T/C Renegade/.458/1-18" barrel

[highwallbo]

I just received a M/L elk tag for here in California, only took twenty years!:drinks:

My question is this : Is anybody out there shooting a T/C Renegade with the Green Mountain 1-18" .458 barrel ? If so what bullet and powder are you using?
I am thinking of using a 405gr RNFP with 65-70 gr. 2F
I really want to use this gun for the upcoming elk hunt.

By the way Green Mountain has a small run of these barrels and they should prove to be very accurate at respectable distances:castmine: :Fire:

[MT Gianni]

No but experience with TC Hawkens show that 50 RB and Maxi-Balls shoot through Elk with no recovery, 75 yds and 40 yds respectively. Gianni

[idahoron]

I have the same barrel you have. I have mine mounted on a Renegade. I put Lyman 57 sml peep sights and a lymay 17 aml front globe site.
http://www.hunt101.com/img/504292-big.jpg

I have three moulds. I have a Lee REAL mould 320 gr. This bullet is for plinking and sighting in.
http://www.hunt101.com/img/504294.jpg

I have a Lee .458 405 gr hollow base mould. It throws 380 with soft lead. These bullets are hard to get down but they are accurate. I didn't keep a target with them. They got under 3" groups at 100 yards.

The last mould I have is a Lyman 475 gr whitworth. I poured two different types of lead with this mould. One was butter soft lead. The other was lead shot melted down. I was using pyrodex select RS FF. The lube was a SPG type lube.
http://www.hunt101.com/img/504295.jpg

I backed off the powder a little and tried them again.
http://www.hunt101.com/img/504296.jpg

By this time I was about done but I wanted to try the harder bullets cast from the lead shot. I went to 90 gr and shot three shots. Then I cleaned the gun and shot two more. If you count the first three as a group and the second two as a group I have them measured. If you count all 5 as a group I got that on the picture.
http://www.hunt101.com/img/504297.jpg
The lead shot bullets have GREAT potential as far as I was concerned. Have you had a chance to shoot yours? Ron

[Rattus58]

Well I have lots of experience with the .450/.458 1-20 twists one on a Thompson White Mountain Carbine. We use a lot of different bullets in our guns and here is my suggestion to you.

1). Find a sizer and size to either .450 or .451
2) Find an over the powder wad such as the Walters.. either the .030 or .060 will work I think mine are .462 across.
3) The Lee 45/70 405 grain bullet or even the Lyman version will produce a bullet of 426 grains and shoots very well out to 200 yards.
4) Other molds like the 457121 mentioned, should be sized to shoot properly. These guns can be very accurate.
5) I'd invest in an L&R V spring lock for your Renegade. One, it has a softer trigger, and is way more accurate than the Thompson. This is a $100 well spent.

Bullshop Bullets ( bullshop.gunloads.com ) makes some excellent bullets as well, but I'm not 100% if he has the .45's yet. Rapine makes a good mold too in .451 in 430 and 500, but these are cut so close that when the lead cools they are at .450 or .4495 and in my guns (.451) a little sloppy... but...

The Lee/Lyman 405 grain 45/70 and 457121 Whitworth plus a custom gas check bullet from Dan at Mountain Molds are all bullets that are pretty awesome. I personally love the 475 whitworth once it's sized. If you mash it, it will smear, but still shoot alright. Personally, I would suggest sizing base first, I think you'll be unhappy going nose first on such a large reduction. I size using a rubber mallet or a Lyman sizer depending on my mood and timing. The best dies are Lee Sizing dies of 454 and 452 (I've only the .452 and .451) if you're using the rubber mallet method... hehe... :)

Anyway... my custom .451 on the White Mountain shoots with the best of them and with a good shooter at the helm, 1" groups are the norm... L&R... can't express that enough... :)

Aloha... :cool:

[I Haines]

hiwallbo,

Congrats on your M/L hunt! I have applied for elk hunts in CA for about 8 years now. Guess I'll just have to wait a bit longer. I probably wouldn't use a .45 cal barrel but it sounds like you have some good info from the forum. Good luck and keep us posted. IH

[highwallbo]

Thanks for all the suggestions and I have tried some with various results.

So far the most accurate for the 32" .458cal 1-18" is 85gr. Swiss 1.5 with no wad 405gr RNFP Saeco/Redding. these will hold the 10 ring @100yd.
Biggest improvement in accuracy was using a platinum lined nipple from J.Cunard Co. I knew this from my Gibbs rifle to be true. Heavy bullets and large charges of powder will eat up steel nipples and they have large orifices. Big orifices mean big groups.
Also PJ 540gr Creedmoor shoots very well but not a good hunting bullet.
I did a scouting trip for this elk hunt last week, they have a turn out off the 395 that you can spot and stalk the elk from there!:drinks:

[idahoron]

I would like to try some of those nipples. Can you call him and place the order? Ron