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Good conical bullet for 50 cal 1-48.

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Nothing better than the 250 grain Lee R.E.A.L. (Rifling Engraved At Loading).

wm
Unless you’re willing to cast your own... I like the .50-415I from Accurate Molds, it shoots like it was designed for the Thompson Center 1-48 rifles. That big flat point is an absolute sledgehammer... that or call No Excuses. They have a variety of solid performers. Pun intended...

12BDEED9-9F16-4325-A204-3A4D3B475C54.jpeg
 
My 50 caliber TC New Englander loves Hornady Great Plains bullets. Taken several deer with them and they all dropped right where they stood. Great bullets.
 
I never tried the REAL or the Accurate. Of the ones I tested, the Hornady 385 gn "Great Plains" bullet was the clear winner.
 
Looking for opinions on good bullet.
Often times it is the depth of rifling more than the rate of twist that determines accuracy when shooting conical bullets. The 1/48 twist is not and never was a so called compromise that allows both PRB and conicals to be accurate. Having said that, in my experience with .50 conicals is shooting them out of a Great Plains Hunter barrel with rather shallow rifling and a 1/32 twist. If I remember that correctly, the Hunter barrel's twist rate.
Good advice on bullet types already given, my favorite being the Lee REAL bullet. I managed to find someone who had a mold for the 220 REAL bullet, which turned out to be the most accurate out of my rifle. Unfortunately that mold is no longer made but I'll bet that you could find someone willing to pour you some if the 250 grain don't give you acceptable accuracy. Final bit of advice is to add a lubed fiber wad between the powder and bullet. During my testing, no matter what type bullet or it's weight, from near 500 grains down to 220, accuracy improved with the addition of a fiber wad.
I hope you post the results of your load development and you found this useful.
 
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So you've had good "scoop" so far.

The problem is getting the bullet to engage the rifling.

In my TC's I've had luck with Maxi-Hunters, but for some reason the maxi-ball didn't work well at all.

The Lee REAL is a different approach, so if other bullets don't work, and you haven't tried the REAL, try it. It's an opposite concept. The bullet has lube-rings, but the ring closest to the nose is just a tiny bit oversized. When you load it, you end up swaging that last ring onto the rifling, with the idea that you are ensuring the bullet is now engaging the lands of the rifling enough to properly spin the bullet. REAL = R ifling E ngraved A t L oading. ;)

LD
 
My GPR 54 prefers Maxi-Balls over the Maxi-Hunter conical.
Unfortunately, T/C quit making the 54 Maxi-Balls, but I did find the exact same bullet offered by TOW in bags of 20 or 25, minus the lube.
 
Which ever rifle you have and what kind of bullet, having a way to get the bullet to take the rifling and a means of inhibiting gas cutting are the first two hurtles. Depending upon which ones you have it can go either way, making you wanta jump for joy or say bad words.
 
Hey, got a question for the forum.
What's the longest bullet you've tried and had success with in a fifty caliber with 48" twist?
How long was it?
 
Picked up a pretty spiffy 1.03" long plain base SWC mold that I migh try in the fifty New Englander just to see how far it'll stay nose first but I'd really like to find out from folks how long of a bullet they got to work.

Least ways in the New Englander I know it can be pushed really hard. It's an inch and a sixteenth down at the breach and I might put a Magspark on it as well. And hang on Nellie!
 

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