.50 Caliber Maxi Balls..........

[eekjellander]

To be clear. No cast bullet can come out of a mould and be bigger than the mould cavity it was cast in. Softer bullets shrink a teeny bit more than hard cast bullets. Hard cast bullets are indeed a little bit lighter than pure because of the alloy added. My measurements of harder and softer cast bullets from the same mould showed only a half thousandth difference in diameter. I have not found that lubeing all the grooves in a cast bullet causes instability at any distance from 200 out to 1000 yards. X

Probably because you don't shoot at those yardage with maxi s I . shoot to 200 yds (our shorty range a 45 maxi using a sabot 50x45 in several 50 cal with (NO LUBE) but again in a sabot. .My Renegades shoot to 800 yds every Friday after April but with PP 530 gr Ellipticals Accuracy is defined by your own expectations, everyone has different definitions concerning accuracy ! /Ed

 

[eekjellander]

Someone shooting a 24-27 caliber centerfire would be jealous of a load that expanded to .50 and plowed all the way through while somehow doubling or even tripling in weight while on the way...

Your .50 is already expanded. Big heavy hard cast bullets are known to plow through, penetrate, and do the job. One easy thing to do to increase the hammer effect is to have a wider metplat but then you start getting into custom mold territory I think...

The one caution on hardness would be loading and being soft enough to deform to the rifling as you shove it down the tube.



Unsure of how different a alloy would be size wise but you could aim to end up .001-2 over either which way and then run 'em thru a sizer to make 'em uniform and correct

My new (yesterday) Accurate mold was made to cast 501 in pure lead and running thru my Lyman 450 sizer with a (501 ) die it lubed but hardly touched the as cast bullet . Another great mold from Accurate/Ed

 

[Greg_E]

Adding an ounce of tin to 20 pounds of lead will do almost nothing to the hardness, but it is an added expense. I'm surprised that such a small amount will break the surface tension to help fill out the mold though, might be worth a try with the little bit of tin I have left.

 

[X-ring]

Probably because you don't shoot at those yardage with maxi s I . shoot to 200 yds (our shorty range a 45 maxi using a sabot 50x45 in several 50 cal with (NO LUBE) but again in a sabot. .My Renegades shoot to 800 yds every Friday after April but with PP 530 gr Ellipticals Accuracy is defined by your own expectations, everyone has different definitions concerning accuracy ! /Ed

You're right, I'm not a maxi guy.......... long conicals in BPC rifles and my Gibbs only. You are absolutely correct about accuracy. X

 

[eekjellander]

Adding an ounce of tin to 20 pounds of lead will do almost nothing to the hardness, but it is an added expense. I'm surprised that such a small amount will break the surface tension to help fill out the mold though, might be worth a try with the little bit of tin I have left.

20 lbs of lead to 1 LB Tin is 20-1 I use 10Lbs in my Lee pot to 8 oz tin is how I do it ! //Ed

 

[bronko220002]

X=ring you are correct in the casting aspect but an alloy bullet will not shrink as much as a pure lead bullet after cooling. This has to do with the molecular crystalization that takes place. That is why when you order a custom mold such as one from Accurate Tom will ask what alloy will you be casting with so he can alter the size of the mold cavity to achieve your desired diameter +/- his tolerance.
Here is an interesting article: Bullet Moulds Charts - Redding Reloading Equipment: reloading equipment for rifles, handguns, pistols, revolvers and SAECO bullet casting equipment

 

[drpatton]

Adding an ounce of tin to 20 pounds of lead will do almost nothing to the hardness, but it is an added expense. I'm surprised that such a small amount will break the surface tension to help fill out the mold though, might be worth a try with the little bit of tin I have left.

Sorry I'm late on this but I just saw it.
20lbs of lead is 320 oz. So adding 1 oz of tin to 320 oz, made it 320:1,
It can work but it will be highly diluted. It's like placing one drop of red food dye in a 24oz glass of water. The water may turn a very, very slight shade of pink?
Please let me know if this works. I never heard of breaking the surface tension to help fill out the mold.

 

[eekjellander]

Sorry I'm late on this but I just saw it.
20lbs of lead is 320 oz. So adding 1 oz of tin to 320 oz, made it 320:1,
It can work but it will be highly diluted. It's like placing one drop of red food dye in a 24oz glass of water. The water may turn a very, very slight shade of pink?
Please let me know if this works. I never heard of breaking the surface tension to help fill out the mold.

I've already responded to the poster , He's wrong I go thru a 10Lb pot almost every other week 20-1 is 20LBs lead /1LB tin and in my case 8 oz (1/2 Lb) -10 LBs lead (pure) Could do this this stuff in my sleep ,not in the summer out shooting !/Ed

 

[drpatton]

20-1 is 20LBs lead /1LB tin

Yes, that is 20:1.
Both side of the ratio have to be in the same units. Someone was using lbs on one side and ounces on the other. I had to convert the pound to ounces for it to work. 320:1

 

[eekjellander]

Yes, that is 20:1.
Both side of the ratio have to be in the same units. Someone was using lbs on one side and ounces on the other. I had to convert the pound to ounces for it to work. 320:1

some one was sleeping in!/Ed

 

[Greg_E]

Some of the people casting for airgun use 1% tin to help fill out the molds, they say there is basically no change in hardness. I have not tried this, I usually just turn up the temperature to get things to fill out. But on a little 25cal pellet mold I may need to give this a try, that foul thing just won't produce consistent results, I'm not sure if it is me or the mold.

 

[Michael Weaver]

I will preface this by stating that I have shot hand cast Maxie Balls with some pretty darn good accuracy out of a TC Hawken and a New Englander. No complaints whatsoever on accuracy and they have killed every big game critter I have ever shot at. Never had one expand but they are lethal all the same. The hand cast Maxi Balls I have been using over the years are cast out of wheel weights. They are not soft lead. So, this begs the question of, do those hard cast Maxie Balls put additional wear on the rifling in the barrel? One thing I have noticed is they appear to be a little oversize when compared to the very few TC Maxi Balls I purchased and tried years ago. They also appeared to be more accurate.

I really like shooting these hand cast Maxie Balls and I have a fair amount of them made up. But I would hate to damage the barrel of my old smoke pole. I do not shoot a lot, mostly for hunting and of course, to empty the rifle. Its a flat out hunting tool and I would like to keep it that way, especially since the old sidelock ML are not nearly as available as they used to be.

I would like to own another ML rifle that will shoot a RB accurately that I can tinker with, but that's another story for another thread.

Any possibility of casting a few MB 370’s in medium to hard cast for my son??

 

[eekjellander]

Any possibility of casting a few MB 370’s in medium to hard cast for my son??

Why not get them in pure lead as they along with Lyman Plaines /Lee REAL were designed for . Along with expansion and pass thrus with expansion . WW work at higher velocity than BP produces in conicals , why there's no expansion . Only thing I use is pure with a little tin ,maybe 40-1 and get blood trails Ray Charles could see and he was blind !/Ed

 

[anonymouscowherd]

With a properly designed hard cast bullet (ie large metplat up front) you kinda dont need to worry about expansion

Remember - holy grail of a 24-28 caliber centerfire would be to expand to double diameter with 100pct weight retention. You are starting at 2x to 4x weight and starting at 2x-ish diameter

Put it where it belongs and poke a half inch hole all the way thru

 

[Michael Weaver]

Why not get them in pure lead as they along with Lyman Plaines /Lee REAL were designed for . Along with expansion and pass thrus with expansion . WW work at higher velocity than BP produces in conicals , why there's no expansion . Only thing I use is pure with a little tin ,maybe 40-1 and get blood trails Ray Charles could see and he was blind !/Ed

Why not get them in pure lead as they along with Lyman Plaines /Lee REAL were designed for . Along with expansion and pass thrus with expansion . WW work at higher velocity than BP produces in conicals , why there's no expansion . Only thing I use is pure with a little tin ,maybe 40-1 and get blood trails Ray Charles could see and he was blind !/Ed

I don’t disagree with you, but you’re not 19, soon to be 20, going on 60 young man wanting to experiment with everything to see for yourself. My one and only big bull dropped like a rock with a standard 370gr Maxiball. High shoulder shot at 50 yards. Held up in the off shoulder. Had to drop him where he was because a heart/lung shot might not of stopped him from getting back on the reserve a quarter mile away. Exciting hunt but in wa you have to draw for a big bull and everything you spend in washington state for the DFW has been going straight into the general fund for decades instead of where it should be. Makes me want to find another state but do not have the funds.