Just cast some from the new mold and they fall down the barrel of my Omega which is usually so tight I cannot get a sabot bullet combination down without a lot of effort. What is the deal? I suspected that the bullet fit would be a little tighter. I would not chance using these as they would fall off the powder charge if you tip the barrel down. I guess I should contact Lee and see what they have to say if I can find a contact number. I had hoped that they might be a decent elk bullet but presently they scare me. I had lubed them with some SPG hoping that might help but it did not. Anybody else have any experience with this rather new bullet??

I have the mold and could have told you... they are a loose fit. I think they are way undersized. In fact they scared me so bad, I took some teflon pipe tape and wrapped them to keep them from slipping around in the barrel. Also I was not real impressed with the accuracy but the appearance and size of them is kind of cool...

I just got a Green Mountain barrel for my T/C Hawken and will have to try them in the barrel although I just found out the new barrel I got from Track of the Wolf is in the serial number list that they are recalling (don't you just love that). When I finally get a good barrel I will try them in it. I may have to talk with someone at Lee and see what they had in mind. I was starting to think maybe my "pure lead" was less than Pure. It came from a block which was cast in a hexagon shape with the word "lead" in the top of the casting. It looks very commercial and I doubt that it is not pure. It impresses with a ball just like another sample of lead that is supposed to be pure. I shot a couple very carefully and was also less than impressed with the accuracy and that was only at 50 yards.

Do these require a paper patch?

You don't have to paper patch them but you run the risk of them falling off the charge. I wrap them with teflon tape about three layers and that is enough to hold them. Then I grease the oustide of the tape with some lube and have had better results shooting them that way.

MLKeith before you send that barrel back to Green Mountain Barrel, make sure it does not need any adjusting to fit on your Hawkins. If it does I would have them make the adjustment at the same time they are fixing the bolster.... I had to send my .58 caliber back too. It took them about two weeks and they paid all the shipping. Actually TOTW should have checked their stock and had that done already....[:@]

Track of the wolf said they checked all the stock and the barrels were all OK. I talked with Green Mountain and they want the barrel returned for them to check it out. There is some talk that the nipple thread was made with a broken tap in some of the rifles and that is what they are checking for. In any case I have to send it back as I don't want to take any chances. I believe the same that TOTW should have sent back all the ones in the serial number list and had them checked before sending them out to unsuspecting customers. I just stumbled onto the recall when I was checking GM site for loading data. I did have to make a slight alteration to the barrel to get it to fit my Hawken. The thimble rail under the barrel was about 1/16 inch too long and it hit the brass forend so I shortened it and reblued it. I removed the rail before I worked on it as I did not want to mess up the barrel. I also reinstalled it with blue locktite on the screws so they won't shoot loose. If they replace the barrel I will probably have to rework the rail on the new barrel also unless I explain what I had to do to make this one fit. I can't remember the last thing I bought that did not require some work on my part to make the piece functional. I wonder what people do that do not have the tools or the knowhow to rework stuff. Sure was looking forward to shooting the new GM barrel this week.

I had to do the same thing with my barrel to make them fit the Renegade. They will not replace the barrel. In the bolster were the nipple goes in, I was told that they had a tap which left rounded edged threads instead of a sharp crisp cut thread and that they replaced the bolster and then send it back...

You're really going to like the way the rifle shoots. My three Green Mountain Barrels shoot excellent although one is a smoothbore and after 50 yards your on your own for what I consider real accuracy...

Why don't you do like they did in the War Between the States? Make up paper cartridges and put the wadded up paper on top on the minie ball. I shoot Buffalo's Ballettes so I really don't know about minies.

Paper patching is one thing, for safety's sake I would not shoot any projectile with foreign materials in front of it in the bore.

I am working on getting an answer from Lee. Problem is contacting Lee is not very straight forward. I think I am making some progress. I will keep you informed as I get information. It seems to me the way to make this bullet work is to get it to be the right diameter to start with. It should engrave the rifling a little to stabilize it in the bore.