conicals & Lyman Hunter

What conicals work best from a .54 in this faster twist barrel...already have the R.E.A.L. bullet mold and only want to roll my own!

You may want to contact Idaho Ron about that. What is the twist in the 54 anyway,1/32.

Check post in percussion section. Lyman great Plains bullet and wonder wad. Deadly.

The twist rate is 1/32 Shifty, really looking for someone that has refined research into the Lyman Hunter and R.E.A.L. conicals, accuracy, trajectory, and load data for the L. Hunter only.

I tried them and found that they were really loose in my barrel, shot all over the map. Maybe you could paper patch them but it sort of defeats the purpose of the REAL bullet.

I have found the Hornady great Plains bullet exceptionally accurate but had a bad experience with them on game so now a bit shy of them. Seemed to expand too rapidly. More testing required on my part.



It might sound a little bit silly but I wonder if you gave the REAL bullet a tap on the nose with a hammer on a flat hard surface would it make them less loose and still fly ok? Probably not.


BTW my Lyman has the fast twist barrel.

Huh....

I haven't had any issues with REAL, TC Maxis and Minis, factory Hornady GPs or the Lyman homecast version in my 54 Hunter barrel, so I haven't done much testing beyond initial load development. Just load and start having fun. Only consistent rule seemed to be that it needed minimum charges of 80 grains of 2f to tighten up, but more got better and better. I valued the fillings in my teeth and didn't want them falling out, so I settled on 90 grains with REAL and TC, 100 grains with Hornady and Lyman.

Only other consistent "rule" was to put a lubed felt wad between the powder and the bullet.

Haven't popped any game at all with any of them cuzz I keep on using round ball for that. But I've sure shot a lot of conicals over the years, mostly "mortar" fire well past 100 yards. That big ole conical makes a bigger gout of dirt than round ball when it lands, usually making it easier to see where it hit so I can adjust elevation on the next shot.

The REAL molds seem to vary as do barrels.
Got a .58 REAL that will need to be lapped out to fit the Hawken and Renegade barrels. Tried putting a little diaper patch on the base. It tightened groups up a little but not good enough to enjoy shooting. Might lap it out but want to try REAL's in the P53 first.

There you go. My 58 REAL's need a hammer and a running start to load in both my TC Big Boars, my Investarms Hawken 58 and a custom I have with an Oregon barrel.

Just right in my GM drop-in, but haven't even tried them in my GRRW Hawken. That one has a tapered bore resulting in a "choked" muzzle and a bare .575 ball sits on the muzzle without dropping, and a .570 stops right at the radius of the ball. To use a good thick patch, I have to shoot .562 balls.

I'm assuming you cast them yourself. Make sure when you do you are getting good fill out. Mould needs to be real hot. REALs should be coming out .017(top band) larger than bore size. Measure the REALs you have and see if they are proper size.

Good point. It's only that top band that's engaging the rifling to any degree. That's why I think the lubed felt wad is so important. Whether I'm right or wrong, my first attempt was to get a little better gas seal around the REAL.

The Lyman is such a fantastic bullet that it's kind of pointless to try and improve the REAL bullet. I've clocked up a fair bit of game with it now and it's nearly all one shot kills. Looking forward to trying it on buffalo.

As long as you're happy with your load, that's what counts. Why fool with what already works!