First tests with my new mold.

[LR_Smoker]

I have finally managed to fling my 1st lead from the new mold yesterday.
I need a bullet capable of taking moose so I designed and had made one by Tom at Accurate Molds which he called a 50-478P.
Following other information gleaned here I managed to cast and lube these and although I acknowledge that they were not match grade bullets like Lewis makes I decided to try them anyways.
Started at 50 yards I loaded up 80 grains WT of Swiss 2F, 1/8 .50 cal felt and pushed down the bullet with a .001 over bore bullet. Went in using only thumb pressure oddly enough.
Knowing that I was on paper I decided to back up to 75 yards and see the group using the same load. I ended up with a 2” group so I decided to bump up the loaf to 95 grains WT.
That appeared to stabilize the bullet better so I backed up to 100 and tried the same recipe.
My guess is that I’m going to have to speed them up a bit more because the bullet will have to be stable out to 200 yards at least for where I hunt.
This is what I end up with after starting out at 490 grains.
Thanks to all those individuals and in particular “IdahoLewis” that post on this site and freely share their knowledge.

 

[eekjellander]

The mushroom says your bullet is fast enough to kill/penatrate (not knowing what it hit) but elevation is more important than speed . Is this not something to try instead ? My long range (800 yds) 45 cal 530 gr Elliptical gets there @ 1230 FPS with 128-131 pts using 80 gr OE2F . By the way great bullet /mold and casting effort to shoot that target /Ed

 

[LR_Smoker]

The bullet was shot into my version of a bullet trap. It consists of a 20” x 20” x 48” long wooden box with three compartments inside. Each compartment holds three bags of wood pellets for a pellet stove. Generally speaking an individual bullet will stop in the first compartment however when you make the mistake of shooting them too close they will go into the 2nd compartment. It’s easy to reclaim the bullets and it gives me some idea of what expansion I should expect. The real test will come this fall I hope.

 

[LR_Smoker]

I can easily crank up the elevation for longer distances , that’s not an issue. My concern is the group has to be better at 100 yards. The only test I did try gave me 2” so that’s not exactly a good start for longer range. Of course it was only the first test and there are a couple of parameters to tweak before I’m finished. Overall I was pleased with the results and just wanted to share my appreciation for the people that share their knowledge, experience and idea’s on this site.

 

[HC]

Good shooting. Would you post a pic of a new bullet and rifle?

 

[Idaholewis]

That is AWESOME my Friend!! EXCELLENT Shooting!! Awesome looking Bullet, and it’s Performance!! You put that Bullet through the “Living Room” of ANY Critter you are after, and You OWN it!! Gotta love it when a plan comes together

Thank you for the kind words LR_Smoker. This stuff RIGHT HERE is what makes the Forum FUN for me, I TRULY enjoy helping others achieve success EVERY bit as much as myself, This is why i share EVERYTHING i know, and do here with you Guy’s

Way to go my Friend!!

 

[LR_Smoker]

The rifle is a regular Remington that I have modified over the years. It was my first muzzleloader and to be honest I didn’t have much luck with it for accuracy as it came from the factory. It still has the original barrel however I have fooled around with just about everything else. I made my version of a 209 adapter from a Thompson breech plug, made a free floating and bedded laminated stock that actually fits “me”, and changed the trigger. After these tweaks I can say that of my three inlines this one is my favorite and has accounted for a lot of deer over the years.

Here’s the picture of the bullet as requested. I don’t have access to certified pure lead so these are cast from sheet lead coming off of a dental x-ray room. My home made lead hardness tester shows them as being the softest of the different lead sources that I have.

 

[LR_Smoker]

Obviously I screwed up on the posting of the bullet. You will have to bear with me because although I read a lot I generally don’t have much to share that’s of benefit to other people.


Sorry about that.

 

[45-70]

I have finally managed to fling my 1st lead from the new mold yesterday.
I need a bullet capable of taking moose so I designed and had made one by Tom at Accurate Molds which he called a 50-478P.
Following other information gleaned here I managed to cast and lube these and although I acknowledge that they were not match grade bullets like Lewis makes I decided to try them anyways.
Started at 50 yards I loaded up 80 grains WT of Swiss 2F, 1/8 .50 cal felt and pushed down the bullet with a .001 over bore bullet. Went in using only thumb pressure oddly enough. View attachment 12201
Knowing that I was on paper I decided to back up to 75 yards and see the group using the same load. I ended up with a 2” group so I decided to bump up the loaf to 95 grains WT. View attachment 12202
That appeared to stabilize the bullet better so I backed up to 100 and tried the same recipe. View attachment 12203
My guess is that I’m going to have to speed them up a bit more because the bullet will have to be stable out to 200 yards at least for where I hunt.
This is what I end up with after starting out at 490 grains. View attachment 12204
Thanks to all those individuals and in particular “IdahoLewis” that post on this site and freely share their knowledge.

try some 1.5 swiss

 

[HC]

Great job posting the photos. That’s a GOOD looking bullet.

 

[LR_Smoker]

try some 1.5 swiss

I have some for my BPCR and it’s one of the many “tweaks” that I have to try once I can find the time.
I still have to refine my casting technique to be able to cast match grade Bullets as I feel that the poor quality of my casting could explain the flyer at 100 yards however it’s all conjecture at this point in time.

 

[Idaholewis]

I have some for my BPCR and it’s one of the many “tweaks” that I have to try once I can find the time.
I still have to refine my casting technique to be able to cast match grade Bullets as I feel that the poor quality of my casting could explain the flyer at 100 yards however it’s all conjecture at this point in time.

I can see your determination, You WILL do good! Just keep plugging away at the Casting, Bump up your heat a little bit, Switch up and try different things, you WILL get it down, i have FULL Confidence in you

Remember, I didn’t start right out casting nice Bullets, I actually struggled with it MUCH more than you will ever know, in the beginning i came close to giving up on it out of PURE Frustration, But i couldn’t allow myself to do that! Believe me, i have made every possible mistake you can imagine, From Casting to Shooting, I have had MANY Days that all I could do was Shake my Head and Wonder What the Heck went wrong?? But those CRAZY Days actually made me more Determined to figure out why? When i share Tips/Tricks/Etc. with you guy’s i am trying to help you Cut Corners from my HANDS ON FAILURES

You guy’s see me post some pretty awesome Targets, and some Cool long Range Clips/videos, But BELIEVE me when i say that it’s NOT always so Great! I have PLENTY of Bad Days (and stil do) But I have done this Stuff long enough and Stayed DILIGENT at it, that i pretty much know what’s gonna Work, and what’s not. But i stil get Humbled From time time.

Again, keep plugging along! You are doing AWESOME my Friend!!

 

[LR_Smoker]

I can see your determination, You WILL do good! Just keep plugging away at the Casting, Bump up your heat a little bit, Switch up and try different things, you WILL get it down, i have FULL Confidence in you

Remember, I didn’t start right out casting nice Bullets, I actually struggled with it MUCH more than you will ever know, in the beginning i came close to giving up on it out of PURE Frustration, But i couldn’t allow myself to do that! Believe me, i have made every possible mistake you can imagine, From Casting to Shooting, I have had MANY Days that all I could do was Shake my Head and Wonder What the Heck went wrong?? But those CRAZY Days actually made me more Determined to figure out why? When i share Tips/Tricks/Etc. with you guy’s i am trying to help you Cut Corners from my HANDS ON FAILURES

You guy’s see me post some pretty awesome Targets, and some Cool long Range Clips/videos, But BELIEVE me when i say that it’s NOT always so Great! I have PLENTY of Bad Days (and stil do) But I have done this Stuff long enough and Stayed DILIGENT at it, that i pretty much know what’s gonna Work, and what’s not. But i stil get Humbled From time time.

Again, keep plugging along! You are doing AWESOME my Friend!!

As I stated previously Lewis, it’s thanks to you that I have managed to get this far. You have always shared and encouraged individuals such as myself and I honestly do appreciate it. We all have different opinions and experiences that permit us to share with others however I find that the way you and many others document and show in the most minute fashion how you get your results to be the most beneficial. Thank you

 

[45-70]

I have some for my BPCR and it’s one of the many “tweaks” that I have to try once I can find the time.
I still have to refine my casting technique to be able to cast match grade Bullets as I feel that the poor quality of my casting could explain the flyer at 100 yards however it’s all conjecture at this point in time.

here is load to try 500 grn bullet, 66 grns. Swiss 1 1/2 , compress about .140 thousandths . This is good starting load given to me by Mike Patterson past NRA champion at Raton Nationals. Forgot slight taper crimp just so bullet doesn't fall from case

 

[MSalyards]

In a muzzle loader?

 

[Bad Karma]

.... You will have to bear with me because although I read a lot I generally don’t have much to share that’s of benefit to other people.

I read a lot too and it leads me to differ with your assessment... seeing others successes, and the road they take to arrive at them, moves us all forward. I could be wrong bubut I think it is what motivates Lewis to post, and why your posts are a benefit for the rest of us too.

 

[Bad Karma]

In a muzzle loader?

The taper crimp is the tricky part...

 

[45-70]

In a muzzle loader?

no he was asking about shooting his BPCR or am I missing something

 

[45-70]

Sharing is what makes us all good shooters

 

[LR_Smoker]

no he was asking about shooting his BPCR or am I missing something

I have been referring to my Remington ML muzzleloader all along. I only mentioned that I had Swiss 1.5 that I use in my BPCR and that I would try some tests with that powder in the future.
FWIW I used 58.5 grains of 1.5 with only .060 of compression to win the NMLRA top BPCR spot for 2019..

Although I won I would like to attempt to repeat that in the future using a bullet that I designed and cast. As I have state previously I’m getting there slowly but surely. Hopefully the Covid-19 pandemic will end soon and we can get back to our hobbies.