Apples and oranges. ".1257" is the increase in circumference, not caliber.
PRB vs Maxi ball
- Thread starter ole scratch
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Help Support Frontier Muzzle Loading:
.50 R/B Hornady,182 gr vs. No Excuses 535 gr .54 Conical.
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You can try them but maxi hunters don't seem to shoot near as well as the maxi balls do.
Idaholewis recently did a video on his youtube channel where he shot some maxi-balls, 3 with the top and bottom grooves lubed and then 3 with only the bottom groove lubed. The accuracy difference was eye opening, the ones with just the bottom groove lubed shot night and day better. He did the experiment with a factory .50 TC barrel I think, but I bet it would be similar in a .54.
Idaholewis's theory was that they just don't need that much lube to go up the barrel and the result is they don't shed all of the lube in the top groove, so you end up with a bullet that has lop-sided lube when it flies out of the barrel and this causes them to fly poorly. Imagine a spinning bullet that has a wad of lube on just one side, no way that is going to fly well.
I might be worth experimenting with the hunters with just the bottom groove lubed, and perhaps the bottom and middle.
Dusty hunter
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I was given 24 of them. By a friend who called them SABOTS. I thought they were maxie hunters. Like I said in my original post I have only purchased PRB for the last 35 years. Any help would be much appreciated.
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Take a look at this;
www.octobercountry.com
Just use google images for the tc maxie hunter, it's a shorter design.
Maxi Balls
Exceptional quality black powder rifles, shooting bags, powder horns and muzzle loading accessories
Just use google images for the tc maxie hunter, it's a shorter design.
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Those are maxi-balls, I bet they will work great if you only lube the bottom groove.
Idaholewis
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I live about 30-40 miles from that Place (October Country) I am NONE impressed with their Cast Bullets, and personally would NOT advise them. I bought some 600 Grain 58 Cal Maxi Balls from them a few years ago that were horrible Quality, Beat up badly, Pin holes, and wrinkles, They weighed as much as 20 Grains Apart, Whoever Casts their Bullets? Does a POOR JOB. If you read the Reviews, others have had issues with them as well. The Bullets in their Picture look like Wheel Weight Lead, I see a “Pulled/Tore” Sprue Cut on one of them, That is a sign of a HARD Bullet. For best performance on Game, You want Pure SOFT LEAD at Typical Muzzleloader Velocities of 1,300 to 1,500 FpsTake a look at this;
Maxi Balls
Exceptional quality black powder rifles, shooting bags, powder horns and muzzle loading accessories
Just use google images for the tc maxie hunter, it's a shorter design.
I only offered the reference(s) for an identification purpose I personally have never used them. And made no recomendations. I use "no excuses".
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CVA Enthusiast
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PRB`s or Conical` s ooooh wow now that is a can of worms, I say try actual testing of both at the maximum range you want to shoot from/to measure the spread the one you like the best well that is what you shoot. Me I am a Thompson Cheap Shot 230 grain hollow point myself, Neither Conical/Round Ball uses a plastic sabot. Like I stated it works for me
I have tried both and as far as accuracy goes, PRB's always perform better no matter the caliber. The depth of rifling determines how well a rifle will stabilize a lead conical, then the rate of twist. I did work up a very accurate load for a fast twist Great Plains Hunter barrel that I had fitted to a Cabelas stock. During all that I found that accuracy always improved with the addition of a lubed felt wad and 3F powder. Neither the Maxi ball nor the Great Plains bullets gave great accuracy and with the .50 fast twist barrel, shallow grooves, lighter was better. The Lee REAL bullets were best and I got one ragged hole at 75 yards using the 220 grain bullet, 95 grains of 3F Goes and a lubed "Wonder wad". Now, I am pretty sure that this load combination would go end to end on any elk inside of 80 yards but the recoil was brutal. I now only shoot PRB and am satisfied with both accuracy and performance.
About five years ago I bought a NIB CVA Bobcat .50 cal. from a close friend. Got hooked on BP hunting, I love it. So I bought a TC Hawken in .50 cal. used from a guy on another forum. Well I have a question for you more experienced guys I have another friend who has a TC Hawken in 54 cal. that he bought new and claims that after about 200 rounds PRB he has shot out the rifling's. Is that even possible with PRB. I asked to see the barrel but he never seems to be able to find the old barrel.
Standing Bear
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Under normal use —- NO. Under MIS USE — well maybe. He could’ve used sand paper for patch material I guess.
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Wow, agree. No way a PRB wears out a barrel that fast without some other underlying issue. Funny patch material, lube, or cleaning is my guess.
Rust. Not properly cleaning a barrel is my guess.
No way with PRB did he shoot out that barrel in 200 rounds. TC Hawken or No TC Hawken, not going to happen in 200 rounds. Something else is going on there.
Kind of what I was thinking. I've shot the heck out of my TC Hawken .50 since I bought it. Clean it after every session and it keeps on doing it's thing. I smile every time I shoot it. I need to see my buddy's barrel. May try to buy it from him CHEAP.
Doug1968
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I shot my t/c hawken 50 cal in club matches every month I bought used for over 10-12 years and did have to bump up the ball size from a .490 to a .495 to tighten up my grouping but that’s it . We shot on an average 30-40 shots a month . I only shot round ball but something doesn’t sound right about that guy to be honest .
Maybe never cleaned and the grooves are full of fouling. 
Sparkitoff
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I hunt with a .54. Started with 535 grain No Excuses. Several deer later they each had a huge hole but still ran a little. Eventually I figured "why the cost and recoil" when it was obvious I didn't need that big of a projectile. Went to PRB and found more accuracy, more consistency with range shooting consecutive shots w/o swabbing, and a lot less cost. Of note, my .54 shooting the conicals had a 1:24 ROT so I figured it needed them. I have sold that rifle and use 1:60-1:70 ROT now in .54. On another note, I was given a .50 caliber 1:66". It was put away in 1997 supposedly clean. 20 years later it took me about 75 patches to get them quit coming out orange. I don't have a bore light but I would guess there were issues down the tube. PRB grouping was not great. On a whim I picked up some PA Conicals and tried them. The rifle turned into an instant tackdriver, with the first group of 5 at 50-yards going into a little over an inch. I think the skirted design of that conical overcame whatever bore issues there were. I shot a few deer with it and had virtually the same results as if I used a PRB. Ultimately, I sold the barrel and replaced it with a .54 1:60 ROT and went to PRB in that rifle too.
