TC Maxi Balls in a Fast Twist

Anyone try Maxi Balls in a Fast 1:28-1:32 Twist? I have been experimenting with them in my Stainless .50 Green Mountain LRH barrel, and my blued .45 Green Mountain LRH 1:30 Twist, My .45 Shot them really well, but they were a NO GO in the Stainless .50 Cal, i tried them several different ways in the .50, different over powder wads, from Vege fibre, to wool in different sizes, i tried lubing both grooves, and just the bottom groove, but nothing was stellar by any means so i gave up messing with them in this Stainless .50 Cal, This rifle is finicky for whatever reason? But will shoot lights out good when you find the right combo, i have a few different loads logged down in my notes that do VERY well in it, from paper patched, to most recently the Lyman Plains lubed, and the Bullshop bullet

This morning i plan to try some of my own poured Maxi Balls, and Lyman Plains bullets in my Lyman Great Plains Hunter 1:32 Twist .54 Cal, The one thing i have found that I DON'T like with the Maxi balls in all of my Fast Twist rifles so far is the way they load, They start out great, but as you get about half way down they start getting noticeably easier (loose fitting) which is definitely a deal breaker for me. I just now got done loading this Lyman Plains Hunter Rifle to shoot this morning when daylight gets here and I don't like the way it loaded at all! It is worse than the .45 and .50 GM LRH barrels (but they weren't good either) This Lyman GPH barrel is longer than my Green Mountain LRH barrels and the riflings in this thing are deep and sharp, By the time i got this Maxi 3/4 of the way down it had little, to no resistance left. I totally understand the Maxi Ball concept of loading, the base and middle band are smaller for easier starting and loading, and the front driving band is what engraves the Riflings, The only thing that makes sense is the Driving band must be 'Giving Up' on the way down these Fast Twist barrels? I am not shoving them down fast, i have been loading them super slow in hopes they would stay tight, but they don't. I am confident the Lyman Plains bullets will load way better, at least they do in my Stainless .50 Cal, and the Lyman Plains bullets have been TIP TOP performers for me. My thinking is these Fast Twist barrels need a bullet with more bearing surface? (Which i have coming) I have several stock 1:48 Twist barrels i can try the Maxi balls in, i am thinking that is where they belong? After all TC designed them for their 1:48 twist rifles

Results this morning were pretty much as I suspected, the TC Maxi ball is a NO GO in this Lyman Great Plains Hunter .54 Cal 1:32 Twist, I am officially giving up on Maxi's in my Fast Twist Rifles. The Lyman Plains on the other hand did very well, i have had nothing but good luck with the Lyman Plains bullets in .50 and .54 Cal, i have shot them sized down and paper patched with VERY good results, and now full bore greased, They shoot VERY well no matter how i shoot them. In these fast twist barrels I think it comes down to bearing surface? The Maxi ball has 3 bands and the 2 lube grooves are wide and deep, the Lyman Plains on the other hand have 4 bands, and the grooves are shallow and much tighter/closer together giving substantially more bearing surface, length in my opinion is a non issue in this case, the Maxi balls are noticeably longer than the Lyman Plains bullets, if you go off the Green hill formula the Maxi's should shoot better in these fast twist barrels? But they absolutely do NOT! At least in my testing they dont. The little short .85 Lyman Plains bullets outshoot the Longer TC Maxi's hands down in all of my testing. I am excited to get my Custom Grease groove molds from Accurate molds, Tom and I emailed back n forth and he is gonna open my bands a bit to tighten the fit in my barrels, i would rather them push harder all the way to the powder than get loose

Here is the TC Maxi mess, i have a cold clean bore shot in here, it is in the white target, it's the closest one to the right edge, my second shot was straight above the bull, my 3rd shot was totally off the white target to the right? And my 4th shot is between the first 2 that tore the paper. Garbage results! But now i know, so its a win! I will try the Maxi's in my stock 1:48 twist barrels some day, but definitely no more in these fast twists


And here is the Lyman Plains bullet, the one that flew a little high was probably me? These things shoot good!

I like maxi-balls in my T/C guns BECAUSE they are so easy to load. added benefit for me is the next shot scrapes the foulin' from the last shot eliminatin' all that pesky swabbin'. I hear people say all the time that they'll move off the powder but, I've never had that problem with them in the dozens of guns I've used them in. but I also use enough heavy lube that maybe it kinda 'glues' them in place until the shot. :yeah:

bubba.50 said:

I like maxi-balls in my T/C guns BECAUSE they are so easy to load. added benefit for me is the next shot scrapes the foulin' from the last shot eliminatin' all that pesky swabbin'. I hear people say all the time that they'll move off the powder but, I've never had that problem with them in the dozens of guns I've used them in. but I also use enough heavy lube that maybe it kinda 'glues' them in place until the shot. :yeah:

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The 240 Grain Maxi Balls shot really good in my Fast Twist .45 Cal, i think that combo would make a darn good load for deer hunting, BUT I don't think i would ever trust them to stay put on the powder? So far this Green Mountain .45 Cal 1:30 Twist has shot any, and everything i have tried in it, there is NOTHING finicky about this rifle! My .50 and now .54 Fast twists have NO USE for Maxi Balls, Definitely not gonna happen in either of them. By the time the bullet gets down to the powder I'm thinking they could rattle around, They loosen right up! Even the Lyman Plains was a little on the loose side in this Lyman GP Hunter Rifle. The mold i have coming from Accurate molds for 50 and 54 will definitely take care of that! Tom is drawing up a Grease Groove design now for my .45 Cal

The loose fitting during loading has got to be the Driving band on the Maxi's giving up to some degree after being shoved down that much rifling. I will give the Maxi's another go one of these days in my stock 1:48 twist barrels, where I think they belong?

howwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwdeeeeeeeeeeeeee, LOL sorry I dont know where that came from. I am assuming your tests in the fast twist was all pure lead. have you tried just a teeny bit of antimony? I know I cast 50 or soo of mistery metal for my 54. it was difficult getting them down the barrel. I have not had the lead tested yet for antimony content. Next time I go shoot will be with my 50 cal. I am introducing a friend to muzzle loading and wanted to show him how little recoil the 50 has with light round ball loads. I have 2 different 50 cal. maxi-ball design molds to try. so get to try the whole array all over again.

triggerhappy243 said:

howwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwdeeeeeeeeeeeeee, LOL sorry I dont know where that came from. I am assuming your tests in the fast twist was all pure lead. have you tried just a teeny bit of antimony? I know I cast 50 or soo of mistery metal for my 54. it was difficult getting them down the barrel. I have not had the lead tested yet for antimony content. Next time I go shoot will be with my 50 cal. I am introducing a friend to muzzle loading and wanted to show him how little recoil the 50 has with light round ball loads. I have 2 different 50 cal. maxi-ball design molds to try. so get to try the whole array all over again.

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Trigger, These were pure lead. Funny you mention adding a bit of antimony/hardness, my Stainless .50 Cal GM LRH has always preferred a little harder bullet, it will shoot loft lead semi decent at times, but not NEARLY as good as say 8.5-9 BHN, that is where this Stainless .50 REALLY SHOOTS GOOD! My fear is loading a Maxi type bullet that hard, might need a mallet to pound them down!? But i would almost bet they would shoot better than soft lead in this particular rifle.

one of the things i tried, was to use some bore butter on a piece of terry cloth and wipe down the bore before i seat the bullet. makes it a little easier to get it down. I have not toyed with different amounts of antimony in the mix, but it did help the groups.

Fast twist 1/27&1/33 were made to shoot maxiballs. 1 in 66 shoot roundballs much better


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