Bullet casting

Hello, fairly new to bullet casting, have been making round balls for .45,.50 amd .54. Just bought a cva flintlock .50 with a 1:48 twist, what kind of bullet would you guys suggest i try? Have always shot round balls. Any favorite bullets you guys like? I want to cast my own, have plenty of soft lead. Thanks

.490 round ball and either the 250 or 320gr real bullets.

Never used long bullets for anything. I'm strictly a round ball shooter so that's what I normally suggest.

Round ball all the for me. They shoot straight as far as I can see and knock deer over like a sledgehammer to the noggin.
What more do you need???

to get back on topic, you might want to try various conicals to see what your rifle likes. Your rate of twist is not fast, so you will want a shorter conical not a longer one. Also the yardage that you limit yourself to will make a difference for accuracy and drop of the bullet.

Fleener

Lee REAL bullet is a good place to start. Good performance and the mold is dirt cheap.

If you want conicals, stick with a shorter one as your twist is a compromise between round ball and conical.

In addition to the REALs, I would suggest picking up a TC maxi ball mold on ebay. They are usually available pretty inexpensively in .50 cal. They were designed for 1:48 twist.

Funny I never found Maxi-Balls in any of my TC rifles shot all that well, but the Maxi-hunter bullets did quite well.
On the other hand the deer are just as dead with patched round ball, and the recoil is less, so....

LD

I used to shoot maxi balls back when I first got into muzzleloading. Back then I used a T/C Renegade percussion in.50 cal. The 370 grain maxis and 80 grains of 2fg gave me may e 3 or 4 9nch groups at 100 yards.

These days I'm a strictly round ball shooter. Plenty accurate enough for deer and pack a wallop at 50 yards.....

I personally have a use for heavier conicals like the bigger REALs and Maxis because elk are on the list where I live. Will be chasing cows in September with a 380 grain .54 REAL. I can get a concurrent bear tag and plan to do so and I would be happier delivering a 380 grain conical to a black bear than a 230 grain ball.

1:48 twist CVA Or Traditions does excellent with the 250gr & 320gr REAL bullets in my rifles. My lead is in the 7.5 BHN hardness area and they perform excellent on big game.

I would think that a bullet heavier than the round ball is going to make your vent a bit dangerous. Just not the same as a lighter bullet. You might also have a bit of a problem with accuracy. Besides, a REAL bullet in a flinter seems unnatural.

I've always found the REAL to shoot well in my shallow groove, three groove .58's. In my experience, they prefer a minimum of lube. For me they shoot well with just a "noodle" of bee's wax wrapped around the bottom or top groove/ring on the bullet, and a wonder wad beneath the bullet. Some say their's don't do well with a wad. SPG also seems to work well with the REAL.

Don't see a vent problem, same as a heavier powder charge, the extra pressure is just going to vent a bit more pressure out the touch-hole...but nothing dangerous about that, unless you are looking down the vent when it goes off. !!!

In my Plains Pistol, .50", the Hornady "PA Conical" shoots very very accurately. With heavy rifle loads, I don't know. It may be less insulting to a flintlock than the REAL. It at least looks old fashioned.