New to Me Muzzleloader

[DRC458]

That’s a nice rifle there I think your onto something about going back to the old rifles the thing I didn’t like about them was shooting them left handed and that nipple aimed at my forehead lol

You could also quit shooting wrong handed…

My Dad and one of his brothers were both left-handed. The maddest I ever saw my Dad was when I was probably 12-years-old or so ... in other words, a smart aleck know-it-all. I told the two of them that I heard everybody was born left-handed, but the smart ones changed. I honestly thought he was gonna beat my a$$, but he didn't!

 

[swampratt]

I shot a lot of round balls from my muzzleloaders and I even made my own mold to cast bullets that had the same shape as a powerbelt but without the belt.
I even sized them to slick down the barrel nicely.

Now I like accuracy and was cutting my own patches and trying different thicknesses of old pillow cases.
That is what I used.
Now I ended up making a punch from some old stripped out 12 point sockets.
I took a grinding stone on a die grinder and stuck it into the socket and whittled away at the 12 points until I had a nice cutting edge .
I then could place a few layers of pillow case on a stump and place the sharpened socket on top of them and wack it with a hammer.

Cut patches.

Now for best accuracy with round balls i took some thick scrap leather..Think old belts or old saddle leather.
I cut wads from the leather and I would soak the leather in a mix of beeswax or candle wax and some coconut oil.
I heated the wax/oil mix until it was warm liquid and dropped my pillow patches and wads into it.

Powder in first and then the leather wad which was a few thousandths over bore diameter to make an excellent seal and then the patched round ball.

Much tighter groups.
Friend in Colorado has a .56 cal muzzleloader that would not shoot any load well at all. 12" groups at 100 yards would be a good group.
I made him some thick leather wads to try out.

He had tried felt over powder wads and they did not help.
He told me the leather ones did the trick and groups tightened right up. He was about to give up on the rifle.

TC1000 bore butter we all quit using it because it created a crud ring in the barrel.
I do not know what lube in on your patches if any or what you season the barrel with but that bore butter for us was not working out.
My wax/coconut oil would not create any crud rings.

Food for thought.
I really love the look of that rifle you did good.

 

[PanhandleGlocker]

Here’s a link.
Mag Spark

I have an old hawken. Didn’t know such a thing existed for them. I May have to get me one.

 

[okierider]

Beautiful rifle, love that wood grain .

I have a 54cal TC Hawkins. Love shooting it. The whole process of shooting it is just enjoyable.
Had that front site and a scope on it when I bought it , found a rear peep and had to make a mount to get it to work with the front site.

Been planning on making a leather strap for it and you posting about your rifle has it back on the front burner.

 

[retrieverman]

Beautiful rifle, love that wood grain .

I have a 54cal TC Hawkins. Love shooting it. The whole process of shooting it is just enjoyable.
Had that front site and a scope on it when I bought it , found a rear peep and had to make a mount to get it to work with the front site.
View attachment 239129
Been planning on making a leather strap for it and you posting about your rifle has it back on the front burner.

Are you shooting patched round balls or conical bullets?
I picked a 54 cal TC Renegade like yours last night off another board, and I’m pretty excited to try it out now. I guess these damn traditional muzzleloaders have become my new obsession.

 

[okierider]

Patch and ball. At 100 yards with the scope and 90 grains loose pyrodex powder I could get .75 to 1.5 groups . Anything higher grain wise would start opening up. I used the precut patches with crisco. Bore butter is pretty good as well, Balls are Hornady.

 

[ChrisWilson]

My first rifle was a TC Hawkins 50cal, Christmas present from my parents when I think I was 15, before that I had to borrow something to hunt with from my dad. I've hunted just about everything with that rifle and still have it, will probably go to my grandson when I pass. Always been into blackpowder rifles and hunting with them, got a small collection of them over the years. Probably my two favorites is my Lyman greatplains kit in 54Cal I built. Its as close as you can get to what a real Hawkins rifle looks like, I've killed several deer with it just using a patched roundball. Second favorite I have is a custom made Southern Mountain Rifle, its a lefthanded flintlock in .45cal, I took a nice buck with it the first year I hunted with it. Its the only lefty blackpowder I have all the others are righthanded but I don't have a problem shooting them. I've also got a French Tulle in .62cal, its a smooth bore so I've got some leadshot rounds I use in it as well as roundball. A .62cal roundball is a chunk of lead! Also have a nice Southern Mountain Rifle flintlock in .36cal thats fun to shoot. In the second pic its on top and my Lyman Greatplains is on the bottom.

 

[DRC458]

My first rifle was a TC Hawkins 50cal, Christmas present from my parents when I think I was 15, before that I had to borrow something to hunt with from my dad. I've hunted just about everything with that rifle and still have it, will probably go to my grandson when I pass. Always been into blackpowder rifles and hunting with them, got a small collection of them over the years. Probably my two favorites is my Lyman greatplains kit in 54Cal I built. Its as close as you can get to what a real Hawkins rifle looks like, I've killed several deer with it just using a patched roundball. Second favorite I have is a custom made Southern Mountain Rifle, its a lefthanded flintlock in .45cal, I took a nice buck with it the first year I hunted with it. Its the only lefty blackpowder I have all the others are righthanded but I don't have a problem shooting them. I've also got a French Tulle in .62cal, its a smooth bore so I've got some leadshot rounds I use in it as well as roundball. A .62cal roundball is a chunk of lead! Also have a nice Southern Mountain Rifle flintlock in .36cal thats fun to shoot. In the second pic its on top and my Lyman Greatplains is on the bottom.

VERY nice!

 

[Bocephus123]

well did it bought a CVA Frontier Carbine .50 its spottless bore if someone shot it they cleaned really well. anyway can't wait to get it going. maybe kill a big one next year with it.

 

[rickm]

This is a Thompson Center Arms Scout 50 cal(just a pic i picked up off the net since i cant find the pic i took of mine) i picked up some years back, it was something unusual and i liked the way it felt. It shoots rounds balls very accurate need to try some sabots in it, it dont like the conicals that i cast thou have to clean after every shot to get the conicals to load but they are accurate when loaded.