I'll Have My .45 Cal Seneca Barrel Complete By Spring

[jjarrell]

I have a sweet little .36 cal Seneca and ordered everything to make a .45 cal drop in round ball barrel for it. 36" Green Mountain barrel 13/16" across the flats, with 1:60 rifling. Breech plug, front & rear sights, T/C under lug, under rib, and steel thimbles. It should all be here in the next couple weeks.

I think I may have to shorten the barrel to maintain balance. I'll see after everything is fitted with the exception of the under rib and thimbles. The under rib and thimbles will be silver soldered on. I did it with my .54 cal and they're solid as a rock.

I may keep it longer seeing as .45 cal Seneca's are prone to cracked stocks due to the .45 recoil. Depending on how it feels. Maybe the extra weight may help, but I don't plan on shooting heavy loads out of it either. My winter project.

I blame it on my wife for getting me a new Century 24 Gun safe for Christmas. It will go perfectly beside my 18 Gun Sentry.

[smoked turkey]

Sounds like a fun project. I have a .36 Seneca as well. The stock is a bit on the slim side for the .45 caliber recoil. I understand replacement stocks are almost unobtainable. So handle with care. We will need to see some pictures along the way just to be sure it happened. :smile:

[jjarrell]

It better happen or my credit card and I have some issues to work out. Lol

[jjarrell]

I hunt a river bottom where my shots MAY at most be 60 yards. I think 60-70 grains of FFFg with a round ball will be more than enough to ruin any deers day, and not be hard on the rifle.

[bob208]

glass bedding the tang goes a long way to stop stock cracking.

[dondiego]

Where did you find the Green Mountain barrel?

[jjarrell]

TOW, but Green Mountain had them too.

[midland man]

i only use 50grs of goex 3f in my 45 caliber BP rifle and it has a distinct crack when it fires and has plenty of power as i took a doe with it last year! what i have is a traditions kentucky rifle 45c flintlock rifle i did from a kit and it has a 33 1/2in barrel 1-66 twist and i just love this rifle! ;)

[pietro]

I have a sweet little .36 cal Seneca and ordered everything to make a .45 cal drop in round ball barrel for it.

36" Green Mountain barrel 13/16" across the flats, with 1:60 rifling.

I think I may have to shorten the barrel to maintain balance.

I may keep it longer seeing as .45 cal Seneca's are prone to cracked stocks due to the .45 recoil.




I currently have both .36 & .45 cal Seneca's; both balance perfectly; both have 27" barrels with 1:48" twists.

The similar Cherokee's were issued with 24" barrels, and don't balance quite as nimbly as the 27" barrels.

I've owned about 8 different Seneca's & similar Cherokee's over the years, and can tell you that the stock will crack from heavy loads, but I've never seen or owned one that cracked under less than maximum loads.

It seems GM is back into making octagon ML barrels for T/C's, since they stopped production on the T/C interchangeable setup's many years ago to make barrels for the US Gov't - good for you, congrats.


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[Jeff Michel]

70 grains of FFG and a 128 Grain round ball. Kills them every time to 100 yards.

[jjarrell]

I currently have both .36 & .45 cal Seneca's; both balance perfectly; both have 27" barrels with 1:48" twists.

The similar Cherokee's were issued with 24" barrels, and don't balance quite as nimbly as the 27" barrels.

I've owned about 8 different Seneca's & similar Cherokee's over the years, and can tell you that the stock will crack from heavy loads, but I've never seen or owned one that cracked under less than maximum loads.

It seems GM is back into making octagon ML barrels for T/C's, since they stopped production on the T/C interchangeable setup's many years ago to make barrels for the US Gov't - good for you, congrats.


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I don't have any desire to use max loads in it. I have 2 heavy built .54's for that. Somewhere along the way people think you need 150 grains and a conical to take deer effectively. When did they start wearing body armor. I missed it I guess.

My first muzzleloader was a TC Hawken and I got complete penetration with 60 grains of 2f. Shot placement, patterning the deer, finding a rub line and figuring out where the small trail is downwind that the buck follows to check the line.

I don't hunt a 600 yard field over a feeder. Which there is nothing wrong with, it's just not my thing. I'm getting older, and move slower through the woods than I used to. 60-70 grains will do fine and not stress the rifle. It will sure as hell stress the deer though.

[pietro]

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FWIW, for Whitetails, I've been using a Maxi-Hunter conical over 70gr Holy Black for over 35 years in my .45 Seneca's & Cherokee's w/o any stock cracking issues,

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[quilbilly]

I use 55 gr of 3F with PRB in both my 45 Seneca and Cherokee and the deer just keep falling over with no difficulty. No problems with either stock until the Seneca fell off my shoulder over a stump while dragging a big mule deer out. That stock has been repaired but I have had a devil of a time replacing the tiny screws that hold the brass wedge pin holder on.