T/C .50 Range Trip

[Swampman]

T/C Hawken .50 with standard 1:48 factory barrel. I'd never shot this one before. .490 roundball, pillow tickin patch, Birddog6 patch lube, Windex wipe between shots, 60 grains of 3f Goex. First shot was almost exactly in the middle of the lower left bull. It was very hard to load until I switched to the Birddog 6 patch lube. I'd have shot at 50 but I can even see the targets.

http://i32.photobucket.com/albums/d34/Woodsman1956/Black%20Powder/100_2289.jpg

[Ajax]

nice shooting! looks like you got a keeper.

Andy

[mooman76]

Good shootin! It should shoot conicals good with that twist also.

[giz189]

Swampman, those are nice rifles. I have one with a Green River barrel with I believe 1 in 66" twist. I just discovered for myself last year that if I put a vegetable card wad on top of my 80 grs of FF BP, with a .495 rb patched with pillow ticking with some Hoppes black powder solvent just dampening the patch, I got a lot better groups at 100 yds. Don't remember exactly, but seems like it was 2" or thereabouts. Not bad considering open sights and eyes that don't see as sharp as used to.

[Huntsman]

Swampman, those are nice rifles. I have one with a Green River barrel with I believe 1 in 66" twist. I just discovered for myself last year that if I put a vegetable card wad on top of my 80 grs of FF BP, with a .495 rb patched with pillow ticking with some Hoppes black powder solvent just dampening the patch, I got a lot better groups at 100 yds. Don't remember exactly, but seems like it was 2" or thereabouts. Not bad considering open sights and eyes that don't see as sharp as used to.

K, Noobie question. What is a vegetable card wad? And this is placed between the powder and the patched round ball? Just want to ake sure I'm reading your post right. I have some some 28gauge over shot wads. Will these work the same?
Cheers,

[giz189]

Hey Huntsman, those are wads that are made from a vegetable fibre. They are fire and water resistant. The ones I use are called "Walter's Wads" and I get them from Midway or Buffalo Arms or which ever company I am ordering stuff from when I need some. They are made in .030 or .060 thickness. I think I used the .060 in my 50 cal T/C, and yes, I put them between the powder and the patched ball. I use .015 thick pillow ticking for my patches just dampened a little with some Hoppes or No 13 Black Powder solvent on them and squeeze them out. I don't know about the 28 ga wads, but if they will slide just inside the bore and are of some thickness close to those I don't see why they would not work.

[northmn]

28 Gauge is about 54 caliber and would be a little large. The card wads are a good idea if accurate. For deer hunting some use a wad to protect the powder charge from patch lube contamination. May have to try that in my 58 (24 ga). I am getting a 20 bore smoothie built again. I sued to like to use card wads between the powder charge for them. For a deer load you would want to use something more like Bore Butter or Crisco for lube. 495 ball are also a good choice to try in a 50.

Northmn

[Swampman]

There's no way I could get a .495 down the barrel of any of the dozens of .50 caliber muzzleloaders I've owned.

[giz189]

There's no way I could get a .495 down the barrel of any of the dozens of .50 caliber muzzleloaders I've owned.Yeah, I have had a bunch of them that did not need anything but a 490 with patch, but when I changed to this barrel, and I can't remember for sure whether it is green mountain or green river as I have had it on the for about 30 years, but it was very loose with the 490 and pillow ticking patching I was using, therefore I got the 495 lee mould and the pillow ticking that you used to find in the muzzleloading sections of gun stores before all went to mostly in-lines. I think I have 6 or 7 muzzle loaders now. I prefer the old style side hammers, but also own and hunt with some in-lines.

[northmn]

There's no way I could get a .495 down the barrel of any of the dozens of .50 caliber muzzleloaders I've owned.

I've seen 495 used in several TC's. You have to use a shortstarter to start them and possibly a thinner patch. My GM barrel uses a 495 very handily. A good test on ball size is that if it rolls down the bore you can load it. I have been using #3 buckshot in my 25 based on that test even though most recommended a #4 buckshot.

Northmn

[Swampman]

I have to use a short starter and a mallet to get a .490 down the muzzle. If I use a thinner patch it burns through.

[northmn]

I was just making a suggestion, some barrels, especially on the production guns like the TC's may be a little tighter. Use of a 495 may prevent a thiner patch from burning through. However I am a firm believer in "If it works don't fix it" If you are satisfied with your results don't fix it. Also after shooting a gun a bit I have found going to a slightly larger ball may help if you start noticing things opening up. Some ML's tend to "shoot in"" over time.

Northmn

[Maven]

I have to use a short starter and a mallet to get a .490 down the muzzle. If I use a thinner patch it burns through.

Swampman, I've owned a number of T/C rifles and always used .014" - .016" precut T/C or CVA patches (got them on close out) and never had a seating or burn through problem. A quick cure is to use an overpowder patch + a patched RB or possibly a 1/2" cardboard overpowder disk that you make yourself: Look for 1/2" arch punches at Amazon.com if this interests you. Also, I have a question as to the actual diameter of the RB's you're using: Are they Hornady, Speer, etc., or did you cast them yourself? If the latter, have you actually "miked" the diameter? I asked because I cast .490" RB's from a variety of molds (T/C and Lyman) and find none is exactly .490". I now use the one which drops the largest RB, but have no difficulty seating it in my non-T/C .50cal. rifles, even when using a .018" patch.

[northmn]

I have used cotton muslin for a thinner patch and it seems to be a little tougher than some other fabrics.

Northmn

[Huntsman]

I stopped using pillow ticking with my .54 rb as I was tired of hammering them down. I switched to some CVA lubed shooting patches. These are approx .15 thou and with 60grs FFFG there is no burn thru on the patch. I would actually like to my hands on an empty wasps nest to use between powder & patch.

I forgot to mention earlier too that the 28g wad/card was for my .54cal TC Hawken which I shoot Lee REAL's from.
More range time needed to test them in my Lyman GPR with prb..shucks lol