.54 Conical for hunting

[Vic Price]

Good day to you all,

I have been hunting with a T/C .54 cal maxi-ball and like this projectile. I plan to start casting my own soon and have not found any moulds for this style of conical. Is there much of a selection "out there" for .54 cal hunting conicals - moulds ?

Thanks, Vic

 

[roundball]

Good day to you all,

I have been hunting with a T/C .54 cal maxi-ball and like this projectile. I plan to start casting my own soon and have not found any moulds for this style of conical. Is there much of a selection "out there" for .54 cal hunting conicals - moulds ?

Thanks, Vic

I notice TC moulds for sale pretty regularly on[url] auctions...in[/url] fact, I think I saw some just this week on EBay...go type in Thompson Center and see what pops up

 

[bpollock_sr]

I shoot the Lee real 54 conicals with good results. they are accurate and the molds sell for less than 20 bucks.Use the 300 grn in slow twist barrels and the 380 grn in 1 in 48 or faster twist barrels.

 

[Vostok]

Tradervic-

I have never had good luck with the Lee REAL conicals out of a mould. They tend to have minimal rifling contact at the bearing surfaces and never gave me better than hubcap sized groups at 100 yards from a GPR Hunter 1:32 twist .50 cal. I had worse results when tried from my T/C New Englander.

I know they are much more expensive, but I have had great luck with the Lyman Plains bullet. It has much greater bearing surface, more mass, and I can hold groups of 1.5 inches at 100 yards off a rest.

This is with a .50 cal Lyman Great Plains Hunter barrel with the fast twist for conicals. I plan on getting a .54 cal hunter barrel and bullet mould from Santa wife this Christmas so if you have a month or so I can let you know what I come up with on a .54 when I try it.

I have heard that others have had great luck with the Lee's out of T/C barrels, but I have never seen it from my guns. I also had very poor expansion of my Lee conical in a cow elk this year, whereas the Plains seems to expand better when I have found the bullet.

I hope this helps, best of luck.

 

[cayugad]

Friends and I with out Thompson Center's 1-48 twist .54 calibers have used the 300 grain LEE R.E.A.L. and killed a lot of deer. Very few of the deer every go very far after being hit by them. Also 80 grains of powder and a wad makes for a real accuate load. I like the 380 grain in faster twist rifles.

 

[BS]

If I were to buy a new mold for a 54, I would look at the Lyman Plains Bullet. May be a little heavy for Deer, but looks like a real Elk Killer!

Don't for get to put a "wad" under your bullets. Card stock wads shrank my groups in half!

 

[Vic Price]

Thanks for the feedback guys. I shoot a Lyman .54 Plains Rifle with a 1:32 twist "Hunter Barrel". So far, my barrel prefers the T/C Maxi-Ball and not the Maxi-Hunter. Both of these run $10 / box of 20 ( ave. ). I'd like to cast my own to shoot these more.

When I really want to just plink - I'll put the round ball barrel on.

Regards, TraderVic

 

[Vic Price]

To.........BS

Do you really place a "wad" or similar material between the bullet and powder ?

......it really tightened up your group ?

Regards, TraderVic

 

[BS]

TraderVic,
I shoot Hornady 410s with a MMP SUB-BASE, I also shoot a 370 Grain Maxi with
a card wad under the bullet!

My groups went from 3-4" at 100yds down to 1 1/2 and smaller just by using
the sub-base, or a card wad under the bullets. My loads are Goex, 90FF to
115FF, out of my .50 cal. with a 1 in 30 twist.


Some of the WAD links that I have found
[url] http://www.buffaloarms.com/browse.cfm/browse.cfm/4,4964.html http://www.sagebrushproducts.com/ShootingProducts.htm http://www.circlefly.com/ http://www.trackofthewolf.com/categories/tableList.aspx?catID=2&subID=37&styleID=118[/url]

Some of the more expensive " Veggie" wads are made from:

Vegetable fiber gasket material engineered to resist high heat & compression
and water resistant.

Or you can make your own with some heavy card stock and a Gasget [Arch]
punch.