Shrinking Maxi-Balls ?

[Landngroove]

I recently was given some old (at least ten years) unlubed T/C Maxi Balls, .54 caliber. I tried them in my .54 White Mountain Carbine. I normally shoot .530 round balls, with a .015" patch and get a nice tight fit. The Maxi Balls offered little, if any resistance, when loaded in the barrel. My question is, do lead projectiles shrink some when they age. I have shot newer Maxi Balls, (usually prelubed) and they engrave the rifleing when loading. Has anyone experienced this?

 

[riarcher]

I just bought and resold a T/C maxi for a .45 cal.(on Ebay). Same thing, undersized.
I think the old T/Cs (guns) were undersize also. Thus, these molds are for their T/C guns.
Prefering steel molds, I picked up the same (with handles) on Ebay, used, for the same money (almost) and the Lyman drops a .005 larger maxi. T/C is 220gr., Lyman is 245 gr.

 

[Stumpkiller]

Nope. Lead never shrinks once cooled. That's why plumbers use it to seal iron pipe joints.

It's a stable element - nothing to evaporate or dissolve off to cause it to shrink.

 

[musketman]

Nope. Lead never shrinks once cooled. That's why plumbers use it to seal iron pipe joints.

It's a stable element - nothing to evaporate or dissolve off to cause it to shrink.

If lead never shrinks, the the only other logical answer is that barrels get larger on their own with age...

Just like my mid-section...

 

[[email protected]]

as I git older I find that some things keep swelling and get biger and bigger whereas other things wont swell at all?????? They say that the eyesight is second thing you loose.......Humph.

*** WV SCROUNGER *** ff:

 

[rrgr40]

That mid-section thang seems to be an epidemic!!! :blah: eace:

 

[RussB]

Nope. Lead never shrinks once cooled. That's why plumbers use it to seal iron pipe joints.

It's a stable element - nothing to evaporate or dissolve off to cause it to shrink.

Actually it is just the opposite. Lead will "grow"...not much but some.
Now here is the kicker...Conical and roundball bullets will grow with age, I'm told that process stops after about 14 / 16 months, sometimes before.

I had several hundred 530gr Postell that were cast, and measured, at .459 (The alloy was supposed to be 20:1)
I put them in a coffee can, and two years later I decided to use them, so I just loaded about fifty without checking anything and....... they would not chamber!
I had to pull all fifty! They measured an honest .4605, I don't own a mould that will cast a bullet that large.
They had "grown" .0025!

Also, If you size the bullet after casting, or heat treat the bullet for hardness, it won't change it's diameter, but that is something that is done by the BP cartridge shooter, and not so much for muzzleloading.

Many BPCR shooters report this as fact.

The only "shrinkage" I'm aware of involves wheel weights, or high volumes of tin. A mould that casts a .535 roundball using pure lead, will normally cast a ball around of .533 using wheel weights. Many folks use Lee Alox, with "thrice" dipped round ball, to bring them back up to .535 without having to change the patch.

Russ

 

Not all moulds are made the same. My trade gun will fit a Lyman or Rapine .600 ball with an .018 tick patch, but if I use a Lee cast ball, forget it, I need a rock to pound it in, and then I'm no longer shooting a round ball but a patched cylinder!

If I had to guess--and not seeing your gun and handling it this can only be a guess--I would have to say that they are just made from a mould that is slightly undersized from what you are used to. In the same way, not all barrels are the same diameter. I've seen "20 gauge" barrles range from .614 to .625 bore diameter.

The maxi's you got were probably too small for your gun to begin with. This is why I am loathe to change anything once I have a gun sighted in, even the lube on the patches, because evey time you change something, you change the point of impact for your gun. At least, that's been my experience.

:results:

 

[merdean]

You made me go check. I have a bag full of Maxi-Balls that I cast in 1986. I had borrowed a TC mold for a weekend so I fired up the pot and kept it going til I ran out of lead. Probably made 800 that weekend. But, after reading this, I went home and checked......I found that they are .542 on base. Next band was .545 and top band was .548. I only measured 5 but they were all within .001. They are still a good fit in my CVA rifle. I don't know if this is undersized or not but the "feel" is the same as when I first cast them. My rifle shoots a .530 ball with .015 patch just fine. It also shoots these Maxi's very well. Then I checked some .50 cal REAL. They measured .502 at base, .505 on next ring and .509 on top band. They load and shoot just fine in my .50cal. It normally shoots .490RB with .015 patch OK. Not a tack driver but acceptable accuracy with both projectiles. So I don't think lead shrinks. At least not enough to matter. :results:

 

[ruger4570]

If I am not mistaken (and God knows I have made a few) the TC Maxi was supposed to have 3 different diameters. the base was sort of "land riding" diameter and the top one was to slightly engrave the rifling. The concept I think was to provide easy loading and allow the powder when ignited, slug up the bullit to full diameter and completly fill the rifling. I know when I load mine the base goes in easy, just touching the rifling the middle band engraves just a slight amount while the top band does engrave a lot more. It isn't enough to be a problem and my starter gets it in the bore easy. Mine seem to shoot very well in my TC gun.

 

[Landngroove]

I will have to get a new box of Maxi Balls, and see how they load, and perform, as compared to the older ones I had used. I will post results.

 

[Rat]

If lubed with Crisco they will shrink, as Crisco is SHORTENING. Were they lubed with Crisco or a Crisco mix?

Rat