.40 cal conicals

[TANSTAAFL]

I agree there is a lot of information to be learned on cast bullets for use in cartridge guns as to shapes, weights, alloys and lubes. Been casting them for decades and have over 40 such moulds.

Much of what one learns there can be readily modified and used for ML.

 

[paulvallandigham]

Then you should know to protect those cast bullet bases without any of us telling you to do so.

Seriously, I didn't know you by name, and I am not familiar with the areas of the shooting sports where you are " famous ". No insult intended. But, we both know that shooting modern guns with jacketed bullets is a different game than shooting cast bullets. The depth of the rifling is usually different, the rate of twist differs, the kind of lube you use shooting black powder differs from when you shoot smokeless. There are even different primer requirements when you are shooting a straight wall casing with BP that are not a problem using a modern cartridge, with copper jacketed bullets. As to the " Problems" with the .244 Remington cartridge, I read that stuff when I was a kid and on through my teenage years and always thought it was a lot of hype put out by the Winchester fans. I always thought the .257 Roberts cartride was better than either of the 6mms. Still do. I have fallen in love with the 6.5mm Swedish Mauser cartridge of late, and can only wonder why the marketing geniuses in the Gun Business here in the States could not figure out to call that cartridge the 6.5 American( Swede) and chamber guns for it. They would have sold a lot of rifles in that cartridge if they could have just figured out( come on, how hard is that really to do??) how to get rid of that metric designation that American shooters hated so much. Instead the geniuses at Remington change the rate of twist from 1:12, to 1:9, and called the new gun the " 6mm Remington!" Talk about shooting yourself in the foot TWICE!

 

[Lone Carabiner]

"Fallen in love" - Geez I like BP guns and will shoot anything else, but I ain't taken 'em to bed with me - except for the .380 under my pillow.
Sweet dreams :haha:

 

[Herb]

Paul- While I welcome your comments based on your experience, I have the feeling you are talking about cartridge black powder conical shooting. This thread started with a need for info on possible conical use in a Jack Garner .40 ML.

I have shot the Hornady Great Plains bullets in .50 and .54 caliber, Thompson Center's .50 Maxi-Balls, and Buffalo Bullet Company's .50 Maxi Ball-et. None of these is shot with a base wad, and they shoot very well in 1-72 twist barrels, though one well-experienced hunter said that stability was not good enough for shooting moose or elk.

Sam Fadala said in his Black Powder Handbook, 3rd edition, "at this time I can safely say that most BP conicals do not require gas checks (to safeguard the base of the bullet from gas damage)". In Lymans BP Handbook, 2nd edition, Fadala said "conical accuracy is best achieved by lubing the base only, a dab of grease or paste doing the job." Also re lubricants: "Some conicals were prelubed by the manufacturer. If (Lyman) lubed them, they used Ox Yoke Wonder Lube 1000 Plus or Hodgdon Pyro Lube." They did not mention wads. On page 308 re BP Cartridge data, they said "We did not use wads in our test shooting." I also read two articles by Layne Simpson where he used the .50 Lee REAL and Maxi Balls, and he did not normally use wads, though rarely he did.

Tanstaafel: When you were packing your .58 Hawken on the Kenai loaded with Lee REALs for moose and possibly for a life defending situation with griz, were you using wads? Of the 40 molds you have, do you commonly shoot wads under your conicals?

 

[TANSTAAFL]

Tanstaafel: When you were packing your .58 Hawken on the Kenai loaded with Lee REALs for moose and possibly for a life defending situation with griz, were you using wads? Of the 40 molds you have, do you commonly shoot wads under your conicals?

No wads were used, just Crisco (set up solid in the ambient temps) in the cavity and grooves. But, I rechecked my post and found I had misspoke. (left AK 30 years ago) The conical I used in Alaska was the .58 Lee ashcan mini in pic below. The REAL mold I have is in .54 cal. (no wads used)

I did use some punched felt lubed wads under the .45 auto 225 GR. RN I shot in the 1:48 .45 cal. Orion flinter bbl. Most of my molds are for smokeless, some for rifle & pistol are gas checked, some not.

Down on the Kenai Peninsula we had the big browns, not as irritable and temperamental as the smaller barren ground griz found in the interior, but still formidable.