Hornady Great Plains bullets
 

My Knight KRB7 really likes Hornady Great Plains bullets. I'm having trouble locating more. None of the local sports outlets have them. On line, one site stated that they are no longer made. Anybody know if this is true, and, if not, of a source to order from?

Look here:

http://www.midwayusa.com/viewproduct...tnumber=539362

Mike

Thanks, I'm on it.

Hornady discontinued the .50 caliber 410 grain flat point Great Plains and kept the 385 grain hollow point. That's a shame because, at least for me, the 410 grain bullet shot better and performed better on game. I guess the hollow point is a better seller because hollow points are "sexier", though not at all needed (or wanted) on a pure lead conical.

check around. i bought a mould a few years back for that plains- bullet.

The lyman great plains bullet in not a good bullet. I make a lot of bullets for ML's and the Lyman is the bottom of the list for accuracy. Ron

385gr HP sucked on a deer i shot some years ago. 20 yards right into the shoulder and the bullet damn near ripped in half. When will these companies learn that soft lead bullets dont need that HP to expand?

Maybe you weren't molding them right.

The Hornady GP conicals have always shown excellent accuracy in all my guns. I suppose if you're using a RB twist, the long bullet would probably not stabilize well and show accuracy problems, but in a 1:28" or faster twist, they are great. They hit hard too.

Mike

I make about 20 different types of lead bullets, I know how to make them, and even test them for hardness.
You are comparing a Lyman great plains to a HORNADY great plains.
The Lyman is a solid base design.
The Hornady is hollow base.
The Lyman has a base band of .499
The Hornady has a base band of .500
The Lyman has a top driving band diameter of .504
The Hornady has a top driving band diameter of .510

The only thing these bullets have in common is the name Great plains
I agree the Hornady great plains 410 gr is a fantastic bullet. They are a solid nose HOLLOW base design that is accurate and effective on game. I have shot 3 muledeer with the 410's





Now for the guns I used them in.
I used TC Renegades with Green Mountain Stainless steel 1-28 twist barrels.




The hornady bullets shoot very well out of this gun.



The Lyman Great plains bullets shoot very poor.



Notice the Hornady is a 100 yard target and the Lyman is a 50 yard target. I started to make some 500 S&W bullets. I paper patch these bullets and they shoot VERY well.




While I might not know a lot of things in this world, I do know how to make, and shoot bullets. I also know that Lyman great plains bullets are NOT as good as a Hornady great plains. Ron

Lyman also made a conical a while back called the Shocker. It was 420 grains. I tried them in a number of rifles and all I can say is the last seven of them were melted down by me to become roundball. I never shot a conical that was that bad for accuracy.

I had been to a muzzle loader store sight and they were on sale. That should have been the first alarm bell. So I bought three boxes of them. Having lots of rifles, I tried them with lots of powder, lots of rifles, and came to the conclusion that they needed to be melted. I never ran across a conicals that I could not get to shoot, but that was one of them.

Some of the favorite conicals I shoot are of course Bull Shop slip fit, maxiball, REAL, and Hornady Great Plains. Buffalo Bullet company years back made a big conicals bullet that was good out of my Renegades, but I forget their name.

Ok, so what you're saying is that you're not talking about the bullet that the OP is talking about, because he asked about the HORNADY GREAT PLAINS bullet.

I assumed that the Lyman mould was a copy of the Hornady design. Since it's not, and more importantly, since you knew it's not, why did you post regarding the accuracy of a different bullet?

Mike

The guy called "liquidorange" posted that he could get a mould for the "plains- bullet"
My reply was
"The lyman great plains bullet in not a good bullet. I make a lot of bullets for ML's and the Lyman is the bottom of the list for accuracy. Ron"
Since the Lyman is the only mould that is named "great Plains" I responded to the quality of the bullets made from that mould. Hornady great plains bullets are swagged, and there is no mould for them.

YOU then posted that "Maybe you weren't molding them right."
My reply was that in fact the Hornady is a very good bullet, The lyman was crap, and since you called in to question my skills making bullets that yes I do make bullets that are accurate, and maybe someone that sees this post might think twice about getting a Lyman mould and think a little more about the 500 S&W mould since it does shoot good. I also posted info about my rifle and twist so if someone had a similar twist they would know the 500S&W bullet does indeed work.

In your reply you quoted me. You said " I suppose if you're using a RB twist, the long bullet would probably not stabilize well and show accuracy problems, but in a 1:28" or faster twist, they are great. They hit hard too."
My post cleared that up as well, I used the right twist.
Ron

just pulled out my mould and it is indeed a lyman 395 grain plains bullet . i remember casting a bunch of these 10 years ago. dont remember how they shot in my 1-48 twist new englander. maybe if i get a lead supply i will have to see what they can do. im guessing the 370 grain maxi balls i settled on back then probably shot better.

In all fairness, the rifling of every brand of barrel is different. There's square bottom, round bottom, deep, shallow, different numbers of grooves, gain twist yada yada and that's not considering the variations in bore diameters, twist rates and loading different powders.
Some bullets do shoot better from more barrels than others, but that's not to say that any bullet, or even the Lyman Plains Bullet just won't shoot under any circumstances.
Maybe it has a poor design or lacks proper sizing. However .50 caliber bullets can also be run through a sizing die and shot out of a .54 bore using a sabot.
It's plausible to think that for every bullet there's a bore that will shoot it fairly well, even if that bore hasn't been manufactured yet.
After all, fast twist barrels were developed long before conical bullets were even invented. So I'm sure that many folks back then didn't think that fast twist barrels could ever be made to shoot any good either. :lmao:

Well I even tried paper patching the Lyman Great plains bullet. It didn't help it one bit. Maybe there is a rifle out there that like them but neither one of mine do. Ron

I was sad to see Hornady quit making the 525gr 58cal Great Plains conical. That was a great conical in my 58cal. Sure would have done some damage. Might as well melt down what I have left since I wont be able to get them anymore.