454 Minie

General Reloading Discussion.

Moderator: MudBug

454 Minie

Postby rob cullen » Sun Apr 26, 2020 5:10 am

[url][/url]Oops 454 Minie
Hi all
As we cant buy guns , powder or bullets in Australia indefinitely i went to the gun shop to see if they had a 452 moulding die for BM in around 350-400gr, they had nothing, but they did have an old secondhand 454 minie mould 298g and a 452 sizing thingy so i thought why not. I googled the minie which i had never heard of and it was a bad ass projy back in the civil war from what i read and worth a read if you have a spare half hour and havnt heard of these like myself.
Anyhow having never cast a bullet in my life i made one and loaded up with 12G of trail boss and shot it yesterday while trying out some ftx 200g 39g light loads to test new scope , at 80 metres it was within about 6 '' of the FTXs which suprised the hell out of me as i was more expecting my gun to explode as i had never cast a bullet.

The Minie has a big tapered hole in the base which from what i read was designed so the soldier could drop the bullet down the barrel without having to hammer it in for a neat fit - when fired the tapered hole would expand and engage the rifling and make good for hitting a house at 1000 yards - pretty bloody impressive for 1860s ish

Newbie questions

Would this tapered hole ( primer side ) expand too much and cause dramas with modern powder and higher psi ?
If you use cast bullets do you have to clean barrel a lot more - i did wax projy and cleaned gun today and had a lot of lead come out after several passes - is it worth it ?
What happens if you put 14.5 g of trailboss behind one of these- Answer - it went through a thick pillow, 2 x 20Litre drums of water , a 2'' piece of pine and through my back fence into bush - I was expecting to grab the spent bullet in the first water drum , could not believe it and i know i screwed up as it ripped the thread off my home made muzzle brake which has shot heaps of 300g factory feds and 250 ftx
Pic shows my cast of 454 minie then sized with 452 , you can see the big tapered hole up the bum of it
Pic has 300g xpt standard along side
Attachments
first cast bm.jpg
first cast bm.jpg (41.09 KiB) Viewed 11382 times
first cast bm Minie.jpg
first cast bm Minie.jpg (36.13 KiB) Viewed 11382 times
rob cullen
 
Posts: 44
Joined: Sun Dec 22, 2019 4:48 am
Location: West Australia

Re: 454 Minie

Postby Texas Sheepdawg » Sun Apr 26, 2020 11:28 am

Holy smokes. Yes. That’s a chunk of lead. And yeah. I am very familiar with the minie balls. I also shoot a replica 54 Caliber muzzle loader (Hawken) and I use minie balls in it with about 100 grains of black powder. I also metal detect and finding a civil war era minie ball or musket ball in on my bucket list. I’m going to let those who shoot cast boolits in the 450B address this issue as I don’t currently do that.
-Texas Sheepdawg

http://youtube.com/c/TexasSheepdawg21
NRA Life Member
User avatar
Texas Sheepdawg
 
Posts: 4731
Joined: Fri Nov 05, 2010 10:55 am
Location: North Texas

Re: 454 Minie

Postby rob cullen » Sun Apr 26, 2020 7:10 pm

Thanks Tex
Yea i will have a play with these until we can buy ammo again , im out of Ftx 200 and 250s and have about 50 XTP 300s left so this will keep me occupied. i have also been reading up on the Minie a bit more and has many a gruesome story as far as body damage goes inflicted on those soldiers as you allready know.

I would love to see your Hawken in action - is this something you can put on your YT channel ?

Cheers
Rob
rob cullen
 
Posts: 44
Joined: Sun Dec 22, 2019 4:48 am
Location: West Australia

Re: 454 Minie

Postby Texas Sheepdawg » Sun Apr 26, 2020 9:40 pm

I could do it. I just hate shooting it because a 30 minute shooting session means a 2 hour period of cleaning the damned thing! And I’m lazy.
-Texas Sheepdawg

http://youtube.com/c/TexasSheepdawg21
NRA Life Member
User avatar
Texas Sheepdawg
 
Posts: 4731
Joined: Fri Nov 05, 2010 10:55 am
Location: North Texas

Re: 454 Minie

Postby rob cullen » Mon Apr 27, 2020 5:09 am

Haha
Fair call mate
Hey Fyi i dug up the spent Minie in the bush on the other side of the fence, i used roofing lead flashing which i thought was soft as hell , i cant believe how tough this is. PS big keyhole in the fence where it went through side ways. going to try centre drilling the next ones in the nose and see what happens. I think i had 317g when poured and about 298g when recovered , i got a new respect for lead now
Attachments
Minie 454 a.jpg
Minie 454 a.jpg (38.62 KiB) Viewed 11325 times
minie 454 b  .jpg
minie 454 b .jpg (40.37 KiB) Viewed 11325 times
rob cullen
 
Posts: 44
Joined: Sun Dec 22, 2019 4:48 am
Location: West Australia

Re: 454 Minie

Postby Texas Sheepdawg » Mon Apr 27, 2020 12:34 pm

Here’s my 54 Hawken hanging on the wall. The long bow above it is a custom made Falco long bow from Estonia Russia.

DBC8D1E0-FDFE-4BA4-A250-142E44483585.jpeg
DBC8D1E0-FDFE-4BA4-A250-142E44483585.jpeg (731.48 KiB) Viewed 11309 times
-Texas Sheepdawg

http://youtube.com/c/TexasSheepdawg21
NRA Life Member
User avatar
Texas Sheepdawg
 
Posts: 4731
Joined: Fri Nov 05, 2010 10:55 am
Location: North Texas

Re: 454 Minie

Postby GaCop » Fri May 01, 2020 4:21 am

If the Minie' bullet wasn't lubed, leading will be a big problem with that soft lead. One of the lubes for black powder cartridge bullets should work with that bullet.
Vietnam Vet Jun 66 - Dec 67
GaCop
 
Posts: 139
Joined: Tue Apr 21, 2020 8:24 am
Location: Warner Robins Georgia

Re: 454 Minie

Postby rob cullen » Tue May 05, 2020 5:51 am

Thanks GA
I did put some Lee lube/ wax stuff on them , there was a lot of lead and crap though when i patched the gun after.
Again im a total novice with this stuff so any advice appreciated.
Ps i did shoot a couple with 2205 lowest rec charge on weekend and they went straight through a 6'' green tree trunk - i have a whole new respect for what these old school round are capable of.
Cheers
Rob
rob cullen
 
Posts: 44
Joined: Sun Dec 22, 2019 4:48 am
Location: West Australia

Re: 454 Minie

Postby Texas Sheepdawg » Tue May 05, 2020 9:46 am

rob cullen wrote:Thanks GA
I did put some Lee lube/ wax stuff on them , there was a lot of lead and crap though when i patched the gun after.
Again im a total novice with this stuff so any advice appreciated.
Ps i did shoot a couple with 2205 lowest rec charge on weekend and they went straight through a 6'' green tree trunk - i have a whole new respect for what these old school round are capable of.
Cheers
Rob


Watch that video I emailed to you and you’ll see what the 450B can do to steel. :o
-Texas Sheepdawg

http://youtube.com/c/TexasSheepdawg21
NRA Life Member
User avatar
Texas Sheepdawg
 
Posts: 4731
Joined: Fri Nov 05, 2010 10:55 am
Location: North Texas

Re: 454 Minie

Postby rob cullen » Fri May 08, 2020 4:34 am

Yep
Thats frikken impressive
rob cullen
 
Posts: 44
Joined: Sun Dec 22, 2019 4:48 am
Location: West Australia


Return to Reloading

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 24 guests