Lee 50 cailber Minnie

[richbug]

Question is, How heavy a charge can you use before you loose the skirt. I am at 80 grains or Goex 2f with good accuracy still(minute of 4" pumpkin at 50 yards).

I have some Pyrodex P I'd like to use up also.

Normally I'd just test more, but I only have a few days till season opens, and have a limited supply of powder. I built this rifle for rainy days when I didn't want to fight my flintlock. 28" stainless barrel, 1 in 24 twist, fired by a CCI 157 primer,

Bullets are cast from X-ray sheeting, and are dead soft. Bullets recovered from a quaking aspen log penetrated about 6" or endgrain(plus a pumpkin), and are 1.3" diameter.

[freedom475]

If your bore is tight and you use some kind of over powder wad you should be able to go WAY up with these without loosing the skirt. I used mine in a 54 paper cartridge sharps and it was blowing the skirts off cause the chamber is larger than the bore. Just took my Dremel and removed most of the base pin from the mould and now it works fine.

[richbug]

They drop in the bore with almost no resistance. This barrel has very shallow grooves. I thought about making a new base plug for it, and Beagling the mould out a bit.

[mooman76]

I don't know if I would beagle it or not. It is suppose to drop in with almost no resistance otherwise you're defeating the purpose of the minie and using a maxie. But it's your're chice of coarse. Mine in the 50 don't drop in good at all. After just a couple shots I have to force them in.

[richbug]

I don't know if I would beagle it or not. It is suppose to drop in with almost no resistance otherwise you're defeating the purpose of the minie and using a maxie. But it's your're chice of coarse. Mine in the 50 don't drop in good at all. After just a couple shots I have to force them in.


About the only resistance I have right now on loading is the lube(5 parts BW, 4 crisco, 1 EVOO). I shot 25 rounds without cleaning today, just as easy to load the last as the first.