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View Full Version : 3 round balls, 5 R.E.A.L. and some bore butter.



waarp8nt
04-26-2015, 11:21 PM
A few months back, I picked up a T/C Grey Hawk at a local gun show for $75.00, but it had the front sight missing. Located a front sight "in the white" from a local gunsmith. We traded an extra bead front sight, that I had on hand (but wouldn't fit) straight up for the front sight to fit the T/C.

Right away, I put some cold blue paste on the front sight and mounted it as close to center as possible.

Just before I started posting on the forum, I shot the Grey Hawk a number of times. With great effort I tried to sight the rifle in and it kept over compensating each time I adjusted the rear sight. Just a couple clicks would sent it several inches high or low, left and right were always good. I marked the rear sight (that came on the rifle) for location, then took it apart and found the spring to be very bent. So, back to the gunsmith for a new spring.

Today I put in the spring and assembled the sight to the location previously marked. Eager to try it out, I grabbed the old red blue point tool box by Plano that I chose to designate my black powder shooting box some many moons ago. Needless to say, disappointment hit hard when I could only find three .50 caliber round balls and five Lee 250 grain R.E.A.L. Bullets. Why not cast more??? Apparently, I had cast plenty more, but they were all .54 Caliber :wink:. The target was a left over from two weeks ago and had been rained on multiple times, thus why it is wrinkled.

138030Eight shots. Cleaned once between. Details below.
138031Close up of the five Lee R.E.A.L. 250 grain bullets. Two upper left are my 17 year old sons effort. Three that are near on the bull are mine. All and all I am very pleased the Lee R.E.A.L. mold.
138032Close up of the three patched round ball shots. Not as accurate as I hoped.
138033Bench to set on and shooting stick, set approximately 50 yards from the target stand. Would love to make a set of oak cross sticks, but have not had the time to dedicate to doing a worthy job.

Maven
04-27-2015, 07:52 AM
waarp8nt, A bit of experimentation with your powder charge and maybe granulation + patch thickness will shrink those RB groups. Nice shooting, btw!

nagantguy
04-27-2015, 08:25 AM
Don't you love working up loads with a new smoke pole, don't give up it looks to have promise, I went on a one year quest to get the most accuracy out of my tc encore 209×50. It shot powerbelt bullets with frightening accuracy, I got the Lee 320 real to match or even pass the power belts after a powder coating and a kurl with a set of files. Have had the Lee reals work well in a few other front stuffers as well. For the price you got the rifle.for you can invest some time and experimentation and still come out ahead. Keep us posted please. And one more thing Johnson1942 here on the board has helped me in the art of muzzle loading a whole heap much, I'm sure he would offer some knowledge to you as well if'n ya asked/or needed it.

waarp8nt
04-27-2015, 09:48 PM
Don't you love working up loads with a new smoke pole, don't give up it looks to have promise, I went on a one year quest to get the most accuracy out of my tc encore 209×50.

I'm currently torn between the Thompson Grey Hawk project (loads) and working up a slug load for a H&R 20ga ultra slug hunter using an Ohaus .58 caliber mold, some Herco and a few AA wads n cases. So far I have only Chrono'd the first few slug loads and have yet to put it on paper.


It shot powerbelt bullets with frightening accuracy, I got the Lee 320 real to match or even pass the power belts after a powder coating and a kurl with a set of files. Have had the Lee reals work well in a few other front stuffers as well.

I have both Lee R.E.A.L. molds, the 250 grain and 320 grain. I rolled the 250's in Alox while still warm and added the bore butter while loading on top of 75 grains of Goex. I am impressed with the initial accuracy. Never thought of knurling with a file...any suggestions on how to do it? Three sided file using an individual side or the flat part of a bastard file?


For the price you got the rifle.for you can invest some time and experimentation and still come out ahead. Keep us posted please. And one more thing Johnson1942 here on the board has helped me in the art of muzzle loading a whole heap much, I'm sure he would offer some knowledge to you as well if'n ya asked/or needed it.

Thanks for your advise. Looks like I will need to cast plenty more stuff for the .50 caliber. I will keep the post updated as to the progress. To me the experimentation is almost as much fun as hunting. Thanks for letting me know about Johnson1942, for now I will hold him in reserve until needed.

True.grit
04-29-2015, 11:44 PM
Roll between 2 flat files. It works well.