Lee R.E.A.L. Molds

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Have one use it all the time. CVA buckhorn. .50 cal. No problems at all i use soft lead for casting and i lube them with a mixture of beeswax and olive oil. The only thing after that was developing a load that worked. i started off high and worked my way down. 90 grains of Goex 2ffg black seems to work best. Winchester 209 primer. I havent done much paper shooting. so i can not tell you how well it groups. I shoot steel mostly. i can tell you without a doubt 100 yards i hit steel all the time. Not one miss. So with that can i say it works. It works very well for me. Real bullet works i have the mold i make the bullets and i shoot them. I do not have a problem with the bands not doing what they are supposed to. same time it would be pretty hard to say the bands did not expand once the gun is fired. i guess you can ask the bullet and see what it will tell you. most info after that will be personal experience in my personal experience it works. i dont need to get scientific data after that. Like most bullets once you get one you have to tailor it to the gun. I have had bullets that i just could not get anything worth a plug nickel. However the .50 real bullet mold works. i have about 100 made ready to go and once they get low i will cast some more. and stick to what i know works.
 
About loading slugs:
Get the cheap "Trophy Bullet Starter" Or just make one...
It's a plastic T shape, that has the short starter on one end of the 'T' and a hole on the other end that fits over my ram rod.
So set the bullet on the muzzle. It should fit in a bit because the REAL is smaller at the base. Once you start the bullet with the short end, then push it down deeper with the long end, you put in the ram rod, and if the push is a bit stiff, place the hollow end of the starter over the top of the ram rod. It provides a lot more comfortable grip, and I feel safer, way to seat the charge.
I have no commercial interest etc..I just think this thing works well.
I suppose you could drill a hole in a standard 'ball' shaped bullet starter to do the same thing, it would just be a knob to push the ram rod with instead of a sideways Tee.
 
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bigbadgun said:
Ok now here is a R.E.A.L. stupid question as far as lubing the slug how does everyone do it by hand or by lubing dies.
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I normally pan lube mine with 50/50 Crisco & Bees Wax but I have also used the Lee Liquid Alox on them as well.
 
Thanks Voodoo it seems I am getting more positive feed back about the Real bullets than negative as soon as I recieve the samples I am gonna get down to the range and give em a try and if I can get a bunch of shots without swabbing the brl then I am gonna get me some more molds. And it seems that the Real bullets work just as well in inline slow twist as they do in fast twist sidelocks. Which is a bonus because my Blazer and my hawkens are both .50
 
Well, I don't use that stuff and really don't have a right to say anything, but I'm going with Zimmerstutzen on this one. Besides, what is a hundred yards? Hell, 100 yards or less I reach for my Cattleman's Carbine or my Walker. Sometimes my '58 if he don't weigh too much and isn't out there to the full 100. The product specialists I spoke with at Cabela's said the REAL would work and that some people had good luck with it but that lot's of people experienced great difficulty. Well, I know one thing. I'm not about to shoot any type of firearm where I have to guess and hope that I'm going to hit what I'm trying to shoot at. Don't worry, I haven't forgotten about a few weeks ago when some of you insinuated that I was lying when I told ya'll about my neighbor taking her scoped up Traditons Vortek and shooting a half dollar size group at 200 yards. Well, she done it and my scoped up .45 Traditions and my scoped up .45 CVA will do the same thing all day long. I'vd got a .45 Remington leaning up over here in the corner which I highly suspect will do it to....Anyway, that's off the subject. Cabela's said they would work but that one must be careful about lot's of stuff, ie powder load etc. I was researching because Bigbadgun had aroused my interest since I'd never heard of it....
 
I hope it work's good for you Bigbadgun. It should just as long as you're careful about it. I figure they wouldn't have it on the market if it didn't work.
 
Two questions for those of you who shoot the R.E.A.L bullets. First, what size revolver bullet would you recommend for a WALKER? And B. I shoot a GPR and think the twist is 1:66(or 60 I can't remember) The rifle loves PRB and puts 295 gr. Powerbelts in a paper plate at 100 yds. Would the R.E.A.L work in a slow twist barrel? Thanks!:)
 
messerist said:
Two questions for those of you who shoot the R.E.A.L bullets. First, what size revolver bullet would you recommend for a WALKER? And B. I shoot a GPR and think the twist is 1:66(or 60 I can't remember) The rifle loves PRB and puts 295 gr. Powerbelts in a paper plate at 100 yds. Would the R.E.A.L work in a slow twist barrel? Thanks!
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I would recomend one of the conicals that I sell .456 220gr. Lee conical for your Walker because they tend to like a .454 ball & they load very well in those big pistols, but I have heard of others having good luck with the Lee .45 caliber R.E.A.L. bullets too.

A 1:66 twist rifle like on the GPR is really optimum for PRB but with some patience in tayloring a load for the rifle & projectile combination almost any projectile can give relatively acceptable hunting accuracy at 100 yards, the only thing I can say is give em a try.
 
I shoot a GPR and think the twist is 1:66(or 60 I can't remember) The rifle loves PRB and puts 295 gr. Powerbelts in a paper plate at 100 yds. Would the R.E.A.L work in a slow twist barrel?
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Messerist, I have a 20+ year-old .50 caliber GPR that now wears a Green Mountain barrel. The original barrel (1-66" twist) would put 5 R.E.A.L. 250-grain bullets into a 7/8" center-to-center group at 50 yards off the bench using 85 grains GOEX 3f and no overpowder wad. Bullets were lubed with Crisco. Note that my eyes were much better back then.:D

Bigbadgun, good luck with your trials of the R.E.A.L. bullets. The only way you will know for sure if your rifle likes them is to flop down into a solid rest position and give 'em a try.

Good luck!
 
I have REAL molds in 45,50 and 54 caliber plus the Improved Mini in 50 and 54 caliber. They all shoot fine in my 1/48 twist barrels. I use the 200gr 45 in my rifle. I haven't tried the 250gr in the 45. It seems like after 50-60 yards the point of impact diverges from the round ball. Most RB loads shoot 1600+ fps and most of the conicals will be around 1300fps so different POI are to be expected.

The Lyman GPR has a 1/60 twist. Mine shoots the hollow base improved mini very well. I haven't tried the REAL in the GPR.

A little off topic but if you have a 36 caliber you might want to try some of the hollow base wad cutters for 38 special target loads. I used to shoot these in my T/C Seneca with a 1/30 twist before I stupidly sold it and have been shooting them in my new Traditions Shenandoah with a 1/48 twist. I rub a little home made bore butter in the base and use 30grs of 2f powder.

I have never heard of anyone else doing this but it works fine. I believe it would kill a deer just as well as anything else.
 
I wonder how the REAL would work with a lubed wad underneath it? I may have to give that a try on my next trip to the range. I found a few people on Google who had good results with wads. If there is a problem with gas cutting because the lower bands aren't sealing that might help.

I was at Cabelas in Kansas City yesterday and they had the .50 cal target Minie in stock. I think it's around 340 grains or so. I had a $10 off coupon so I picked it up just to see how it shoots. It's quite a bit longer than the 250 grain REAL and is basically a full wadcutter design, just a cylinder with a hollow base at one end. I'm going to cast some up tonight and hopefully get to the range next weekend.
 
I have one in .45 caliber. It shoots quite well but my only complaint is that the grooves are so shallow that it is not practical to pre-lube them. I have to lube each one as I use it. No really big problem but just a tiny minor pain in the butt. I still like shooting them. I have no trouble molding them so if you want to buy such a mold, you might want to consider the double mold with one round ball and one REAL mold. That way, if you like the REAL bullet, you can make all you want. If you don't, you still have the other side of the mold in which you can make round balls. It is cheaper than buying two single cavity molds.
 
as far as lubing panning or hand lubing you do not put them through a sizer With most black powder bullets. Sizing is a no no. as you need them to be a tad bigger as when you ram the bullet home you are sizing it to the barrel. ITs actually pretty easy. as far as pan lubing i take out my tupperware of my bullet lube. nuke it in the microwave for a minute or two. Then use a needle nose pliars and dip the bullet in the tupperware. then put it on wax paper. i do this to all of them. then put them in a box and keep in a cool dry place as my lube is 50-50 beeswax and olive oil.
 
scrat, my pan lubing technique is a little different but with the same results sorta.

I have an old round aluminum Baking pan that I place all the bullets in evenly spaced.
Then I heat my 50/50 BeesWax & Crisco in a 16oz. glass & then pour it on top of the bullets & let sit till the lube is solid.
Then I take the lube cake out of the pan & puch the bullets through the lube where the entire grove of the bullet is filled with the lube.
 
No problem. Who knows, if they work well for you and the Minie works better for me I'd be willing to sell the REAL mould cheap. I hope to try my new Minies this weekend.
 
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