Original 2nd Model Maynard Question?

[David B. Ball]

I have the opportunity to purchase a original 2nd Model Maynard with a decent barrel it's not perfect but does have pronounced rifling with a little roughness 3/4 of the way down the barrel. Should I use soft lead or tire weights if I make the trade? Also is there a common size bullet .516 etc that works or slug the bore? One more question I watched a team at the nationals where the entire team had 2nd Model Maynard's and used Plastic tubes vs brass tubes which are best?

Dave B.
3rd Ga. Vol. Infantry

[Robt. Propst]

David, sent you a PM. Bob

[ms3635v]

David, I shoot soft lead in my original 2nd model Maynard and it works just fine. I cast from a .520 Moose Mould (385 grains) and size to .518 and shoot 35 grains of 3f in full capacity brass cases. This combination produces excellent results.

[Chris Sweeney]

FWIW:
I have tried full cap brass, reduced-cap brass, and plastic over the years. I am currently using only plastic. as that is what my carbine seems to prefer. They do have one drawback; that being a short life span. I can get about 6 ~ 8 loads before the start to give up the ghost. My barrel is a reproduction, and it is slightly shorter in chamber length, and slightly larger in chamber diameter than an original. Reduced capacity cases always seemed to bulge at the point where the reduced case size began. They needed to be heavily resized every shooting, and would split at the neck if not annealed every second or third loading. The full caps didn't have this problem but I could never find the right load that would group better than the plastic.