Lee .54 Minie-balls in a TC Hawken?

[Grunt]

Has anyone tried the .54 Minie-balls in a Thompson Center Hawken rifle? Midway sells the mmould for this bullet but I'm not sure if they wil group very well with it.

 

[Curator]

The T/C Hawken has a twist rate of 1 in 48" and shallow rifling. It should shoot the Lyman .54 minie-bullet accurately assuming it is not too much under bore size and well cast (no interior voids) of nearly pure lead. Most problems with minies occur when made too small, or too hard and driven too fast. Usually they shoot best in the 1000 fps range. If they are soft enough to expand into the rifling the base can be blown wide by the muzzle blast of a heavy load. This destroys accuracy. If you want higher velocity with a conical slug look at the Lee R.E.A.L. bullets.

 

[72coupe]

I shoot the Lee mini in my T/C 50. Works & shoots well.

 

[Armored farmer]

Let's see....I bought a box of T/C Maxi-balls(?) once and my Hawken shot them very well. I had forgotten about that, but as I recall, they shot as well, if not better than patched ball.

IIRC maybe 400+grains and wide deep lube grooves.