn't such a bright idea for the Lee Minie and the T/C Maxi-Hunter, as they grouped poorly. Even when using Ox-Yoke Wonder Lube (in sticks for my lube sizer) and Pyrodex, it was necessary to damp swab the bbl. after no more than 3 shots. In this respect, the T/C Maxi-Balls were least sensitive and the Maxi-Hunter, the most. The Lee Minie wasn't so fussy about swabbing, but grouped much better with 50grs. Pyro. P than 60.

Powder Granulation: When I first got the Knight, I tried Maxi-Balls with Pyro. RS and got impressive groups even with Win. 209 primers. With the finer powder and #11 CCI caps, accuracy wasn't as good. That was also the case when I retested round balls several weeks ago. I think I need to try FFg v. FFFg with conicals in the near future.

Casting: Both the T/C Maxi-Ball mold and the Lee Improved Minie mold produced virtually flawless CB's if I held the ladle against the sprue cutter when I cast. If I didn't, weight varied more in the T/C and base/skirt fill out was poorer for the Lee. Btw, the newer Lee molds have an aluminum base plug rather than a steel one and it works wonderfully.

Sights: The fiber optic sights probably are good for hunting, but I'll replace them with a peep sight (when Brownell's has them) and the original front sight (no longer fiber optic) painted black.

So much testing to do, so little time!

[mooman76]

Of what I have heard the Lee minie's have too thin of a skirt for heavy loads. I have heard some have actually turned down the plug for the mould as to make a thicker skirt and had good results.

[725]

My experience is that the minnie's perform with light loads. A disappointment for me as I thought it would be a real close range hunter with that big, flat front. The maxi-ball has always outperformed all other cast conicals in my shooting. I've tried maxi-hunters, REAL's, and some others that don't come to mind. I use the T/C Shock Wave in my wiz-bang in-lines and the maxi-ball (and RB's for some applications) in my traditional stuff.