Opinions on Thompson Center 54 Cal. Renegade

[triggerhappy243]

Sending you a picture of a bore light

[wingspar]

as it has no trace of case-color I believe the lock to have been cold blued. which may also explain what looks like rust on the breechplug as cold blue doesn't do well on cast steel which is what T/C breechplugs are made of.

I was hoping the lack of case-color in the sellers image was a poor photo. I suppose there is no way to remove the cold blue revealing the true colors?

As for what looked like rust on the breech plug, it looked more like some kind of brown liquid and a close up of the hammer revealed plenty of brown liquid inside. A q-tip and some mineral spirits cleaned all that up. Seemed like it was some sort of preservative.

While running a q-tip around the nipple, the nipple started moving. It was fairly loose, so I removed it and cleaned it. There is still some of the brown preservative on the threads. I’m assuming I should clean that off?

DO NOT TRY TO USE A 12GA OR ANY OTHER GAUGE SHOTGUN BRUSH IN YER BORE. IT WILL BECOME A PERMANENT RESIDENT REQUIRIN' STRONG EVICTION PAPERS TO REMOVE IT. instead use a 45cal jag & a piece of green scotchbrite along with some oil or bore cleaner.

the nipple has been replaced with a musket cap nipple. nothin' wrong with that unless musket caps are hard to come by in your area.

I don’t have any jags. They are on my list of things to get. Taking a more careful look down the bore, most of the rust is from about an inch from the muzzle to about 3 or4 inches from the muzzle. The rest looks fine, and it is unloaded.

I had to do some research as to what a musket cap is. I found some TC #11 nipples and some TC musket cap nipples online and had to really study them to see any difference. Is the slightly rounded edge at the top of the musket cap nipple how one tells them appart?

[triggerhappy243]

this is a bore light. one of the tools you really need

[bubba.50]

no there is no way to remove the blue so the colors can show through because any colors that might have remained would be removed so it could be blued. most likely because the colors were faded or fuzzy rusted.

[wingspar]

Guess I should have known the photos he posted would not hide the case hardening colors. Oh well. It looks nice in person.

Today I finally got some powder, caps, bullet puller, flask and a bunch of other stuff ordered, so sometime in the next week or two I should be ready to shoot it. I’m thinking of spraying some Ballistol down the barrel and letting the rust soak till I have my accessaries next week. Anything wring with doing that?

[bubba.50]

nothin' wrong with givin' it a ballistol soak for a day or two but, likely no real benefit either. don't give it so much that it runs out the nipple & all over yer stock.

[obx-shooter]

I recently acquired a .54 Renegade through a bit of a convoluted path. I "won" a clean .50 Renegade on GB ... but I almost immediately was informed by the seller that the gun had been accidentally sold. Since I'd gotten a good price (IMHO) of $240 or so dollars I was a bit ... perturbed.

But the seller assured me that they would endeavor to make things right with me. The result was an almost pristine .54 Renegade for $200. Since I already have a TC Hawken and New Englander in .50 I was quite happy with the outcome.

[wingspar]

nothin' wrong with givin' it a ballistol soak for a day or two but, likely no real benefit either. don't give it so much that it runs out the nipple & all over yer stock.

Ok. I’ll wait till I have my accessories and then let it soak for a couple of days since I’m not sure when I’ll have them.

I’ve finally figured out what a Mini-ball is, but what is a Maxi-ball? If anyone has a side by side photo and a description, that would help a lot. I have not had any luck searching that subject.

[wingspar]

I recently acquired a .54 Renegade through a bit of a convoluted path. I "won" a clean .50 Renegade on GB ... but I almost immediately was informed by the seller that the gun had been accidentally sold. Since I'd gotten a good price (IMHO) of $240 or so dollars I was a bit ... perturbed.

But the seller assured me that they would endeavor to make things right with me. The result was an almost pristine .54 Renegade for $200. Since I already have a TC Hawken and New Englander in .50 I was quite happy with the outcome.

I won an auction on GB for a new in box Marlin 1894 in .357 Magnum a few years ago. Seller said they lost it in their warehouse. He was a vindictive SOB and it got ugly. I had to resolve it thru GB to get my money back and to erase the F rating the AH gave me. Good to hear there are some good sellers on GB, and that $200 is an excellent price.

[wingspar]

I now have everything I need to go shoot this gun, but until our ugly gale force wind and horizontal rain takes a break, all I can do is watch videos and take photos of the gun. In the photo below taken after I cleaned all the gunk off, you can see lots of rust and pitting around the nipple. Looks ugly, but will it affect the performance?



The way that the musket caps were advertized, I had to buy at least 1k caps. I know I’ll never come close to shooting this gun that much, but I did not have a choice. When I got them, they were in a cardboard box containing 10 tins of 100 each. Good Grief! Why do they not offer to sell them 100 at a time? Kind of frustrating, so I may putting some of them up for sale one of these days.

[shdwlkr]

My first muzzleloader was a renegade as that was all the dealer had in tc rifles that day.
I have used sabots, rb bullets, powder 2f and 3f, patching is a science all its own, have used the fake powders also some worked some not so much, caps have used most that are available with mixed results
I know the length of pull is short and I like 14 inch pull but never ran into any issues with the rifle
Wished I still had it.
Price on the TC's is going up as those that don't have want and those that do have don't want to sell many times.
Enjoy your TC if taken care of it will last you a very long time, as to the rusting most likely is nothing more that surface rust and you can live with that but will need to keep it cleaned up after use
You can take the barrel out and clean it with really hot water and some dish soap. I like really hot water as it dries so quickly and that means little to no rust, coat the firearm inside and out with a rust preventive.
Once the muzzleloader disease hits you be looking for different calibers in different designs. I have been around black powder firearms for over 50 years and just now looking at flintlocks as a new toy to learn about as with all firearms how far you go in learning is a very personal thing. Some will buy one of something and be happy others will want more in different calibers, design, makers, etc.
good luck and let us know your experiences

[wingspar]

The rust around the nipple in that photo looks ugly to me, but it’s the rust in the barrel that concerns me. It looks like light rust and the rifling looks ok. I took the barrel out earlier today and have had it soaking in Ballistol since this morning, but I think the rust will still be there once I run a brush thru the bore. I have a wire brush in .50 Cal that I just got yesterday, but it fits tight. So tight that I’m not sure I’ll be able to get it back out.

[triggerhappy243]

did you get a bore light?

[triggerhappy243]

when you run the brush down to the bottom, twist the rod clockwise 180 degrees and then pull it out all in one motion.

[wingspar]

did you get a bore light?

No. I can see the entire length of the barrel with a good flashlight. The rust seems to be the full length of the bore.

when you run the brush down to the bottom, twist the rod clockwise 180 degrees and then pull it out all in one motion.

Thank you. That is the exact info I was looking for. I’ll go try that right now... Even tho all I have for a rod that will take the brush is the rod that is in the gun, it came out easy. Looking down the bore, it is difficult to see any results, so I sprayed some more Ballistol down the bore and will try it again tomorrow.

I don’t have any dry patches, even tho I could have sworn I ordered some, so the only thing I have close to .50 Cal is some 12 Gauge patches. I do have some TC T17 soaked cleaning patches, but I think it would be a good idea to run a dry patch or two first?

[bubba.50]

a brush ain't gonna do much for rust. ya need a 45cal jag & either some green scotchbrite or steel wool along with a good cleanin' solution or even some valve-grindin' compound.

[triggerhappy243]

good point bubba, a 45 cal. jag wrapped with 0000 steel wool and some gun oil will get it down to raw steel. also, sounds like you need a range rod. I made my own from a 36 inch piece of 3/8 inch aluminum rod. fitted each end with female threaded fittings to accept the cleaning and loading accessories.

[wingspar]

a brush ain't gonna do much for rust. ya need a 45cal jag & either some green scotchbrite or steel wool along with a good cleanin' solution or even some valve-grindin' compound.

I had some more stuff I had to order, so I ordered a .45 Cal jag. I have plenty of steel wool. The Ballistol and wire brush did remove some of the rust, but not all of it, but enough to allow me to see the riffling a little better. I then ran some TC T17 saturated patches then some clean patches thru the bore. The patches all came out brown, which I’m assuming is from the rust. When I get the jag and have the opportunity to try the steel wool and oil, I’ll update this.

I just popped a couple of caps. Those things stink. I could also feel air coming off the caps and with the muzzle up against a piece of paper, I could see the paper move, so I think I am ready to shoot this gun, I just have to wait for the weather to let up. I did notice that the hammer did not line up with the nipple as I thought it should, but tightening the hammer screw fixed that and while I was at it, just about every screw on the gun was loose. No more.

good point bubba, a 45 cal. jag wrapped with 0000 steel wool and some gun oil will get it down to raw steel. also, sounds like you need a range rod. I made my own from a 36 inch piece of 3/8 inch aluminum rod. fitted each end with female threaded fittings to accept the cleaning and loading accessories.

I haven’t been able to find a rod that I like. All brass with a T handle on it would be nice, but I have not found one. This one looks nice, but does anyone know if that 29" length includes the handle and how long is the handle?

[bubba.50]

it says THE WORKING LENGTH of the rod is over 29inches plus the jag will add an inch or so. and you can get jags that are 3 to 5 inches in length if ya look around.

[triggerhappy243]

hardware store or lowes/home depot. they have a metals rack. look for 3/8 inch dia. aluminum solid rod.