.577 Parker Hale Musketoon.

[tim56]

Hi tac, lead supply is about 25 years old ish. A mate of mine worked in roofing and stashed away all
his off cuts for years then when he moved i got the lot for beer money. Sadly supplies are now starting
to run low. Have molds for .451 .457 and .562. Will weigh em all and see if i can work it out. Tim

Additional..Just weighed a .451" round ball made with the same lead and it weighs 139 grns. The .457"
weighs in at 143 grns and the .562" weighs 263 grns.

[tacfoley]

Hi tac, lead supply is about 25 years old ish. A mate of mine worked in roofing and stashed away all
his off cuts for years then when he moved i got the lot for beer money. Sadly supplies are now starting
to run low. Have molds for .451 .457 and .562. Will weigh em all and see if i can work it out. Tim

Additional..Just weighed a .451" round ball made with the same lead and it weighs 139 grns. The .457"
weighs in at 143 grns and the .562" weighs 263 grns.

Your lead is good.

tac

[andrew375]

If your lead is good then it has to be the powder. I've always used fine in my P.61 but with medium I would put the load up to at least 80 grs. particularly with low cost powders like Henry Kranks generic. Swiss and Vectan powders are another matter. If bullets fly straight at this load then decrease the load until you reach the point they tumble. The fact is you need enough breech pressure to upset the bullet at the outset. Failing to do this will let the propellent gasses to blow by, effectively floating to bullet off the barrel wall. The change in performance in the two conditions is quite marked, for a start you get a much more authoritative sound from the muzzle blast. You do not get a condition of slightly obturating or mostly obturating; it either is or it isn't.

I witnessed someone shooting a 2 Band at 100 yards who thought he could reduce the powder charge to just 60gr. to reduce the cost of shooting. Every bullet hit the range floor about ten yards from the target and I could actually hear the warbling sound of the bullets flying end over end. He did manage a couple on the target but only because the target was in way as the bullet bounced up in to the backstop It took me a lot of persuading to to convince him to up the powder charge. Just an extra 5 gr. made the difference; snappier muzzle report and round holes in the black. The extra five gr. would have only added another 60fps at most so that in itself couldn't account for the 3 feet+ change in the height of impact. What made the difference was that the powder gases now exited after the bullet instead of before.

Do not bother with drop tubes for your powder you are just complicating things. At this stage you need to concentrate on getting round holes in your target. With both my P.61 carbine and P.53 "3 band" rifle my loading process is powder into measure then into barrel followed by the bullet rammed home with the ramrod, cap on, fire. No fouling shots, no swabbing out, no golf caddy full of rods and brushes. BTW, you do know to always shoot with the ram rod in place don't you? The spring that grips the ram rod is tensioned against the barrel, failure to have the ram rod in place will (usually) cause bullets to go any where other than where you point the rifle.

One more thing, the slide top 100 round boxes that Remington .22 LR comes in are just the right size to take 20 .577 Minies.

[tim56]

80 grns. ??? Should be interesting.!!! Will find out on Sat Tim

[andrew375]

Lube. Whatever lube you use, it goes on the outside - not in the base cavity!!

Do not use grease or conventional smokeless lubes like alox / beeswax, Bullets shoot ok but accuracy is crap and fouling is unmanageable. Beeswax / Tallow (25/75) or Beeswax / vaseline (50/50) are pretty much the standard.

[tim56]

Had a session on sat at the range. Using a PL7 target and free standing at a range of 50m.

First the 577611 Lyman bullets i made (same mold as Steves.) with wonderlube smeared around the circumference
filling the grooves but not in the base with 80grns of Kranks med. Fired 10 shots of which only 5 hit the target and
one of which was a tumbler. One clipped the top right hand corner of the frame while one went in the bull and two
went low so no accuracy at all in my gun. (at the moment)

Cleaned the bore and tried 10 (all i had) of my old 575213 bullets again with wonderlube and 80grns of Kranks
med. 8 shots in the black but god knows where the other 2 went, NO tumblers.

Cleaned the bore again and tried 562" round ball with a .012" patch soaked in melted wonderlube. (my old 2 band
loved these) After 5 shots with no holes in the target i got one of the guys there to spot for me while i shot leaning
on the bench. Shooting very low so brought the sites up a bit and managed to get a few on the target but with no
consistency at all. Tried loads between 50 and 80 grns but this rifle as of yet don't like balls!!!

Have ordered bees wax and tallow off the internet and made a fresh batch of 575213 bullets plus Andy has sent me
a few of his LEE ones to try so next sat i will have another bash at getting it right.
Mate Ady,s bringing the 2 band down as well so can compare results.

Finally many Thanks to all for your advice and input on this thread, especially Steve and Andy who sent me some of
their bullets to try. Its good to know that there are others who like myself are fans of these old guns even if you do
sometimes get mucky and go home stinking of eggs/cow muck. Far more interesting than just buying ammo and shooting
it without any real input into making it work.
Best Wishes and a Happy New Year to all. Tim

[tim56]

Tallow has arrived today so ready to have a go at mixing a bees wax / tallow lube. Would 1 part wax by volume to
3 parts tallow be about right.? Am assuming its just a case of melting them in an old saucepan, give it a good mix
around and dipping my bullets in with a pair of long nose pliers to fill the grooves.?? Tim