Traditional, side hammer, longe range ML for elk and deer?

[Good Cheer]

samwithacolt,
I'm waiting on a rebored barrel to arrive with .52 bore and 28" twist to paper patch off the shelf rifle molds.
Just another way to get there.

[Little Boats]

I would also go with the Lyman GPH. With some polishing of the lock my Deerstalker has a sub 3 pound trigger pull. The coil spring locks are quite nice to work with. I cast both .50 cal and .45 cal Lyman TC designed maxis for the 1 in 48 twist guns and am having good success. Groups from the tighter twist GPH should be exceptional. I have found that a tight over powder was is critical to the accuracy of maxis in my gun. I use .54 cal fiber wads in my .50 cal gun.

If it is possible I would do the GPH with a swapped in single trigger in place of the set trigger. With the tune-ability of a coil spring lock, set triggers are unnecessary

[451whitworth]

Personally, I would stay away from the run-of-the-mill compromise guns. For what you're doing, I have the perfect rifle (but it's not for sale). Start looking and sooner or later you'll find a Parker-Hale Volunteer. These are just the absolute finest hunting rifles out there. The Lyman 451114 45 caliber 450 grain bullet will penetrate like no tomorrow and kills like lightning.

http://www.midwayusa.com/Product/497...rain-volunteer

There are several of us on this list who like these rifles, and you can find out more here if you're interested.

http://castboolits.gunloads.com/show...olunteer-rifle

Take care, Tom

I tend to agree with Tom. But what do you expect from a guy with a screen name like mine. The .45 is superior to the .50 & .54 as a longer range weapon. Great choices in bullet molds too. A 1-18" to 1-24" twist .45 muzzleloader hammers big game when launching 450-500gr. bullets. I use a Lyman 457121 modified to drop either a 460gr. hollow point or 475+ grain flat point. That big hollow point flattens deer like nothing else I have ever seen with body hits. They drop like you spine shot them.

[rodwha]

Idaho: I see that Lee claims a BC value of .296 for the .500 S&W bullet. Do you find this to be accurate? I question the accuracy of some of their values as they show .210 for the .45 Colt 255 grn RF bullet, which seems quite high and dwarfs the BC value of similar bullets of similar weight and design.

They also claim a very high BC value for the .50 cal 320 grn REAL which dwarfs the number you found. It was somewhere around .29 IIRC, which also seems a bit too high. I wonder if the BC value would rise substantially if the speed were greatly reduced? Maybe that's why they give the high number? What powder charge did you use for it?

[Odinbreaker]

Traditional Muzzy form Has a 1x70 twist barrel 36 inch that will fit a renegade. under 300.00 that will give you range and thump

[idahoron]

Idaho: I see that Lee claims a BC value of .296 for the .500 S&W bullet. Do you find this to be accurate? I question the accuracy of some of their values as they show .210 for the .45 Colt 255 grn RF bullet, which seems quite high and dwarfs the BC value of similar bullets of similar weight and design.

They also claim a very high BC value for the .50 cal 320 grn REAL which dwarfs the number you found. It was somewhere around .29 IIRC, which also seems a bit too high. I wonder if the BC value would rise substantially if the speed were greatly reduced? Maybe that's why they give the high number? What powder charge did you use for it?

On the 500 I have that number in my program and it appears to be pretty close. I have the 500 as .296 and I know that BC changes with velocity but I think it is close.
The REAL I had it at .189 I didn't shoot it enough to say if that was close or not. On the 500 I tested it several times buy shooting it at 100 yards making sure it was zero. Then I went out to 150 and 200 yards and measured the drop and compared it to what it should have dropped. I think it is pretty close. I think I shoot pretty well but I don't have the balls to shoot across my Ohler 35 at 100 yards.

[idahoron]

I tend to agree with Tom. But what do you expect from a guy with a screen name like mine. The .45 is superior to the .50 & .54 as a longer range weapon. Great choices in bullet molds too. A 1-18" to 1-24" twist .45 muzzleloader hammers big game when launching 450-500gr. bullets. I use a Lyman 457121 modified to drop either a 460gr. hollow point or 475+ grain flat point. That big hollow point flattens deer like nothing else I have ever seen with body hits. They drop like you spine shot them.

I would agree that a 45 would probably be better. I love mine but they are not legal on an elk hunt in Idaho. I am guessing that other states don't allow them either for elk.

[451whitworth]

I would agree that a 45 would probably be better. I love mine but they are not legal on an elk hunt in Idaho. I am guessing that other states don't allow them either for elk.

You're right of course Ron about .45's being illegal now in Idaho. But at one time they were legal and my Parker Hale .451 Whitworth harvested my only muzzleloader bull elk in Idaho many moons ago.

[Little Boats]

I would agree that a 45 would probably be better. I love mine but they are not legal on an elk hunt in Idaho. I am guessing that other states don't allow them either for elk.

I heard something about this in the Gander Mountain in Beaumont, Texas. I was shopping for toys for my new gun and a guy there was looking for lead rounds in .50 cal. He told me where he was going it had to be lead and no sabot of .50 or larger. I had the last box of lead maxis in my hand as I has not started casting at that point so I gave them to him. He seemed surprised but there was no way I could mess with his hunt prep.

Are the guidelines caliber based only? I can see having a caliber minimum but would think ft-lb energy would be a better measure.

[rodwha]

Boats: Most people would be surprised. These days it's more uncommon I think. Kudos to you though!

[Little Boats]

Thanks rodwha. Lead rounds are becoming hard to find around here. Hornady round balls are no problem but forget abut anything else. I am casting for my Lyman so it is no biggie to me

[rodwha]

A nice hunting style bullet for my Ruger is what lead me to casting. Kaido was the only one with a wide enough meplat, but he was charging $50/100 + shipping on bullets! He also sells the custom Lee molds, but Lee won't make a run until he has enough customers AND they have the time. Lee had been putting him off for months and so I went to Accurate Molds and spent more but got to have a hand in the design and get it much sooner. So I had to learn.

Now I have a RB mold in .457" and .490", pistol bullets in .456" that weigh 170, 195, and 285 grns with a wide meplat, and .50 cal REAL molds that drop the 250 and 320 grn conical.

I've been wanting a drop-in barrel that's <$400 for my Lyman Deerstalker to likely top with a Malcolm scope, though I may try peep sights instead, for hunting fields and such, and have been looking at my projectile/mold options.

[idahoron]

You're right of course Ron about .45's being illegal now in Idaho. But at one time they were legal and my Parker Hale .451 Whitworth harvested my only muzzleloader bull elk in Idaho many moons ago.

I wish Idaho would go with a minimum weight of bullet. It is legal to hunt an elk with a 25 auto but it is illegal to hunt with a 45 shooting a 409 gr bullet.