I have a Lyman Trade Rifle. The flintlock version, 1 in 48" twist barrel.

So far I have only fired the Lee REAL 380grain bullet which I am reasonably happy with(I bought the mould)

What are some other good ones to try? I want to use round balls a bit and also try some really heavy weight slugs.

For the 1:48 twist, I've found the Buffalo Bullet in 385 gr with 90 gr BP FFg does a pretty good job.

I acquired a Lyman mould for the 50 cal hunter design. I have cast hundreds for people and hunters in the family have killed 2 dozen deer with them with 1 : 48 barrels. The kicker is I have never fired one myself. The Rem Mod 700 muzzleloader I have is used with sabots. Never found the need to fire one out of it.

thanks guys, I should also have stated that it is a .54 calibre

You might watch out using bullets in a flintlock, due to the higher breech presssures developed getting the bullet moving...In that the vent hole will blow harder and hotter gases out which could cut the vent badly and cause the rifle to be very inaccurate...

If you notice that the accuracy is going away you may have to look into changing the vent out...Just a thought

Swampsnipe

Stick with the original sabot called a patched round ball. 230gns it thumps plenty hard enough, try up to 120gns of 2f. My 1-48 tc liked 120gns of P Pyrodex 3"groups at 100. It was however a caplock.

I will try the round ball as well. I thought the 1:60" or slower twist would be better suited for round balls. But, if you get groups like that there's nothing wrong with it!!!

Swany is right...I am strictly a round ball shooter, and I know people try different things so I didn't mention that only the statement...

With that 1-60" you will find the RB is very accurate...Good luck and keep us posted...

Swampsnipe

the reason I did not get a round ball mould is because I thought these faster twist Trade Rifles did better with bullets. The Great Plains flinter was more money(a bit high for me at the time) but has the preferred round ball twist.

I like round balls, I use a .600"RB in my Snider(320grains) that barrel has a 1:78" twist and loves RB's!!

I'll test some out and see how it goes, I wanted to anyway but it's hard to get stuff like that here, I always have to order stuff in. All you can find here is a few sabots for 50 cal inlines and certainly no moulds...

The 1-48" will be great...I use a RB in my 40 Cal 1-48" and it works very well...Also I shoot a 62 Cal with a 1-40"twist and I push RB's with 100 grains of 3f Elephant and it works really well...Just don't think inside the box...

Swampsnipe

As a hobby I build Pennsylvania (Kentucky to some) rifles. I use nothing but the best materials including Colerain and Green Mountain barrels.
Having said that, I will say my T/C Hawken in .54 cal with a 1:48 twist will shoot round balls as good as if not better than any of my "high priced spread".
Use a .530 or a .535 swaged round ball with about a .015 thick store bought patch. Lube with T/C Natural Lube 1000 or Wonderlube 1000 (seems to be the same stuff). For target work the starting Powder load should be about 70 grains of FFg or Pyrodex RS. I like the Pyrodex because it doesn't foul the bore at all. Pyrodex does sometimes hang fire for a tenth of a second or so but with good "follow thru" this doesn't screw up the group too badly. I've never had a hang-fire using black powder but I have to wipe the bore about every 6-8 shots. ( EDIT: Sorry about that, I just noticed you'r shootin a flinter. Obviously you won't be using Pyrodex as it isn't worth a **** in any flintlock I own so I assume it will work just as poorly in yours. I left my comments for the precussion crowd though)
Play with the powder charge a little. You only need to back off if the patches show tears or burn thru where they contact the rifleing.
As store bought RBs only cost about a dime each (and home cast are a lot cheaper) I know you can shoot all day for very little cost.
have fun !!!