Lee R E A L bullets feedback please

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smokeymike

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I was considering several different types of bullets for my 45 and 50 cal. I am going to start casting round ball for sure. The problem then follows when you want more smack out of what you shoot what bullet do you use when round ball is on the edge. I have sabbots and tried mini ball with good sucess but these R E A L bullets sound great. Any feed back on them would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance for the help Mike
 
I use the 50/250 in my flinter and they shoot great. Not much shot yet, around 10, but with an out of the box flinter, my first, 2"at 70 yards using 70 ffg. I cannot really say much more, but that I bought the 50/320 for use in my inline. Talked to a guy who swears by them and showed me what they look like from inside an animal. Devastating. For the price of the mold buy it and try it. If you don't like it you can sell and almost get your money back.
 
I had a bunch of 250's cast for me to use in my Lyman Trade Rifle. If I used any more than 60 grains (volume of course) I couldn't keep them on a 4X8 sheet of plywood! I switched to a 370 Maxi-ball and they shoot good with 100 grains of powder. The Lee bullets are for gopher hunting only.
 
The flinter that eats them up is a 24" barrel with a 1:48" twist. The way to find which of the two bullets is to use the greenhill formula. The formula tells me that the 250 grain is better suited to a barrel around a 1:60 twist, and the 320 is suited to something in the 1:50 twist. I haven't yet shot the 320 but it should be better. Don't let these figures discourage you if your gun doesn't fall in either category, do some shooting and find your load, as the formula is a generic starting point. I plan on shooting these out of my Omega at a fair distance. Start around 60-70 grains and work it up till accuracy falls off then back off 5 grains. Have fun shooting.
 
I tried them out with my Knight American and the accuracy was ok but I had my alloy wrong (too hard) I have since found my old stash of pure lead so I will give them another try.

One thing I use H777 and the last time I looked (and it's been a while) there were not too many guys using it with conicals something about the lube wrecking the easy clean up. is there a lube that is compatible with h777
 
thanks NEOS that is sound advice. I tried triple f at 80-90 grains poor results with patched cast roundball. It was considerably better with the remington brass covered swagged ball with the same load. I am thinking inconsistent casting to be the problem. Time will tell with loads and bullet selection. Thanks for the input. These loads are being used in a CVA 50 cal sidexside express rifle. 1 in 48 percussion cap. I hope it will be a good hunting rifle but only time will tell. The company also stated 2fg would be a better and recommended choice for the gun. NOt the 3fg that I was using.
 
They are all tough to start at the top band as the bands get slightly larger from bottom to top. This is so that the bullet seals any gaps, and also where it gets its name from. Rifling Engraved At Loading - R.E.A.L.. The difference is minimal, but it is there. Also once the top band is started, the force required to push it down the rest of the way is not that much. Also I still clean between shots with a spit patch.
 
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I have done more reading on bullet weight and although anything in the two hundread weight with 80 plus grains of powder will take care of most game. It seems to be a common belief that 300 grains or more is better in 50cal if maxi or mini are to be used instead of sabbots. There are allot of different ideas regarding what is best. Personally I feel 250 -280 is great for deer but a little more would be nice for black bear and moose. I used 280 buffalo bullets at 40 yards over 80 grains fffg in a 45 hawkin worked great on bear but what about when the range is 75 - 100 yards. I think it is marginal That is the range the big bears come into more easily. What do you guys think. Mike
 
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