330 grain Gould hollow point in a 1/48" twist who knew ?

Finally the powers that be in the decision making of Montana F&G have decided to allow a designated  muzzleloading  season.   It will start the second Monday after the close of the general season which is usually December 1.                   No additional tags required.   Unused general tags for deer and elk may be used so if you didnt fill your tags during the general season you still have a chance with a ML.    No scoped in-lines but cap locks are allowed.
  I like the idea of a late season because there will be far fewer hunters out than in the general season which at times has gotten fairly crazy.      I had decided to work up loads and sight settings with my 451 Rigby pattern rifle  because it shoots so well and has great range capability.     When working on sight settings I set a steel plate painted black  that is about the size of half the length of an elk  then has a white bull about the size of  what the vital area would be out at precisely 350 yards .      What I quickly learned is that even though the rifle is easily capable of keeping shots in the vital area once the correct sight setting is found target acquisition in that tiny peep hole in the Vernier sight is very slow.     The 34" barrel is also somewhat cumbersome and the expensive to replace sight fairly fragile.

   For those reasons I decided maybe the 451 Rigby rifle is best suited to long range target shooting and not so well suited to hunting.  With that I contacted Rice barrels to inquire about the cost of a fast twist 1/18" 45 caliber drop in barrel for a TC rifle I have.     Well that was a wee but of sticker price shock  when the quote I got was $525.00 delivered  and that is in the white !!!  The Rice barrel would shoot the same bullets as the Rigby rifle so too would have good ranging potential.   Just now nearing the completion of another rifle project  for a Rem roller in 50-90 my jingle is silent at the moment so the Rice barrel is out of reach.   Maybe next year Lord willing.
    So  motivated to work with what I have I decided to try some heavy-ish   bullets in a very early Lyman plains rifle I have in 45 caliber.   This is quite an old rifle as evidenced by the fact that Lyman no longer makes any 45 caliber rifle.
     First up in the Lyman rifle was a bullet from a modified RCBS mold for their 525gn GC design lightened to a 480gn plain base.    The results with the bullet were disappointing but not unexpected as at 50 yards they hit the target in full profile.   Very effective at close range but not accurate enough beyond peeing range.
   Not being one to give up easily  and knowing that the rifle had done fairly well with a fairly short blunt hollow base minie I decided to try a bullet with a wee bit better ranging design but about the same length as the minie.    That bullet has a proved record in the hunting fields for nearly 150 years and has always been highly regarded as a dependable deer bullet in vintage writings one the subject.   That bullet is the 330 grain Lyman Gould hollow point.       For the ML I am sizing them to .451" diameter which in this rifle is a wee bit loose in a clean barrel but a perfect fit in a fouled barrel.   I always like to fire a fouler before loading for a hunt so .451" is perfect.
    Now for the good news and since a picture is worth a thousand words I will get Tina to add here a picture of a target I fired at 100 yards.   The load is 100 grain volume of KIK brand FFG powder.   The bullets were cast in pure lead and lubed with our NASA  lube.    With consistent grouping like that what I have is an good 150 yard rifle or possibly 200 with plenty of practice on how to hold the sights on extended ranges.      Anyway this rifle is so much faster to get on target and so much less cumbersome  that the 34" barrel on the Rigby that I am feeling pretty good about using it for this years first for Montana  muzzle loader season.