Hornady Maxi ball load ?

[1Longbow]

I'd like to try some Hornady Maxiball bullets (320 grn.) in my 50 cal. New Englander M/L. What would be a good starting load for this bullet and gun--Thanks

 

[mooman76]

50 gr and work up.

 

[Spikebuck]

If you're looking for a hunting load, I'd say to start your experimentation at 70 grs of either 2F or 3F and go up from there in 5 gr increments. A 320 gr bullet will have a pretty good arch with a low powder charge. I personally like a load where I don't have to worry much about adjusting the sight picture out to 100 yards on deer-sized targets. In addition, you want enough "punch" from the explosion to flare the skirt and/or obturate the bullet base to seal the bore.

 

[Don Steele]

Since you're still in the "Trying" phase I hope you don't mind if I suggest you take a look at the Hornady Great Plains bullet. I shot the T/C Maxi for a long time. I even bought their mold and cast my own....until I had an opportunity to shoot them side-by-side with the Hornady 385 gn bullet.
I know every rifle is different, etc. but I was so impressed with the improvement that I bought several boxes of the Hornady product and melted down those Maxi-balls and turned'em into roundballs.
For powder, somewhere in the 80-90 gn range with 2f or 3f will most likely get you the best groups and a little flatter trajectory for hunting.

 

[Loyalist Dave]

Partner,

You should (imho) instead of the Maxi-Ball from TC, try the Maxi-Hunter. As suggested the Hornady Great Plains bullet is also to be looked at.

I have a New Englander, and you'd think that since it's a TC product that both types of TC bullets would work well, and you'd only go to the Maxi-Hunter to go heavier. Well, I found that Maxi-Hunters and GPB's worked very well in my New Englander, but the Maxi-Ball..., NOPE.

As suggested, start with powder equal to your caliber, so 50 grains. In my case I was looking for a deer hunting load, and in my state we have a minimum powder load of 60 grains so I started there. I found that like my flinters, 70 grains of 3Fg worked very well with Maxi-Hunters.

LD

 

[Vaino]

My .50 TC Hawken's elk load is a 410 gr Buffalo Bullet ahead of 100 grs 2f which has killed 6 elk w/o a whole lot of tracking after the shot. But, the Buffalo Bullet is no longer available so bought some 385 gr Hornady Great Plains Bullets to be used after the BBs run out. So far haven't shot them.

Noticed that the Hornadys have a hollow base but also noticed the thick skirt which won't expand. So the conclusion arrived at is that the hollow base ensures that this conical won't tumble or "keyhole" the target seeing it's nose heavy. But, it also might be just a sales gimmick.

Looking forward to seeing how they shoot using the same 100 grs 2f and also if the sights have to be adjusted.

Never liked MaxiBalls because of the hard loading, especially w/ a fouled bbl.....Fred

 

[cowboysteve]

If you have the inclination to cast your own bullets, I've had good results with Lyman's 395 gr "Plains" bullet. Cast of pure lead, loading can be done with thumb pressure. I shoot it with a wonder wad on top of 90 grs 3F Geox.

 

[Zonie]

Are you sure it's a Hornady Maxi-Ball your wanting to shoot?

I think the Maxi-Ball is a Thompson Center bullet and their .50 caliber version available from Midway is a 370 grain slug at about $1.00 each. They are pretty high priced IMO.

Anyway, an old TC owners manual does show several powder loads for their .50 caliber slugs.

275-320 grain slugs = 80 thru 100 grains 2Fg powder
90 grains recommended and 110 grains MAX

350-370 grain slugs = 70 thru 90 grains 2Fg powder
90 grains recommended and 100 grains MAX

460-470 grain slug = 70 thru 90 grains 2Fg powder
80 grains recommended and 100 grains MAX

Hornady shows a 385 grain Great Plains Bullet in .50 caliber.
They seem to cost around $15/20 or 75¢ each.

You might notice, all powder loads recommended for shooting heavy slugs use 2Fg powder.

IMO, this is very important. The heavy weight of the slugs produce very high breech pressures and using 3Fg powder could prove to be unsafe.

 

[cowboysteve]

I agree with Zonie. The "ultra-litigation cautious" Lyman book states that when using a 400 gr conical, 100 grs 2F or 80 grs 3F is the maximum load. My apologies.

 

[azmntman]

None of my rifles shoot any conical other than Horandy Great Plains (worth a dang). The great plains bullets with 80 gr 3f have dropped several elk (all down in sight). I now use PRB though and for many many years have had no issues.

 

[1Longbow]

Sorry your right they are Hornady bullets

 

[Rat Trapper]

I like 90 grains of triple seven 2f with the 385 grain Hornady great plains bullet with a felt wad under the bullet. This is for my TC Hawken 50 cal.

 

[1Longbow]

What ram rod tip are you using to ram the GPB down the barrel so you don't deform the tip of the bullet?

 

[Don Steele]

I use the same short starter and ramrod with the Great Plains bullet that I use for roundballs.
I can't speak about any "damage" that might be happening since I never loaded one then blew it back out with a CO2 cartridge to look at it.
Bottom line for me is that using those loading tools, with an optimum charge of powder and a decent rest gets "one ragged hole" groups at 50 yds, which is good enough for hunting. :thumbsup:

 

[rdstrain49]

Damage to the tip is really no big deal. Won't affect accuracy and likely won't affect expansion either. We are after all talking about muzzleloaders, not 1,000 + yard performance.

 

[cowboysteve]

For my home-cast Lyman "Plains" bullets, I took one of my short starters and filed the roundball indentation of the brass tip to a flat surface. I also did the same for a brass ramrod jag. It may not make a significant difference to some, but why cause unnecessary distortions to the flat surface of a spinning projectile?