Minnie Bullets

[caillouetr9981]

My son has asked a good question, one that I want to share for opinions:

He has a .50-caliber CVA Omni Plus that shoots the CVA Belted Bullets well and is wanting to mold cast Minnie Bullets or the Lee R.E.A.L. bullets. Someone at Lee has informed him that he can use straight WW for these castings and that it would be "safe" to use these in his "modern" muzzle loader.

I feel that WW castings would be too hard and that he should stick to pure lead for these casts. Any thoughts on this?

[docone31]

Wheel weights are alright. Especially if they have stick ons melted in the mix.
I use a little plastic hammer to set the R.E.A.L.s, the tips do not deform that way.
Should be ok.
You can always dilute with pure lead.

[oldhickory]

I would try and stick with pure lead, or close to it.

[JeffinNZ]

I cast my .40cal Minies from stick on WW with a splash of tin based babbit. BHN is 7.8 and I paper patch them. Of course out of my .40cal caplock the 130gr Minies are departing at 1500fps. Accuracy is fantastic.

Horses for course but I would use stick on WW.

[SWIAFB]

I'm blending 25% clip on w/w's with 75% stick-on for the Lee 360 gr minnie using 80 gr 3F in a CVA Optima. The skirt holds up at this charge level and it shoots good .

[Boz330]

I cast my .40cal Minies from stick on WW with a splash of tin based babbit. BHN is 7.8 and I paper patch them. Of course out of my .40cal caplock the 130gr Minies are departing at 1500fps. Accuracy is fantastic.

Horses for course but I would use stick on WW.

Jeff,
Where did you find a 130gr Minnie for the 40 and what twist barrel? Inquiring minds want to know, well actually just me.

Bob

[rhbrink]

Me too! How much powder how's the fouling what kind of rifle are you shooting these in?

[JeffinNZ]

Jeff,
Where did you find a 130gr Minnie for the 40 and what twist barrel? Inquiring minds want to know, well actually just me.

Bob

One of the board members gave it to me. Lyman 39538. Best I can find out it was a special run for Dixie many years back. Stabilises just fine in the 1-48 Coleraine barrel. Not much longer than a ball you see.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v505/JeffinNZ/Shooting%20stuff/DSCN1003.jpg

[mooman76]

Try it and see. You just never know until you try. I used them because that's all I had but I didn't use them in that tight of a twist. It will take more effeort to get them in and after a few your palm will start getting soar.

[frontier gander]

with WW they may load super hard. i shoot the lee 360 minie .500" out of my cva accura with great results. But man. WW lead? i dont know about that.

[jimb16]

I'm open minded. Make up some of each then go out and test them! Find out for yourself what works and what doesn't.

[dromia]

Keep your alloy soft enough to allow the Minnie principle to work.

Test and try to find whats good for you and your gun.

[idahoron]

I have shot mini's and REALS that were made with clip on ww's and they shot like ****. They went down WAY too hard, and I had to use a mallot to get them started. It was not worth it to use the clip on WW's. Stick on WW's might do ok. I have some but have not tried them. My Stick on WW's run about 8 to 9 BHN. Ron

[roverboy]

In my opinion use pure lead if you can. It will load easily and expand to fill the grooves well.
I've never tried WW but I've talked to some that have and they say you need a hammer to load'em. Not worth the trouble.

[oldhickory]

The pics Jeff put up look like they have a plenty thick skirt, no need for a harder alloy what so ever.

[Greg in Malad]

Here's my 2 cents worth. When I was a kid and all I had for lead was WW's, that's what I used. The Minnie balls( RCBS 45-280-M ) and the REAL bullets loaded and shot fine. I couldn't start the Maxi's with a hammer, I lost a chunk of my thumb in the process. Every rifle is different, you wont know until you try.

[405]

Have shot many more RBs and solid base ML bullets than minies but with the minies I do know that they need to fit easily. Purer lead will cast smaller which may be a positive. Also, just by their basic design, if you can get them to slide down the bore and rest on the powder charge, heavy charges destroy accuracy with them. The thinner the skirt- the lower the charge needs to be.

[oldhickory]

To get the best accuracy from Minnies, they must be sized .001-.002" smaller than bore dia. This thread isn't about Rifle-muskets, and sporting rifles have much deeper rifling which would lead me to believe even more that soft lead would be better material. A Minnie needs a thicker skirt, (as stated above) if more powder is to be used and velocity gained. The Lyman Black Powder Handbook illustrates this with high speed photography. Harder alloy may not expand in the bore filling the grooves and sealing the gasses.

[SWIAFB]

I've got a 450229 that I use in a Ruger old army that I have yet to try in a T/C Cherokee.
Blending the alloy to the application should be a spring project. I tried about 6 diffrent blends before I found one that would not blow the skirt on the 360gr Lee Minnie in the 50 cal at 80gr
charge of 3F Goex in a 1-28 Optima. I've shot two deer with this combination but have to say all where pass through shots so no recovered boolits. I might have to have a new base pin machined so it would have a thicker skirt. Cabin fever kicking in. SWIAFB

[10 ga]

Try with the WWs. If it isn't working go to softer alloy, ie. more lead, especially if the boolits are hard to load. That load is plenty stiff and you can drop back some if the minnie skirts start to fly apart. If your gun has a larger bore you will certainly be OK. Keep us posted. 10 ga