New/Old Bullets??????

[Rabid Rich]

Have any of you ever heard of this outfit the "Fort Worth Firearms"? I was given two boxes of lead bullets containing 20 each of ".503 cal., 480 grain, Solid Nose, solid base, Pre-lubed" bullets called "Lonestar Slug".
I am also curious about what load I might use to get thesesuckers "movin for'ard mor'n backards" out of a .50 T/C Hawkin.

Thanks,
RR

[Adam Helmer]

Rabid Rich,

Welcome to the Forum. I checked the Lyman Black Powder Handbook for .50 caliber conicals. The .503" diameter is correct for the .50 caliber, but the heaviest loads listed are for a 370 grain conical on pages 111 to 115. The maximum loads for the 370 grainer were: 150 grains of C&H 3F on page 113 and 90 grains of G-O 3F on page 115. The starting loads were 45 grains for C&H and 50 for G-O Black Powder. Hope this helps.

Adam

[Rabid Rich]

Thanks Adam,
For your kind response and checking the load data for me. I will start with the lower charge and work up as usual.
These slugs outa be good for stopping runaway trains and the like...Reckon?

[Adam Helmer]

Rabid Rich,

You are welcome. Maybe you should contact Thompson Center in Rochester, NH and ask for their input about these loads in your .50 Hawkin.

T/C used to say, "never use sabots or plastic wads" in their arms and now they market both! I would ask T/C for load recommendations for your bullets in your rifle. Be well.

Adam

[rattus58]

Hi Rabid...

well my original post didn't take.. so here is the short version.

That rifle is White clone and those bullets are meant for the 1-24 twist. Your Hawken type gun won't probably shoot them real well, and my New Englander split the stock with the 440 version of the same bullet.

70 grains is all you need with the white to get these accurately downrange. At 1100 feet per second, the bullet has 550 revolutions per second, enough to stabilize. This same velocity would give you only 275 rps in the hawken/new englander with 1-48 twist. You might have to really push this with much more powder for it to be really accurate in your gun.

Aloha.. Tom

[Rabid Rich]

Wow Rattus58,
Looks like these bullets could cause some major problems. My T/C Hawkin is an old one, 5 digit serial number, so I'm not sure what the twist rate is. I am going to take Adam's advise and call the T/C folks on monday to see what all they have to say about the rifle, bullets and loads. I sure appreciate your info and "heads-up".
I will of course share any additional info from T/C with all of you.
Meanwhile Rattus, take care.
Mahalo Nui Loa,
RR

[rattus58]

Hi Rabid ...

These bullets are long and heavy, and whether heavy or not, most long bullets take more spin to stabilize the longer arm over the longitudinal axis of the bullet. There is a lot of aerodynamics involved in launching a bullet and spin seems to solve most problems in simple terms.

The shorter the bullet, the shorter the arm till you get to a round ball, which is pretty much optimum in stability with a center of gravity like... right there and only in some small way affected by air voids or other casting foibles in most general cases.

Lengthen the bullet and the arm extends, the center of gravity moves, and the nose of the bullet is also affected by where the center of pressure is and the angle of departure from the muzzle and..... ok... I'm not a physicist... I shoot bullets out of guns... and it turns out that long bullets need faster spin, shorter bullets need less, the round ball almost none by comparison. Thats one parameter.

Bullet weight. This is another phenomena we deal with. Big weight big recoil... though it is not really necessary to pound yourself with big bullets with proper twist.

A big bullet once underway, will complete the job you started provided you got it going in the right direction to start with.

One thing nice about Thompson... you can split your stock and they will replace it....
Aloha... Tom