Question about Maxi-Balls ?

[brudford]

I have a Percussion Muzzleloader with a fast twist rate
and have been told no good for patched round balls poor
accuracy ? I want to maybe use T/C Maxi-Balls already
lubed,do I still need a patch under the Maxi ? and if not
won't the powder burn the base of the bullet ? Also the
cost of these is very high,can I cast my own and just buy
some natural lube 1000 plus and lube the grooves myself ?
Is there a better or cheaper way ? I think lubing the grooves would be a pain.

 

[Landngroove]

Thompson Center reccomends using a "Bore Button", or "Wonder Wad" over the powder, with ML,s with fast twist barrels, when using Maxi Balls. The grooves on the Maxi Balls are meant for lubrication, such as T/C Natural 1000 Bore Butter. Go ahead and cast your own, and lube 'em. Do not use a patch for use with rounballs with Maxi Balls. The Bore Button will protect the base of the Maxi Ball from hot gasses, and increase accuracy. I use Bore Buttons whenever I shoot Maxi Balls, fast, or slower twist.

 

[roundball]

I have a Percussion Muzzleloader with a fast twist rate
and have been told no good for patched round balls poor
accuracy ? I want to maybe use T/C Maxi-Balls already
lubed,do I still need a patch under the Maxi ? and if not
won't the powder burn the base of the bullet ? Also the
cost of these is very high,can I cast my own and just buy
some natural lube 1000 plus and lube the grooves myself ?
Is there a better or cheaper way ? I think lubing the grooves would be a pain.

TC makes a "maxi-Luber" that makes it all very quick and simple.

A plastic device that screws on the end of a tube of Natural Lube 1000...you slide a maxi into the device, squeeze the tube, lube flows all around the maxi, push in another maxi, it pushes the lubed one out of the way, squeeze the tube again and it lubes the next maxi, etc, etc...do a box of twenty in 2-3 minutes.

I lay out a sheet of wax paper, let the gooped up maxi's fall on it, keep a paper towel handy to wipe up with and you're all done...TC makes them in .45/.50/.54cals.

Here's a photo of a .45cal Pre-Luber on EBay

http://cgi.ebay.com/Thompson-Center-Prel...1QQcmdZViewItem

 

[brudford]

Landngroove thanks for the reply. Have another question for
you,Priced the bore buttons very expensive I would have to
find some felt thick enough and cut my own.Would this work ?
cast my own conicles or maxi-balls and insert them in plastic sabots ? Would I then need to lube the grooves
or use a bore button under the sabot ? I'am trying to go safe simple and inexpensive as I can Thankyou

 

[BS]

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 wint from 3-4" at 100yds down to 1 1/2 and smaller just by using
the sub-base and the card wad under the bullets. My loads are 90FFF to
115FF, out of my 50.


Some of the WAD links that I have found

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

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.

 

[Landngroove]

T/C Bore buttons are made of wool, and are lubed with Bore butter. This is so they will not burn out, when fired. if you can find a felt made from wool, and a cutter of the right size, you can make your own. Why not try a package of the T/C Bore Buttons first to see if they work for you, and you will get an idea of the thickness of the wool felt you will need? Also DO NOT use plastic sabots with Maxi Balls. Just pour your measured powder, insert the Bore Button, seat the Bore Button onto the powder charge with your ramrod, and then start, and ram the Maxi ball. That's it, you're good to go.

 

[awilkinson]

For the price of a couple of pkgs. of T/C Maxi's. You could get a Lee REAL mould. Pick up some soft lead from a metal recycle shop and be ahead of the game.

 

[musketman]

do I still need a patch under the Maxi ? and if not
won't the powder burn the base of the bullet ?

The maxiball requires no patch...

The base of the maxiball is slightly less in diameter than the nose section of the bullet, this help in starting the bullet into the barrel and once fired, the blast pushes on the base and causes it to expand, filling the grooves in the barrel and sealing the gasses behind the projectile...

The lube should be on the side bands of the bullet, not the bottom, if the bottom of the base is covered with lube, it could soak into your powder charge and ruin it...

 

[roundball]

Although I use and prefer Oxyoke wonderwads, the bottom line is that any good, non-flammable, natural lubed wad will work...all you're trying to do is put a tight sealing "firewall" between the fire & gas so it doesn't touch the bottom of the maxi.

Maxi's are not designed like the old miniball conicals with skirts that had to be flared to engage rifling and pick up rotation...the rifling cuts through the maxi's bands when you punch in down into the muzzle with a short starter.

I lube the daylights out of mine using a TC preluber and Natural Lube 1000 so they're plastered all over (except I wipe off their noses) then I use an Oxyoke wad down on the powder, and seat the maxi...extremely accurate, and devastating on deer.

 

[Mad Professor]

Although I use and prefer Oxyoke wonderwads, the bottom line is that any good, non-flammable, natural lubed wad will work...all you're trying to do is put a tight sealing "firewall" between the fire & gas so it doesn't touch the bottom of the maxi.

Maxi's are not designed like the old miniball conicals with skirts that had to be flared to engage rifling and pick up rotation...the rifling cuts through the maxi's bands when you punch in down into the muzzle with a short starter.

I lube the daylights out of mine using a TC preluber and Natural Lube 1000 so they're plastered all over (except I wipe off their noses) then I use an Oxyoke wad down on the powder, and seat the maxi...extremely accurate, and devastating on deer.

Roundball,

Had a few questions about the oxyoke wonder wads. If using the lubricated wads are there any issues with the lube effecting the powder if the gun is not discharged for several days when trying to track down the venison? Also have you found you need to vary the charge much in comparison to what a gun likes without the wad? Thanks in advance!

 

[roundball]

Had a few questions about the oxyoke wonder wads. If using the lubricated wads are there any issues with the lube effecting the powder if the gun is not discharged for several days when trying to track down the venison? Also have you found you need to vary the charge much in comparison to what a gun likes without the wad? Thanks in advance!

No, Natural Lube has no effect on powder.
Petroleum lubes do, and liguid lubes with various things in their make-up like water might have an effect, but Natural Lube (a.k.a. Wonder Lube) don't...they're made and used in products for that very purpose.

IMO, I don't see any need for and don't use wads with light target loads at the range...I do use wads with all hunting loads so I don't waste time varying powder charges because of a wad...if it's a hunting load, it gets a wad.

Building a load inside a ML bore, it's not much different than building a load inside a modern deer slug shotgun shell: powder, wad, plastic cup, lead slug