Loads for Lyman 533476?

[brewer12345]

I just found this mold on Ebay and will cast for my TC Grey Hawk with a 1 in 48 twist when it arrives. My understanding is that you lube the grooves with your preferred mix, leave the cavity bare, and load it up. Any ideas about powder charge for this design? My understanding is that this was designed as a hunting mini with thicker skirts to take a heavier charge. How heavy?

 

[pchwcf50110]

I routinely shoot mine with 100gr. Goex 3Fg, 90gr. of Swiss or OE 2F, or 100gr. Swiss or OE 1.5F. It will easily withstand the T/C Renegade max load of 120gr. Goex 2Fg. I have two of those molds, one '60-70's production and one from the '90's right before they dropped it from production. My older production mold casts .536" and the newer one used to cast .533". I have since enlarged the driving bands of the .533" mold to .542". You can literally throw that bullet down the bore of modern manufactured rifles. That's why I modified the '90's era mold. A good way to load the .533" diameter bullet and it stay snug in the barrel is with the paper cross patch method as shown in Ned Robert's book "The Muzzleloading Cap Lock Rifle". I have shoot deer with that bullet and the flat nose/hollow base design really flattens out and leaves big holes in the rib cage on exit.

 

[brewer12345]

Thanks very much for the info. I will have to cast with this mold and see how loose it is. How do you lube these? I was thinking of maybe dip lubing in 50/50 Crisco/beeswax. Since these are Minies, an over powder wad or lube in the base is a bad idea, right? Did you find these bullets to be accurate?

 

[pchwcf50110]

If I'm only lubing 15-20 bullets I'll just smear the lube in the grooves by hand. I have a dedicated black powder lube filled RCBS Lube-A-Matic 2 for high quantity bullet lubing. I don't dip lube hollow base bullets because I don't want any lube in the hollow. They should work fine seated bare on the powder. A part of a cotton ball can be used as a wad or I have even used a tuft of poly fill lightly rubbed with lube. But that would be my last resort. I prefer thick skirt hollow base designs like the 533476 and the Lyman 542622. They seem to be more forgiving in a variety of firearms and twists. My experience with 1-48" twists shooting bullets has been hit and miss. I have a Renegade .54 that much prefers the round ball over any style of bullet by a large margin. My Pop has a .54 cal 1-48" that shoots great with just about any bullet.

 

[pchwcf50110]

Also I prefer a snug bullet fit. Not pound down the bore but .001-.002" interference on a parallel sided bullet. Loose fit has never produced real accuracy for me.

 

[brewer12345]

Excellent. Thank you.

 

[nkbj]

Did you try paper patching that .533 ?

 

[brewer12345]

Have not been able to cast it as of yet.