I recently picked up a Thompson Center New Englander .50 cal front stuffer and I was hoping there was someone here who could tell me a little about them. This poor thing is rusted and pitted all over the barrel, lock, and hardware with very little bluing left. Looks as though it was shot a few times the stuck in a closet without being properly cleaned up. Bore looks amazing good considering it's outward appearance. This one appears to have been a kit. The stock, although in good shape, looks somewhat unfinished as far as shaping goes. Any place where it's inletted, like where the lock and trigger guard fit in, they set in way below the edge of the stock. So does the tang receiver where the barrel hooks in, very deeply recessed. I plan on doing the necessary shaping to level things out and put a few coats of Linspeed or Tru-oil on it to gloss it up.
My main question is, I know it's a 1:48 RH twist, will this thing shoot saboted bullets or is the twist too slow? I know that the 1:48'ers are a "combination" twist able to shoot both patched ball and conical's but I didn't know about sabots.
I assume FFG would be the best powder since it's larger than .45cal. Can FFFG be used? I have several revolvers and a .45cal rifle and have plenty of that. What would be a safe starting and max load using patched ball? I'm thinking 50grns start and 90-100grns max?
I'll try to post some pictures when I start working on it.
Any info is appreciated.