Second Try With Easier Loading Balls
 

My peep sighted .58 TC/GM Hawken shoots quite well with its favorite load - 85 or 95 grains of GOEX FFg and a pillow tick patched .575 cast lee ball.

Here's the last target I shot with that load. (Yeah, I'm real proud of that one. :woot: )



But that load is mighty hard to get started in the bore. It goes down just fine after it's started, but takes one heck of a whack on the short starter to get it down the first two inches or so. After three or four loads my hand is sore and I resort to hitting the short starter with a foot long chunk of wood.

.570 balls shoot almost as well and load a little easier. But I don't have a .570 mold and Lee doesn't make one. (I refuse to buy lead balls. :p ) They do make a .562 mold which a lot of guys have success with.

I got a .562 mold a few months back and gave them a quick try. But didn't get the accuracy I wanted.

So Saturday I thought I would try them again. I started off with 85 grains of GOEX and a .018" thick pillow tick patch. Man, was that a nice loading combination. But the accuracy wasn't there. Here's the target with that load.



Next, I moved up to a .022" denim patch with the same powder charge. It was comfortable loading also - about midway between the easy .562 ball/.018 patch combination and the hard loading .575 balls.

This is what I got with that load.



A tad better, but still no match for the tight loading ball.

I thought maybe upping the powder charge with the denim patch would do the job. So I tried a big jump from 85 grains to 105 grains, and got this.



Still no joy. Looks like I'm stuck with pounding that larger ball into the bore. It's really no big deal for hunting, when I'll be loading one or two balls in a day. But I'll have to keep a mallet handy for range work.

Guess you will have to beat the balls lol. that first target is some sweet shooting.

You could use a loading lever, they only push the ball about 2 inches down the bore but they make loading much easier.

I would hesitate knocking anything down the bore with a mallet. I think that Lyman makes a .570 roundball mold. I just hate the prices of their molds and the handles they charge. But they are a good mold.

This is the one rifle I do purchase Hornady roundball for. I shoot 110 grains of Goex 2f and that .570 ball with some excellent accuracy.

Maybe you just got lucky on that first target.:happy0001::happy0001:
I would get some of the .570 balls and try them before getting a mold.

Semi...There is a guy that advertises in Muzzleloader that will make you a .570 mold...
Larry Callahan or something like that...I've got those mags at home, will try to get you his number tonight...

Semi, Optics Planet has the Lymans .570" for $50 with free shipping. That's the best price I've seen. Question is, do you really shoot that .58 enough to justify casting for it? I suspect you probably shoot your .54 a whole lot more. Cheaperthandirt has the .570s (50 pack) for $8.90 and midsouthshooterssupply for $7.39.

I have a stupid question Semi. Is there any patch that would work that is slightly less thick than the pillow ticking you are using?

Flounder, yes there is. You can get .015" and .010" patches. But that's a good question for Semi. Why don't you try the .575s with a thinner patch? Maybe a .015" may be just what the Dr. ordered.!?

Semi...

Call Larry Callahan... 636-475-7444

He'll make whatever size you need...

Not a stupid question at all Flounder. You made me go and look through my target file to see if I had used thinner patches with a .575 ball before.

DANG!! My memory isn't worth a hoot. Shoulda` checked that file sooner. Look at these targets from June of 2010 with .016 patches.





I do shoot the 54s more Bronko. There's just something satisfying about shooting balls you've cast yourself. Besides, the more you cast the more you shoot.

I got a call from my roofing buddy a half-hour ago telling me he has another sixty pounds or so of soft lead roof jacks sitting in his shed waiting for me to pick them up. :woot:

See breathing in all those lead fumes is affecting your brain. You better send some of that lead to me.
PS: What's with the one ball always away from the group? You better teach all your balls to 'stay between the lines'.

I always feel obligated to put one shot out of the group just to prove I'm human.

You're lucky you have a lead source. That .016 patch looks good. If you will shoot pre cut, I have a bunch of .015 if they would work for you.

Thanks for the offer Cayugad. But I have a lot of that .016 stuff. It's from a linen table cloth I got a few years back for a few bucks from a GoodWill, Red White & Blue, or Salvation Army store. Can't recall which. Anyway, that sucker was about eight feet long and five feet wide. That's a LOT of patch material. The neat thing is it has a pattern of colored squares that make it real easy to cut patches by following the pattern lines.