i was going thru my muzz box and thought, you know, those MAXI-BALLS 370 are great bullet for 1-48 twist thompson hawkins.

so, i took my mic and measured it and then measured my powerbelt 295.

guess what,they were both the same lenght

no wonder that 295 powerbelt shot so good out of my hawkins 1-48 .50 cal even tho its 75 grains lighter.

i think the LENGTH of bullet is something that the 1-48 twist hawkins shoots best with,short lengths like the MAXI-HUNTERS dont work, at least not fir me or THOMPSON ALSO.

I know the 275 gr maxihunters shoot great out of a GM 1:28 barrel. Can't say about the 1:48. But if the Maxiballs shoot as good as the Powerbelts and are heavier - there is no way I would shell out the $$ for the Powerbelts.

yes, TWIST is why they shoot good out of your 1-28.

maxi-balls is only one to use in 1-48 twist.not those MAXI-HUNTERS.too short.

maxi-balls are around 11 dollars,i got a box for 8 bucks that had dust on them from years ago, gun shop never raised price.

i got my powerbelts at wal-mart for 11.99 before the price went up .
i bought 60 but i only shoot 2 or 3 a year to sight in, thats it.

for practice i use rb.

maxi-balls TESTED at thompson in vise under best conditions inside, they told me they cut the holes with that bullet at 50 yards easy.

that bullet will go right thru a deer.

thats how the MAXI-HUNTER was made, the hunters wanted a bullet that would blow up more than the maxi-ball 370.

only thing i dont like is messy lubes in winter, i hate it.

powerbelt is clean, i can have clean barrel ,i like that.

thompson sells those little maxi-hunters and i was told they are awful in 1-48 twist but fine in the others like the 1-62 and 1-28 twist.

they were right, we went thru box after box of MAXI-HUNTERS WITH AT LEAST 6, 1-48 TWIST BARRELS.

THEY WERE SO BAD THEY SHOT 5 INCHS OR MORE AROUND TARGETS.all over place.

anytime i could get maxihunters-balls to shoot worth a darn was by having to use one of those felt wads.

The 370gr TC maxie shoots lights out in my white g-series whitetail, but not the 350gr there all over the place. Go figure. The white is a 1-24 twist.

Off TC website FAQ
What is the best load for your traditional with a 1in48 twist? In a .50 Caliber side lock muzzle loader a traditional load would be a 370 grain maxi ball with 80 grains of FFG black or pyrodex powder. A modern 250 grain shock wave bullet in a sabot with the same powder charge is very accurate as well. In a .54 caliber a 430 grain maxi ball with 90 grains of the same powder would be a recommended load.

They also tell you to "season" your bore with bore butter.

Devil: didn't mean anything by it, just trying to be helpful.

I had an awful time with a 1/48 twist firestorm that I shot for fouryears before I called and asked them if there was anything they could do. It always shot to the right no matter wherethe sights were.They told me to shoot the 370 grain maxiball. I did and it didn't make a difference. I sent it back and they admitted that it was not laserd correctly? they re-lasered it and it shoots great now. I asked them to reimburse me for the couple hundred dollars of powder and bullets I used to try and get the gun to shoot and the gentleman just laughed. Not to mention when I bought the gun the trigger was set at 11 lbs. I really like the gun now, it just took awhile to get some problems taken care of.

maxi-hunters are AWFUL.

i have real old thompson book,they also tested barrel lengths with rb and came up with 28 inch barrel as best length and 70 grs of 2f with a .490 rb in .50 caliber.

they said going over the 70 grs was waste and not really any gain in velocity/energy.

like said, there was 6 of us with the 1-48 twist flintlocks and none us could get those MAXI-HUNTERS 275 GR TO SHOOT EVEN CLOSE TO BEING ANY GOOD TO USE, THEY WOULD GO ALL OVER PAPER.