Hotrod Renegade

[54bore]

Finally got me a hotrod renegade put together and got it out for its first test drive, target was 85 yards from the barrel with my leica 1600 rangefinder, this rifle flat out shoots!! You can see the target in the far right of the pic beside a tree. Many thanks to Idahoron for all of his help and knowledge! I would have never known how to go about doing this without him, I set my rifle up nearly identical to his, same bullet, paper patch etc.

[54bore]

167356

[54bore]

167357

[54bore]

I had to post the pics with my wifes smart phone, now that i am on an actual keyboard i can explain a little better. The rifle is a TC Renegade with a new Green Mountain LRH 45 cal barrel 1-30 fast twist, lyman 57sml tang peep, and lyman 17AHB globe front with fine bead lee shavers insert, the bullet is from an RCBS 44-370-FN mold, the bullets are dropping at 406-407 grains, i am paper patching from idahorons tutorial on here, using 2 wraps of 9# onion skin paper, the powder i chose is Swiss 2F 70 volume grains, i weigh my powder charges on my RCBS 10/10 beam scale, i use my volume measure and test weigh several charges to get an average (in this particular case it turned out to be 76.5 weight grains) i use small twist top containers to hold my charges, i used 50 cal oxy yoke wonder wads for over the powder. I shot a total of 10 shots today, the first 5 shots were zeroing shots, then i hung a fresh target and shot this 5 shot group. I am confident this rifle will shoot sub MOA if i do my part! It is killing me that i cant use this rifle for elk hunting! Idaho has a .50 cal minimum for elk

[54bore]

The differences in my setup and idahoron's is small, ron uses the lyman 17AML front globe and i have the lyman 17AHB globe, the only difference is in height, the AML is .494 high and the AHB is the lowest 17 lyman makes at .404 high, i prefer the AHB as it allows me to keep my Lyman 57sml tang mounted peep a little lower.
Ron also advised me to go with a .448 bullet sizing die and i am sure thankful he did, these bullets load like a dream! After paper patching the bullets you run them through the sizing die DRY

[triggerhappy243]

54bore, dont feel bad, I cannot even get drawn for a cow tag in the worst area here in n.m.

[idahoron]

Great job!! I have started a few guys on that bullet and it is just an outstanding bullet.

[Harleysboss]

Shoot that's an "easy" fix...just buy a 50 cal LRH barrel. Patch her up just like Ron does and bam! dead elk :) Just keep prowling the gun auctions and sales they come up quite often. You will pay a premium though. You could also contact The Gun Works/Oregon Barrel Co and have a drop in made to you exact specs for around the same price you'd pay for a used GM barrel. I may go that route so I can get a 45 cal barrel for PP shooting. Any Turkeys yet? I'm heading into Idaho on the 16th looking for spring bear and maybe a thunder chicken.

[nicholst55]

I've got a used (but not abused) Lyman .54 fast twist barrel (Great Plains Hunter) that I'd sell for cheap.

[fishhead]

Vertical dispersion could be due to needing new shocks on the front end.:kidding:nice shooting

[Good Cheer]

54Bore,
That looks to be a nice one.
Started patching the Lee 500 grain this weekend for the barrels rebored to .52 bore. With sizing to .519 they enter the bore easily and stay exactly where you leave them, same as sizing to .457 for the .458 bore.
Good luck to you on your hunts to come!

[BeMan]

I have a vintage 1979 production renegade .50 with the set trigger. I have added Williams fire sights and a Warren Custom .209 conversion, but still have the original sights and nipple. $225 shipped.