[moooose102]

ok, i am going to try shooting real lead only bullets from my cva optima. what is the actual bullet diameter for a .50 caliber rifle? on a modern ml, do i still have to use some kind of lubed patch? is the patch wraped around the bullet or does it sit behind it? i know this sounds kind of dumb, but i haven't ever shot anything except sabots before. is one bullet weight, or type better than any other?

[Mark whiz]

You will need a bullet sized in the neighborhood of .503 to .505 in order to get a good seal over the powder - depending on your particular rifle barrel. If you can get a good set of calipers and measure the distance across your bore from rifling to rifling and from groove to grove - you will want a bullet that is as wide as the groove to groove measurement, maybe even .001" wider. For the record, my Knight measures .500" between the rifling and .504" between the grooves if memory serves me correctly and this seems to be a tad on the tight side compared to what I have seen people post about their CVAs in the past.

You shouldn't need any kind of patch or tape as long as the bullet is sized properly. You can used a lubed wad between the powder & bullet if you use a flat-based bullet - if it is conical-based, the wad just wads up in the hole in the bottom of the bullet and doesn't help seal the bore.

I've found in my Knight that I have to shoot heavier bullets like the 385gr Hornady Great Plains or the No Excuses 485gr bullets with powder charges up to about 80 or 85gr. Using too light of bullet or too much powder tend to make the bullets less stable in flight.

[bigbadgun]

I have an old CVA Blazer not sure of the bore size but it is a .50 cal I use .490 ball and a .015 lubed patch and its nice out to about 100 yards not sure past that because the range I shoot at is only 100 yards.

[scrat]

Ok i will try to answer this as best as i can. First of all dont worry about the bullet diameter. If your going to buy lead made bullets. Like from hornady then just buy the .50 cal. they will be oversized bullets. The bullets will come already pre lubed.

Ok you want to cast.

i purchased a lee REAL bullet mold for my cva .50 cal. went out and casted as many as i could. had the same questions about sizing and lubing as i was used to Cartridge smokeless powder rifles and handguns.

Here is the answer. You need to use a lube. But not a smokeless powder lube. you need to use a lube like borebutter. Bore butter works very well for me and is all im going to use. AS for sizing dont worry about it. When you go to ram the bullet down the muzzle thats where it gets sized. So its just a matter of casting them lubing them liberally then ramming them down the pipe.

[Pancho]

I have used the REAL 50 cal.maxieballs for a long time and I won't repeat the good advice you've gotten so far but I will add that when you go to the range make sure you have a good bullet starter and a rawhide mallet. In most of my 50's the REAL maxie is a tight fit. It isn't an issue when hunting but when you go the range and shoot 50 to 100 rounds it can be a real pain. Using the mallet also helps not canting the ball in the barrel which is an issue with that round. Lyman could improve their mould and round by reducing the diameter of the base a tad to help in starting it.