Maxi balls?

[StarnesRowan]

I am new to the flintlock shooting scene and was wondering if maxi balls would work out of a chambers 54 cal lancaster rifle

 

[Grenadier1758]

Maxi-Balls work best in a rifle with shallow grooves so that the driving band of the Maxi-ball fills the grooves. Since @StarnesRowan is talking about a Chambers 54 caliber Lancaster rifle, I would think that a proper sized ball and patch would be a better shooting choice.

 

[tenngun]

You can test. It might shoot well when you get the right charge, and you may find out lower powder charges is better.
Chambers is a slow deep twist and made for ball.
You won’t get much of a hunting advantage with them

 

[excess650]

Conicals need a quicker rifling twist to stabilize. While they might seem simpler to load, they need more cleaning since they are a looser fit and no patch to lube and wipe the bore. Patched roundballs make life easier.

 

[Loyalist Dave]

I am new to the flintlock shooting scene and was wondering if maxi balls would work out of a chambers 54 cal lancaster rifle

They might...,
Some of the rifles that shoot conical bullets well are very slow twist, 1:70, but they tend to be an exception to the rule.

Normally one finds that the slower twist rate flintlock barrels do amazing things with patched round ball, but conicals don't do well.
You will have to test it to be absolutely certain.

Conicals like the TC Maxi Ball will give you more mass on impact when hunting large game... I'd say the vast majority of folks going for large game don't need that extra mass. Conicals were originally invented, though, to give a soldier faster reloading time when volley firing at people. Hunters of that era did not like the original designed conicals aka minnie balls, and stuck with patched round ball, especially when dealing with dangerous game overseas.

Conicals having more lead will give you more recoil, as well as giving your stock more recoil, and will cost more shot per shot, especially if you are doing target shooting. No matter how fast you are reloading them, they are not fast enough to give you a reliable second shot on large game. Better to take your time (imho) and load a round ball.

A .54 round ball is quite formidable on large game, especially when it's accurate.

LD

 

[Sidney Smith]

A gun with a 1 in 48 twist will fire a maxi ball very accurately. I know the OP was talking about a specific gun, but I can say my TC Rebegade caplock would get baseball sized groups at 100 yards regularly using 370 grain maxi balls.

 

[Crow Choker]

Plus one on Sidney Smith post. I've shot 45 caliber maxi-balls in my 45 TC Hawken percussion since mid-70's. Very Accurate. Although I admit I like shooting round balls and do so more than Maxi's.

 

[GoodRabbitPilgrim]

A .54 round ball is quite formidable on large game, especially when it's accurate.

Just a few weeks ago a mate of mine dropped a fallow doe (whitetail doe size) on the spot with my .54 and .535 prb from 108 yards.

Some people really underestimate the humble round ball. She's taken many a game for centuries.

 

[Kilo Charlie]

If your rifle is a slower twist, consider Lee's R.E.A.L bullet; they are designed to allow a conical bullet to be shot from a rifle with slow twist and deeper grooves. There are scads of threads about them on the web. Downside: the bullets aren't available commercially and you must cast them yourself or find someone who casts them.
I have bought a .45/200 grain mold for a rifle I have on order; it will be my first attempt at casting.

 

[bubba.50]

Maxi-balls lubed with bore butter & loaded over a 70 to 90 grain measure of pyrodex worked great in my Lyman Great Plains rifle at any range I cared to shoot it. Loading the next one scraped the fouling from the last one so I never had to wipe between shots. And a bucket of hot water with a few drops of Dawn made clean-up a breeze. Lee r.e.a.l.s worked the same way.

 

[M. De Land]

They might...,
Some of the rifles that shoot conical bullets well are very slow twist, 1:70, but they tend to be an exception to the rule.

Normally one finds that the slower twist rate flintlock barrels do amazing things with patched round ball, but conicals don't do well.
You will have to test it to be absolutely certain.

Conicals like the TC Maxi Ball will give you more mass on impact when hunting large game... I'd say the vast majority of folks going for large game don't need that extra mass. Conicals were originally invented, though, to give a soldier faster reloading time when volley firing at people. Hunters of that era did not like the original designed conicals aka minnie balls, and stuck with patched round ball, especially when dealing with dangerous game overseas.

Conicals having more lead will give you more recoil, as well as giving your stock more recoil, and will cost more shot per shot, especially if you are doing target shooting. No matter how fast you are reloading them, they are not fast enough to give you a reliable second shot on large game. Better to take your time (imho) and load a round ball.

A .54 round ball is quite formidable on large game, especially when it's accurate.

LD

I experienced that as well in my Navy Arms Hawken Hunter with a 26 inch barrel and 1-60 twist. I made a mold for a sort of copy of the 58 cal TC Maxi ball. It weights 620 grains and with a 150 grains of 2F Goex it did about 2 inches at 100 yards. The recoil would make your eye water even while wearing a PAST recoil pad. My Chronograph recorded 1400 fps for several shots which I have my doubts about but perhaps it was telling the truth.

 

[Sun City]

I tried maxi balls once! Made me quit BP for 30 years!

 

[Sidney Smith]

I tried maxi balls once! Made me quit BP for 30 years!

Why?

 

[Grenadier1758]

I know that the use of Maxi-Balls left me with a bruised shoulder and started me down the path to build my 12 pound Hawken rifle to have weight to tame the recoil. That worked as I am still shooting that rifle.

 

[hanshi]

I agree with LD. That rifle will shoot best with prb and kill anything you'd ever hunt. But the only way to know if conicals work is to test them. I tested some maxis in a .50 rb-rifled barrel; and while it couldn't compare with the prb groups I wouldn't hesitate to hunt deer with the maxi-ball and maxi-hunter in that rifle.