maxi & mini balls in 1:66

[beartrap]

hello, i am hoping someone can tell me if a maxi or mini ball will shoot o.k. from my GPR flint .54 1:66 twist or even if it will work in a smooth barrel i got from green mountain, a drop in barrel. I know they claim a 1:48 twist is ideal but i dont own one. I'm hopeing someone out there will be able to tell me thier experiences with this and will it foul up my barrel very bad? I am sure hopeing it will work.

 

[Swampman]

If you can find a short minnie like the Lee Real Bullet they might shoot fine. I see little need for minnies except in Civil War period weapons. Track of The Wolf can set a Green Mountain barrel up for your Lyman rifle and make it shoot very well. I've also seen some fast twist Lyman barrels on eBay from time to time.

 

[Swampman]

http://www.blackpowderjournal.com/vol2no3/articles/bpj23-5.html

 

hello, i am hoping someone can tell me if a maxi or mini ball will shoot o.k. from my GPR flint .54 1:66 twist or even if it will work in a smooth barrel i got from green mountain, a drop in barrel. I know they claim a 1:48 twist is ideal but i dont own one. I'm hopeing someone out there will be able to tell me thier experiences with this and will it foul up my barrel very bad? I am sure hopeing it will work.

The problem isn't one of fouling the barrel, it's one of stabilizing the bullet. The slow twist rifling won't impart enough spin on a long bullet to keep it flying the way it's supposed to... the bullet will tumble on its way to the target, resulting in very poor accuracy. This will especially happen in a smoothbore, since there is no rifling whatsoever. Take one of your maxi balls, hold your fingertip on the back end of the bullet and toss it. See how it flies? That's basically how it will fly out of your gun. (If you can throw a spiral with a maxi ball, start calling some NFL coaches... they'd probably hire you and pay you lots of money. :redthumb

You will get lead fouling in your barrel shooting them, just like you would in a fast twist barrel.

 

[Leonredbeard]

Newhouse,
When I built my first custom gun for myself, I had some maxi balls left over in my favorite caliber, .54. They would tip and keyhole at 25 yards and less. 1/66 rifling just will not stabilize them. Now I once had a 315 grain bullet in the .58. They are very short for the caliber. If you can find some that short for yor caliber, it might work.
God bless.
volatpluvia

 

[big bore 75]

Well I must have me a fluk, because my tennessee mountain in .45 (the barrel is a douglas), will stabilize a short R.E.A.L. at 50 yards haven't worked it past 100 as of yet, I was having accuracy problems all of a sudden with round balls, but that is another problem that has been solved. but after shooting and finding the right load it is getting desent hunting accuracy. bb75

 

[Rebel]

Try the Buffalo Ball-ett

 

[Liver eatin’ Johnson]

I have had good results in my slow twist Dixie Tennesee Rifle with Buffalo Bullets.

 

[cfjohnson]

I shoot on occassion a 356gr mini ball in my 1-66
" twist barrel and it throws respectable patterns at 100 yards. That is a 39" barrel flinter with 100 grs of 3f black powder.

 

[RiverRat]

Buffalo Ball-Ets, .50cal, 270gr hp's, shoot very well in my GPR with the slower twist. I just have to push them alittle hard, like 100grs of Goex 3f. :thumbsup:

 

it depends on the design of the conical as to if it will stabilize adequately.
My Hershel house rifle throws a 436 grain conical very well with 100 grain loads out to 100 yards or so . We are talking 5 inch circle placement.
The conical is also very long but has a hollow base . The mould was also made from a drawn lead plug pushed through the barrel .
The barrel itself has round groves and a heavy octagon bore with a 42 inch length .

i would say try a box or 2 and see if you can work up a load that will give you the resualts you want . you may have to go through a couple diffrent designs .

Lastly if they don

 

[rrgr40]

I casted a few 415 grain mini' balls from a Lee mould for my .54 Hawken. It will clover leaf at 50 yards. Havn't stretched it out further than that yet. I am using 105gr of Goex FFg powder. It kinda stomps on both ends, but that's OK for hunt'in. :m2c: :front:

 

I casted a few 415 grain mini' balls from a Lee mould for my .54 Hawken. It will clover leaf at 50 yards. Havn't stretched it out further than that yet. I am using 105gr of Goex FFg powder. It kinda stomps on both ends, but that's OK for hunt'in. :m2c: :front:

Most Hawkens have a 1:48 twist, which is fast enough to stabilize a long heavy bullet. Normally, a 1:66 twist won't be enough to do the job.

 

[Herb]

I have shot Hornady Great Plains 425 grain HBHP conicals in my .54 Leman, with a 1-72 inch twist 34 inch Orion switch barrel I have on it. Used the loading data supplied, 105 grains of Pyrodex RS. Three shots averaged 1418 fps and went into 3.25" at 100 yards from rest. They do stabilize. Another test, 1454 fps average, group 2.8". As a comparison, the .530 Hornady round ball gave 1790 fps, three shots in 5.25 inches at 100 yards, with 4 inches less drop. Have also shot these conicals in other 1-70 inch barrels and have never seen them not stabilize. BUT: they are probably marginally stable and probably would not bore through a moose. Have also used the 385 grain Hornady HBHP bullet in .50 caliber 1-70 twist with good accuracy. And the .50 caliber Maxi Ball-et 270 grain HPHB bullet shoots very well. There was a Darryl from Canada who used to post on this forum with considerable shooting and hunting experience. Perhaps you could find his comments over the last year or 18 months by using Search. These bullets are lubed and do not foul the bore, at least for the 6 or 8 shots I have taken at one test. They do not lead the bore.