A new bullet for the .50-95 M1876 Winchester

[ndnchf]

Just for fun and to try something different, I took a Lee 515 450 mold and milled it down to cast a 350 bullet. This is useful in several .50 cal rifles I have. I wanted to try it in my .50-95 Uberti M1876 Winchester, but was concerned that the bullet was a little too pointy. So I swaged the nose of 25 of the cut down Lee mold bullets using a bolt, 2 nuts, a .514" sizing die and an arbor press. This worked very well. This doubled the size if the meplat, making it safe in the tubular magazine. Then I loaded them up over 77gr of Swiss 2F. The nose is still a little long so I had to seat them .420" into the case. That was right to the end of the neck. So I didn't use a card wad. The powder was compressed .175".

One photo shows a bullet from the original Lee 515 450 mold, a bullet from the same mold cut down to 350gr. Then that bullet's nose swaged, down. Then the loaded .50-95 cartridge. This bullet has large lube grooves, so its great for black powder use.

[Rick B]

50-95 in a 1876 is a great cartridge. Really like the profile of the loaded round. Interested in reading how the bullet, performs at the range.
Rick

[GL49]

ndnchf
You just drop the boolit in the sizing die, push down until the bolt bottoms out? Great idea. All of the boolits look the same when you're finished? You don't have any problems with it because there's no crimp groove? I've got a 50-95 Uberti, but still need to make some brass out of 50-90 Sharps cases. Lee moulds aren't too expensive.....and the machinist at work owes me a favor.....

[ndnchf]

Yes, that's about it. The nut stops the bolt at the exact same depth every time. So they are consistent. The bullet sits atop a full load of black powder, so no crimp groove is needed.

[missionary5155]

When we started with our 1876 (Chappi high #) I had read enough to know a 285 grainer was no deal for e
Started with a 350 grain and never looked back.
Your "rebuilt" 350 looks alot like ours. We use 3F Goex with enough stuffed in to get to 1465 FPS.

[ndnchf]

I got to the range today and tried the modified Lee 350 bullet discussed above. Cataracts are making it difficult to see the target, so I tested it at 50 yards. There were a few that went wide, no doubt my fault. But overall I'm pleased with the results and will continue testing.

[Rick B]

Glad you were able to test the bullet. Looking forward to further tests.
Rick

[missionary5155]

If you want to know the full accuracy potential load up 5 cases with 3F. I am thinking 87 grains was the load that shot our 350 grainer the best with a cereal box wad under the 40-1 slug sized to groove diameter. That group runs under 2.5 inches at 100 yards off cross sticks with a full buckhorn rear sight.
Have never been able to equal it with any smokeless load so far. 5744 came the closest right at 2.5 inches.
Do use BP lube. That load runs right at 1465 fps from our rifle.

[indian joe]

If you want to know the full accuracy potential load up 5 cases with 3F. I am thinking 87 grains was the load that shot our 350 grainer the best with a cereal box wad under the 40-1 slug sized to groove diameter. That group runs under 2.5 inches at 100 yards off cross sticks with a full buckhorn rear sight.
Have never been able to equal it with any smokeless load so far. 5744 came the closest right at 2.5 inches.
Do use BP lube. That load runs right at 1465 fps from our rifle.

I have one in 45/75 - when I first got it I cut a stack of cases to suit the crimp groove in a boolit I liked so's I could shoot smokeless in it - I got such good results with blackpowder I have never bothered to even try a smokeless load - the barrel is slick - its easy to clean - even if it wasnt - anybody that dont enjoy just handling a 76 needs their head examined ..................

[ndnchf]

I cast up another batch of the Lee 515 350 bullets, this time in 30-1 alloy. I then swaged some of them down to get that that nice broad meplat. It is a bit labor intensive to make them. First I size and lube them. I think having the lube grooves filled before swaging keeps the grooves from deforming. So after sizing and lubing, I remove the sizing die and take it over to the arbor press and then swage each bullet.

I don't know if they are any better than other available bullets or molds, but I like the swaged profile and large grooves. It is fun to try something new :mrgreen: