Maxiball Range Report
 

Got the mold yesterday and already have a perfect load for the CVA Wolf!

I tried 80-90gr Blackhorn209 with and without a wad, without shot best!

80gr With wad gave me 4.5" @ 100 yards. Without wad, 3" horizontal string, Not bad for a hand cast bullet IMO.

90gr With wad gave me 1 shot on paper - Without wad gave me a good 6" group before i called it quits and went to my desk to sit down and take a break and just think.

These maxiballs have been around longer than I have and were designed when we only had black powder and Pyrodex around. That made a fuzzy light pop on and so I loaded up 3 charges of 70gr Blackhorn209 and headed out for 3 more shots JUST to see.

THAT did the trick! 3 shots @ 100 yards in a 1.5" group!

Will upload pictures later on, going back out again to try 70gr with some lubed wads and see what happens.

Right now though, I am happy as heck with the performance of that Lyman maxiball mold! I can now cast my own accurate conicals for the inlines and do it without being bent over at the checkout counter.

Sounds good Jon. I might wonder about barrel leading when shooting those hotter loads.

Yeah I was thinking of that too but i've been watching the QLA area of the barrel and im not seeing anything at all. I also shoot these bullets dry. BH209 and lube tend to not go well together.

Shot the same 70gr load again and darn near had an identical group! Shot 1 opened it up just a bit due to me running a few dry patches down the bore to mop out the fouling. Looks like shes set to go.

How's the recoil compared to a 250gr Thor and 100gr of BH?

Not bad at all. Next time i plan on using my bag rest, May sell the sled later on and go back to my old roots, those days seemed more enjoyable and i could shoot great from the knee.

Does not bad mean about the same, or a little more?

I'm right pleased to hear that Devil. Those bullets were designed for the TC 1:48 twist. I was wondering if they would shoot well at all in the 1:28 twist of my Green Mountain Long Range Hunter barrel.

If I can match your 1.5" 100 yard groups with GOEX I may have to spend some bucks for a mold. Might even give up those 300 grain XTPs and Deep Curls in sabots for some real cheap shooting. A 370 grain chunk of lead is all one needs for whitetails.

Now here's a funny thing. With as much shooting as I've done over the years I can't recall ever shooting Maxiballs - quite a few Great Plains conicals, but no Maxis. Isn't that weird?

I only tried them once in a .54 Renegade. 430 gr bullet about knocked my hat off.

I never tried such a light powder load though. I would think 70 gr would give a nice rainbow trajectory. Nothing wrong with that as long as you know what it's doing at all distances.

Jon..How does 50 yds compare to 100yds in POI?

3" high @ 50 and maybe 1.5" high at 100 yards, Pretty much normal for muzzle loader.

Im in the shop now working out some hollow point ideas.

No need for a hollow point with that soft lead bullet. If you want to increase effectiveness, cut some from the nose to make a wider flat.