What is you favorite .50 cal bullet

[dispatch55126]

First off, I know that this is a bad thread as everyone has their preferences and every rifle handles bullets differently. I've always used patched RB under 95gr of powder in my Hawkens.

This year, I'll be using a CVA Buckhorn (ignore my Electra thread). The reason I'm going with the Buckhorn is price, good reviews and I'm taking someone out whos never gone hunting.

That said, being 209 primed and a 1 in 28 twist, what is a decent powder weight and are there any bullets to stay away from? The three types of bullets I've seen is sabot, powerbelt and there is a new sabot-less copper bullet.

I'll fine tune at the range but I'm looking for some ballpark numbers.

Thanks.

[bosse1960]

I have cva wolf and triditions both50s and 1/28,,3yrs into it with 250gr and sabot,,I push it with 100gr of stick powder(50gr. ea-is 2 stick)

[courtgreene]

hornady fpb (no plastic) with 100 grains of pyrodex, i have the same rifle, it loves the stuff. have fun

[Rem.222]

PRB and Hornadys 385gr Great Plains Bullet. I don't like plastic.
Rem.222

[Wildfire]

Hey There:
I use the 250 or the 300 grain Barnes MZ for hunting. All copper bullet .
I have tested this bullet on many deer now. 100% expansion. Zero weight lose.

80 grains of Pyrodex "P" , 209 Rem, ML only primer, They are extremely accurate
and my Encore will print all 3 holes touching at 100 yards.
They have dropped every deer in their tracks so far.
Last year , opening day, 6 point at 160 yards, 4 pointer at 184 yards, 5 pointer at 70 yards , 2 does at around 70 and 80 yards. All fell dead with in their own body length.
Many other deer have been dropped with this load. 150 grains of "P" will likely relocate your face and parts of your gun. Stay at 80 grains. 80 grains will run about the same velocity as 95 to 100 grains of "RS" .

I know they may cost more than most other bullets , But by the time you find one that shoots OK and see what you have spent , you will have bought a lot of these premium hunting bullets and killed more deer.

The 250s will rarely exit , the 300s almost always exit . Both drop deer very dead. High shoulder shots drop em in their tracks and there is not much good meat up there any way.
That fully expanded bullet cleans up really good and looks kind of cool next to you new mount.

Good luck and happy hunting.

By the way,,, I need no argument from the leaded side. I did not go unleaded for any other reason then bullet performance that lead can not match.

[Das Jaeger]

Depleted Unranium Boat Tail Spitzer :D , but if not that , PRB , then any Minie' , or a good Heavy Buffalo Bullet . Everytime you shoot Sabbots you leave trash in the forest , not cool .

Jaeger

[Voodoochile]

I like the PRB in my rifles, does the job nicely out to 100 yards & very simple to make at home.
For your rifle I'd use the 325gr. Lee R.E.A.L. Bullet since it's more suited for conicals than PRB.

[arcticap]

Depleted Unranium Boat Tail Spitzer , but if not that , PRB , then any Minie' , or a good Heavy Buffalo Bullet . Everytime you shoot Sabbots you leave trash in the forest , not cool .

Modern shotgunning also leaves a plastic wad behind in the environment.
Is that worse than acid rain and heavy metals in the air and water that lead to warnings about the human consumption of fish due to mercury and deer liver due to cadmium?
Big game hunting with lead is banned in the condor range of California to protect them from poisoning and not plastic sabots.
Lead shot is banned by law for hunting waterfowl and not plastic shotshell wads.
Why criticize folks who legimately shoot with plastic when the real toxic pollution in the world is not caused by hunting and shooting? :rolleyes:

[sundance44s]

This year lead ban ..next year plastic ban ...the next year caps and primmers ...the next year anyone still hunting there ?
The next year ..news flash ..Condor eats small child while parents picnic in the Condor range .

[BHP FAN]

.490 prb.

[Das Jaeger]

Articap , hence the smiley I put in the post to start with .
If your drive a car your polluting , yeh we get the point :)
Cows farts have more ozone depletion potential than my girlfreinds hairspray too , I certainly aint banning Cows or Girl friends :D ........Poking fun at In-Liners is my fun , it isn't serious , no more than In-liners badmouthing RB shooters , okeeedokeee . I only use paper cup shot holders and fiber wads by the way :D .

Speaking of .50 caliber bullets and what ones we like to use as was this topic and question anywayz , I have three small bags of Navy Arms cast .50 RB if someone wants to pay shipping on them , there yours for free . First PM gets um . :D Its 3 bags of 50 still un-opened .490 dia.

Cherrios , Jaeger

[CoRoMo]

One of the .50cal bullets that we cast from wheel weights has proven to be quite the consistent flyer. Another can impress with velocity, but has nothing in regards to consistent accuracy.

As far as commercially retailed bullets go, I haven't shot a whole lot, but one in particular was exceptional. I forget the brand though.

[BHP FAN]

I'll take those RB'S Jager!

[dispatch55126]

I use the PRB in 1 in 48" twist barrels but was wondering if a 1 in 18" twist would be too fast to stabilize the PRB.

[sundance44s]

I tried PRB in a 1 in 18 twist inline rifle once ...one thing for sure sighting it in it will never hit the same hole twice .
Folks say reduce the charge and it might do better ....I say didley squat to that Idea ..

[Underclocked]

http://www.missouri-whitetails.com/data/500/thumbs/JWtrashcanNEW.jpg 496 grain flying Trashcan :)

[BHP FAN]

did you steal that from the battleship Missouri?

[Underclocked]

No, I really shoot those from my Whites. The new Apex seems to like them as well. .504 sizing for the Whites, .501 for the Apex.

Have a lighter bullet that I designed called the UC Short, it only weighs about 440 grains. http://www.missouri-whitetails.com/data/500/thumbs/UC_Short.jpg They shoot very well but not as good as the Trashcans.

The Trashcans are made by Jeff Weedling in Indiana (a friend) from a custom mold by Mountain Molds. Those Trashcans flat out SHOOT!

The group below dern near made me weep. Should have never tried for that 4th shot!! :) Number five was an "I no longer care" shot.

http://www.missouri-whitetails.com/data/500/49HeartbreakGroup.jpg

[Wildfire]

Hey Again:
I don't recall putting down any RB shooters .. Been there and done that for a very long long time. I was giving the guy my load for a 1-28" twist hunting load that out performs all lead bullets. I have had 4 Whites and killed many , many deer with the 480 grainer's. They can not produce a properly sized bullet anymore and so I stopped using the White till I got time to get a mold and make my own. I only have one left . A Rodger Raglin Signature series .50.

I don't care if you shoot beer cans filled with cement at deer . What ever gets the job done.
Plastic in the woods ?????? Patches in the woods ???????
In liners ?????

Come on guys , I didn't call any one names or label any one here .. I thought we were all Black Powder shooters .
I plan on taking some deer this year with an 1860 Uberti too..
My Encore right by my side.
I fact , I hope you all do very well hunting this year no matter what you use.
I live in Michigan , My oldest son lives near by. We have a very liberal season and high bag limits on deer . We fill all tags every year and provide meat for many folks that have not.

We choose to use long range inlines to get the job done. And make us better hunters by not having a second shot waiting. We have used a lot of RB guns. The inlines are so accurate and put meat on tables that the RB guns could not do in the huge fields that we now hunt.

There are very few REAL purist left out there and when you do find one , it is a hobby of his . To be only part purist is , WHAT ??????

No matter what you shoot or how you want to do it , I will still stand for your right to do so.

[Wildfire]

Hey :
You have what I have been looking for.
I want a mold that will toss a 480 grain bullet just like the one you have.
Is that bullet as cast or was it sized ?
Where and how much.
Could he make one out of a mold that fits my Magma Caster , ?

[BHP FAN]

I'm not really a purist,more of a traditionalist,I'd say. But, I gotta agree with you.Though inlines are really not my thing [Original early cartridge guns would be more along my line,or replica side locks,or under hammers] you are absolutely right.''We must indeed,all hang together, 'lest we all hang separately''...but we were just jerking your chain,anyways.'Tis all in friendly jest,as it were! We just had a guy quit , because WE weren't ''original'' enough[!]...and ya know what? We won't miss him.No one here is going to tell you your belt loops aren't period correct,or yell ''FARB'' at you. We all play pretty nice together.

[Underclocked]

Wildfire, I can give you the specs that were used for the Trashcan mold. Go to Mountain Molds and set the specs in his online design program to achieve the desired weight. He now only makes BP molds in iron (last I knew). The one below would cost $90 to $150 depending upon number of cavities. You'll need handles as well.

The UC Short was something Lee made up for a bunch of us White shooters in a group buy. I think we only had around 30 molds made and those went like hotcakes. It wouldn't be hard to alter that design to get 480 grains but it might be hard to get enough takers to make a group buy worthwhile. I think Lee now has about a 1 year wait on group buys from order to arrival. So it would be much quicker and simpler to have Dan at Mountain Molds make up a nice mold for you.

I believe Jeff's Trashcan mold drops them at about .506 and he sizes them to .5038 (just happens to be what his sizer drops them at, but seems to be a magic number :) )

The UC Short mold drops them at about .505 and can be shot in a .504 without sizing, although I do size mine to fit the bore.

http://mountainmolds.com/ Choose .50 cal from the Online Design Program selections.

Here are some specs that will get you real close http://i38.tinypic.com/294rt3d.jpg

Notice where it lists Number of Body Bands in the lower half of the chart, you can click on DRAW and the program will produce a fairly accurate drawing of your design.

The one I linked an image of specs for looks something like http://i37.tinypic.com/2ik5avb.jpg

ps: the Trashcan is based upon a design by Bob Bowers of Virginia. His bullet flies much the same and is only slightly different. The original name given the bullet (by me ;) ) was NEW, which was intended as an acronym for "iNline extreme Whitworth".

[Underclocked]

and, oh by the way... :)

While at Mountain Molds, you might want to go to his forum and check out his shop construction blog. Start at the bottom and work up. It was fascinating to me - thinking of someone else doing all that work. ;)

http://mountainmolds.com/phpBB3/viewforum.php?f=13

[Wildfire]

Hey : Thanks for that info.
A few years back I stopped using the Whites. They could not sell a properly sized bullet. We went to war on the subject and I finally bought The Encore to settle it.
They sent me a huge box of new bullets to shut me up. All sized too small. I sold them to a gun store....
At that point in time every bullet they sold was sized at .499......
They told me their molds were worn.. WHAT ??????????

I have cast 100s of thousands of bullets.. That answer did not go over too well with me.

I will check out the info you gave me. Thanks..

I have been tossing around the idea of making my own mold or just turning my own copper bullets.
I play a lot.

Actually I wanted to have Magma make me a mold, but could not find enough interest in my area to pay for it. In the .504 size class. Their mold was around $350.00 to get started. Plus the cost of the mold blocks.

Someday :)

[Wildfire]

Hey There;
The shop construction is hard to even imagine going through that much work.
He is one very determined man.

At one point in time years ago we thought and made plans to do something very close to what he is doing. Then ! The husband of the couple we had made the plans with got kicked in the face by one of his cows. That brought us all to a very sober reality very fast.
He is still a farmer and she and my wife are both registered Nurses, I own a small shop , Make signs and own and drive truck long haul.

I do aluminum welding and fabricating, custom painting etc. Play a lot with long distance rifles and the Grand Kids.

Oh , And I love the sight and smell of that nasty Black Powder.:)