Moving on...

[newton]

Well, I cannot leave the front stuffer world entirely, but I am moving from my plan of using the sidelock in my .50 cals.

I went to sight in my ml's yesterday and got beat up and found a cracked stock on one, and the ram rod tip came off in the other one. Talk about a bad day.

Anyways, I'll have a Green Mountain LRH (blued) up for sale soon if anyone has been looking for one. I think I have run less than 50 rounds out of her. The other is a GreyHawk. And I'll have a Renegade to throw in the mix.

However, I can't let go of my .54 Renegade and I will for sure be getting a good slow twist rb gun in the future. I am just giving up on the heavy conicals in the sidelock thing. Mainly because I cannot stand the stocks I have and am not going to put any more money into it. Inlines just feel a whole lot better with my heavy boolits so that's what I am gonna use.

[pietro]

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It sounds like if you didn't have bad luck, you wouldn't have any luck at all - I sincerely hope your dream comes true...................... :)


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[Harleysboss]

How much for the LRH barrel? Would be interested in taking the barrel off your hands. Let me know. Thx

[swathdiver]

What was the purpose of shooting heavy conicals?

[newton]

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It sounds like if you didn't have bad luck, you wouldn't have any luck at all - I sincerely hope your dream comes true...................... :)


.

Yea, sometimes its like that. I love my ML's, but I just don't "fit" the Renegade style stocks I guess. Its not too bad with my .54 for some reason, but still is there. But that LRH in a Renegade stock just flat tears my cheek up. I'll continue the heavy conical path with the inline. And my dream is to one day have a sweet custom .45 to shoot heavy conicals in. However, I am leaving for my annual ML hunt next Wednesday so I don't have much time to spare.

[Beagle333]

Good luck on the hunt and the switch to the inlines. 8-)

[newton]

How much for the LRH barrel? Would be interested in taking the barrel off your hands. Let me know. Thx

I am not sure just yet. I know I paid $270 to my door for it. I don't want that much out of it though. It is used afterall, albeit not that much. But I know they are worth some money seeing how they have been discontinued and are not available anymore. So I am in no rush, but am not going to try and scalp someone for it.

In the end, I guess I would do $225 shipped.

[newton]

What was the purpose of shooting heavy conicals?

Knock down power. Plain and simple. I know what a heavy bullet vs a light bullet can do. The LRH was designed for it/and sabots. One big reason also for the conicals is so I could move away from sabots. This year I started doing the PP thing that Idahoron does. But it will be just as effective in the inline.

[newton]

Good luck on the hunt and the switch to the inlines. 8-)

Well, its not so much of a switch. I started this adventure using one. I was pouring and shooting a 515 grain boolit in a CVA Buckhorn Magnum. Did fantastic. I did a write up on it on here. I called it my 50-70 Muzzleloader.

It did so well that I figured I would get the LRH barrel and forgo the inline. But I did not realize how much of an issue the stock would play in it all.

I still love my sidelocks. Cannot beat them. I pick them up whenever I see a lonely one out there. But I will have no use for the fast twist of the LRH because I am not going to be shooting sabots and, as already stated, the conicals kick my butt.

[Harleysboss]

When you get back from your hunt and get ready to sell, shoot me a PM and maybe we can take it off your hands. Goodluck hunting.

[swathdiver]

Knock down power. Plain and simple.

Hunting Grizzly bear and Bison?

.50 and .54 round balls have reliably taken ALL North American big game.

Why not sell off all of your rifles and have one custom made and fitted?

[johnson1942]

newton,sorry about you guns coming apart, dont sell that barrel, buy a used cheap good h and r shotgun and send the reciever and your fastwist barrel to smokeless muzzleloaders inc, and have them put the barrel with a 209 primer breech plug on you h and r reciever. if they cant do it john taylor may be able to.it wont cost a arm and a leg. you may have to make your own fore stock, but thats a easy job. again make your own inline, you already have the barrel. smokeless muzzleloader inc, made my son a really top quality inline from a 10 gauge h and r shotgun in had laying around. my side locks never come apart except once. i made the stock from a very pretty piece of oak. the oak cant take the vibration, and every time i shot it a chunk of wood would come off.i scapped it and made a maple stock for it. maple is best. i also put pins in what apear to be stress areas. i make the pins look like decorations. when i made a hot rod renagade i had to pin certain areas of it so it wouldnt crack. anyways make your own inline, put a scope on it and drive tacks at any distance.

[newton]

Hunting Grizzly bear and Bison?

.50 and .54 round balls have reliably taken ALL North American big game.

Why not sell off all of your rifles and have one custom made and fitted?

Hey, not knocking those guns at all, I just want something different. I am not a one gun man at all. I like variety. I will have me a custom .50 round ball rifle one day for sure.

I guess one thing that I can see happening, and what I was looking forward to working up to, is long range shooting with the muzzleloader. Round ball guns simple cannot do it. Sure, they can reach out as far as MOST north American game is taken with muzzleloaders. But, its more than hunting for me. Its the desire to just simply shoot those long distances.

[newton]

Thanks for the input Johnson. I would not have made it this far in my adventure if it had not been for you and Ron helping as much as you guys do.

I had thought about this. I thought that one day I could get a custom stock made for it. But I am not going to sink any more money into this. I can buy a good inline for my purposes for about the same amount.

I have two stocks that have cracks like this. One stock is not mine, but I picked it up. Both Renegade stocks, both have cracks in same place. But really it goes beyond that. I don't like the way they feel honestly. I could have gotten over that, but when I saw the crack I knew that was the last straw.

I would just keep the barrel since I already bought it. But it will quite literally sit there unless I invest more money than what I want to in it. So there is no need to keep it when there are others out there who have been looking for these drop in barrels. I know I did for a while before I found this one, and have since heard of others looking. I would rather see someone who wants it more than me have it than to try and "make it work". Plenty of other choices out there for shooting the big heavy conicals.

[OverMax]

Cracked Hawken & Renegade stocks. Now I know why composite stocks are the preferred for inline use. I too dislike Renegade stocks because of their profile. Only way I can shoot one comfortably is having it fitted with a recoil pad similar to a T/C 58s Big Bores stock.
Sell em all and buy yourself a stainless Omega or some other preferred brand. The move to inline for your purpose of Heavy weight projectiles is necessary as stated.

[johnson1942]

newton, i can see your mind set. what guys shoot when their are trees all around them is diff. than what guys shoot when their is millions of acres of grass around them. if i lived where you do i would probably just own .58 slow twist round ball guns. that would do the trick and then some on any critter down their. here we have to reach out and touch things that are out their a ways. thats why we shoot what we shoot what we shoot in the open west. be sides we are all kids at heart and i like to fancy my self as good as the buffalo hunters of days gone by, or even better. to day the weather is beautiful and sea of grass that i look at for miles and miles is more peaceful than any city person could ever understand. deer are starting to show up so maybe it wont be a bad hunt in dec. a rancher that has 10,000 acres gave me permission to hunt it for free, i love that word free, will cost the out of staters 1500 dollars. keep haveing fun newton.

[newton]

Well I did it. Bought an Optima V2 in stainless to boot.

One me thing I LOVED about the renegade was the double set trigger. Man are those things nice. Turns out that this CVA has a very crisp and light trigger itself. I never thought I could find a gun easier to clean than a sidelock also. But once again this new gun is just as easy.

Helps per that they were on sale. I am shooting some good groups and will post some results soon. I picked the CVA because there is a lot of info pointing to it's like for conicals vs the TC. They say the TC inlines are made more for sabots.

I would just use a round ball gun. But believe it or not there are MANY occasions to shoot well over 100 yards where I hunt and some up to 200 yards. That was my drive in all of this. To have a 200 yard gun with homemade bullets. Sure, there are some spots that 50 yards is max. But those are the spots I'll just poke their eyes out at.

Dont hate me for going with a fancy gun. I still love the traditional. Just have to see where it does not make sense for me to pursue one angle of it anymore.

[johnson1942]

enjoy what you have. the main thing about muzzleloading is self sufficiency. you can be very self sufficient with a in line. you dont have to buy their high priced packets of sabots and copper pointed bullets. cast you own bullets for paperpatch or cast grooved. you can buy primers in the bulk. didnt i see a post that you made your own black powder. im sure that inline will shoot that well. your going to love the stainless steel barrel. idaho ron and i have one and they really clean easy. dont know why, they just do. i dont know why but my gun with the stainless steel barrel didnt mind any kind of powder i put in it. it shoots pyrodex, real black or the 209 powder all the same, very accurate. life is choises, enjoy the one you made. if i had the money i would like to build a high quality inline in .45 cal 1/18 twist and put a 12 power scope on it. would like to do some real longdistance shooting with it. no brass to clean, just load and shoot. i would use 209 powder and paperpatch bullets.

[newton]

I do want to make my own powder one day for sure. Your right, self sufficient is my aim. The 209 primers are easy to come by and not too expensive. I buy the regular ones for shotguns. The boolit and paper are just a few pennies to make. I bought pyrodex p at powder valley. I wanted to follow Ron's recipe as close as possible. So far so good except the patches are tearing just a tad(piece of them comes off) when I load them.

Im doing the boolits just like he says except for the dang onion skin paper. I procrastinated and did not get any. But I am trying some things today to help. I think it's dialed in. May be able to clear out a lane on my range today to let me see what it does at 150 yards.

[swathdiver]

I understand Newton. Someday I'd like to ring steel at 1000 yards with a Pedersoli or Parker Hale Enfield with open sights. That is of course if my eyesight lets me!

When I used to shoot smokeless, shooting 5 round clover leafs with my M700 BDL in .30-06 was my passion.

[johnson1942]

newton always stirs up my i wish i had. ive been thinking of a non competition in line muzzle loader all day. 32 inch douglas barrel .45 cal 1/18 twist. on a h and r action. again a good 12 power scope on it. the other day a member posted about beautiful aftermarket stocks for h and r guns that would make it beautiful. i have the swageing equipment to make perfect bullets. got to figure out what else to sell around here. it would be fun to go down to alliance ne. range and shoot the buffalo at 800 to 1000 yards with that kind of gun. alliance is only 60 miles from my house. newton, what have you done.

[newton]

Well your in the same boat as me. Try living in my boots for a while. If I had my way I'd have a 12'x12' gun cabinet filled to the hilt with guns. Of course I'd be retired and each day I would spend on one gun. I figure I would rotate through them every few years and that would make it fun. Haha

well 125 yards is the furthest so far with this gun. I do have access to a spot where I can practice at 200 if I want. I'll soon have me a good setup here at the house.

[johnson1942]

we are all little boys at heart. rearranged my gun room the other day. found things i forgot i had. it was like finding long lost toys.

[taco650]

Years ago, like 1980, I bought a CVA Mountain Rifle kit in 50. Put it together and really enjoyed it but it sat in the closet for about 10 years and then got sold. Now I wish I had it but... Would like to get another and don't mind shooting RB but the sidelocks available now are twice what a cheap inline is. I'm not a traditionalist but the inline's just don't "look" like a muzzle loader to me. I still would like to get a front stuffer but $$$ is a huge issue now that my senior in high school is looking at college. What to do...

Newton Help!

[C. Latch]

I have a Renegade but I never shoot it because the Hawken stock design is much more comfortable to me. YMMV.

If that LRH barrel was SS instead of blued, I'd be jealous. I already have 2 that are blued.

[newton]

Years ago, like 1980, I bought a CVA Mountain Rifle kit in 50. Put it together and really enjoyed it but it sat in the closet for about 10 years and then got sold. Now I wish I had it but... Would like to get another and don't mind shooting RB but the sidelocks available now are twice what a cheap inline is. I'm not a traditionalist but the inline's just don't "look" like a muzzle loader to me. I still would like to get a front stuffer but $$$ is a huge issue now that my senior in high school is looking at college. What to do...

Newton Help!

well well well, have I got the deal for you ...

lol. Just kidding. I do, really do, love the look of a sidelock. I wanted to stick with it because of the beauty. But the bullet to me is just as much a thing of beauty. Believe me, there is no way I'm moving on from all sidelocks. I'm keeping most of them, just for the fun of it.

But it I have to say, this CVA is pretty too. Just in a different way. I'm sold on it. Really just the LRH is probably the only one I'm gonna sell. I might turn loose of a .50 Renegade though. But it would have to come with that cracked stock. Lol.

[newton]

I have a Renegade but I never shoot it because the Hawken stock design is much more comfortable to me. YMMV.

If that LRH barrel was SS instead of blued, I'd be jealous. I already have 2 that are blued.

I think that's what I should have gotten. A hawked stock. The barrel is a 15/16 which would fit a lot of Hawkens. I wish it were stainless too. But it was all I could find. It's interesting how much better the green mountain barrel seems though. But it could just be my enamour with it. Lol

[johnson1942]

taco 650. do like i did recently when i really wanted something. i sold something else and used that money to buy what i really wanted. in this case it was and old boat with a good motor sold for a piece of home rehab equipment i wanted to help me back from west nile. also saw something to day i really want, a urberti 1862 army black powder revolver.i got to figure out what else to sell to get that. it is also easy to fix a cracked renagade stock. pry open the crack and put gorillia glue in the crack and clamp. you will have to do a little surface refinishing but that the easy part. a crack in a stock is a minor. last winter i put back together a old barn gun .22 cal and the stock was in three pieces. it now looks better than it ever did even when it was new.

[C. Latch]

If I were you I'd clean up the LRH barrel and store it until a bargain Hawken came along.

You're in Arkansas. Snoop around on the Mississippi-based Facebook gun trader pages and a Hawken will show up eventually, and it will be cheap. Or just ask if anyone has one for sale. Since the 'primitive' seasons there have allowed centerfires, caplocks are dirt cheap there now.

I bought a .45 Hawken for $125 when we lived in MS. Barrel was a sewer pipe, but the rest of the gun was solid. She wears a LRH barrel now.

[C. Latch]

Or if you don't want to go that route, keep your eye on the Williams Gun Sight company's website. They list a bunch of used guns for sale, and that's where I got my $100 Renegade. Barrel was rough, but my LRH carbine barrel drops right in (got that for $75 when GM was having a Christmas sale) and I had Ed Rayl rebore the old .50 Renegade barrel to 20-gauge smoothbore.

[taco650]

taco 650. do like i did recently when i really wanted something. i sold something else and used that money to buy what i really wanted. in this case it was and old boat with a good motor sold for a piece of home rehab equipment i wanted to help me back from west nile. also saw something to day i really want, a urberti 1862 army black powder revolver.i got to figure out what else to sell to get that. it is also easy to fix a cracked renagade stock. pry open the crack and put gorillia glue in the crack and clamp. you will have to do a little surface refinishing but that the easy part. a crack in a stock is a minor. last winter i put back together a old barn gun .22 cal and the stock was in three pieces. it now looks better than it ever did even when it was new.

Have you been talking to my wife??? She's been after me to sell some tools I don't use anymore for a long time now LOL!

[johnson1942]

its easy to become a hoarder. once in a while i look around and see if i am starting to become one. if i am i either give stuff away or sell stuff. i have a couple of high quality molds right now i dont need but i dont know how to sell them.

[newton]

its easy to become a hoarder. once in a while i look around and see if i am starting to become one. if i am i either give stuff away or sell stuff. i have a couple of high quality molds right now i dont need but i dont know how to sell them.

Don't know how to, or don't know if you want to? If you are wanting to, there are a lot of great guys on here that will buy them. I have sold a lot on here, and bought a lot also. Heck, I bought the .45 Lyman that is sitting in my safe right now from a guy on here. If you want/need help with it give me a shout.

[Ajax]

i don't see how you can be self sufficient needing primers. If you want to be self sufficient change that 209 over to flint on your inline. [smilie=s: Personally i have no issue with inline RIFLES (notice i didn't say muzzle loader) . Muzzle loaders are side lock firearms, in my opinion. That being said i have seen some awesome inline rifles shoot some amazing distances. If you want to be a buff hunter get a BPCR and go for it.


Andy

[Good Cheer]

Cracks on TC stocks happen at the curve opposite the locks when the breech hook is not adequately adjusted to the slot in the tang and the stock inletting to the barrel. You can demonstrate this to yourself by observing the crack as the barrel is lowered into position, seeing the crack widen as the barrel cams into position. That widening of the crack is the amount of stress input that was always trying to split the wood grain and finally won.