.50 cal 250 grain Lee Real bullets

[Thekingd93]

Bought a mold to cast Lee real bullets 250 grain .50 caliber. I haven't shot any other projectiles besides patched round ball out of my rifles. Im hoping the Lee real bullets will perform better at longer ranges 100 yards and beyond. I was shooting round ball on a very windy day recently and my groups at 100 yards suffered greatly. My Hawken is 1:48 twist and my Renegade is 1:66, I don't think ill bother trying the bullets out my my Renegade as it's a dedicated round ball gun but hopefully they work well in the Hawken. I heard an over powder felt wad is necessary with these particular projectiles as well. The only thing that concerns me with lead cast bullets is lead fouling in the bore and possibly the bullet becoming un-seated against the powder charge. Anyways thoughts, pointers and tips are appreciated. Always trying to learn as much as possible.

 

[OVERKILL]

That one should work in the Renegade as well, maybe not past 100 yards, but definitely out to 100. It's shorter than a .490 ball (or at least mine is, they can vary a bit) and have always done great for me in RB and compromise twist barrels. Depending on the powder used you'll probably have way more trouble with powder fouling than lead. I never had problems with a bullet coming unseated off the powder, since there is variance in barrel and mould diameters, it's something worth double checking though. Make sure to cast them out of pure lead or you might not even get them seated on the powder.

I used the modern mini in faster twist barrels, so I can't give advice there. They only had the top driving band engaging rifling and were real loose in the Buckhorn. Occasionally I'd remove the primer and check it was still seated to the witness mark on the ramrod. I also worried about not getting the powder into the hollow base and causing problems. If there ever was a small void, it never caused a problem. 85gr GOEX FFG under that bullet was a deer hammer. If I had it to do again I'd get the 320gr REAL instead of fooling with the hollow base.

 

[mooman76]

What Overkill said is sound. An over powder wad is not a must but sometimes it helps improve accuracy. Lube your REALs and you shouldn't have a leading problem. You shouldn't have to worry about the REAL coming of the powder either, that's mostly pertains to the minie because they are a slightly looser fit.

 

[Grenadier1758]

You do want to be sure the diameter of the REAL bullet's driving bands are larger than the land to land diameter in your barrel. Preferably close to the groove diameter. Very soft lead of course.

 

[Rod Man]

I found that the 250 REALs were only marginal out of my Lyman Hunter with wad are without. The rifle prefers the 270 HP Buffalo Bullet. When Carrying a BP pistol in Arkansas while hunting the bullet has to be a .50 and 250gr or better. Started to work up a load for my Kentucky pistol and initial results with 35gr of 3f underneath were only marginal as well. Have not had a chance to try anything else.

RM