Sure could use some .36 schoolin'.

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BADUNAME30

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Jist got me a .36 Seneca and i have 0 experience shootin' a .36 rifle.
Now i can put a .45 or .50 patched ball right where i want it all day long but
don't know where to begin with the .36.
I 'spose right off that my ticking patches i use for the .45 and .50 are of no use in the .36 ?
Sure could use yer .36 rifle experience.
Thanx.
Oh, i'd also like to take these T/C factory sights off of this Seneca and chuck 'em.The rear sight is clearly an old style Contender sight and the front one is just a no good square thingy. Anyone got a source for say.....T/C Hawken style sights that will fit the Seneca ?
 
Hi Jim
I have two Seneca's...a .45 and a .36...both are a great joy to shoot!
The .36 uses a .350 round ball and an .010 patch. If I remember correctly, I started at 30 grains of FFFg and worked my way up. They don't need a lot of powder for target shooting or for hunting small critters. One thing you need to be careful of is, since it's a relatively small bore, it will foul much faster than the .45's and larger, so when you start to feel any resistance when loading it's time to run a wet (plain water) nylon brush down the bore followed by wet patches then a few dry ones. If you fail to do this I guarantee you will end up with a broken ram rod and possibly a stuck ball...I learned this the hard way! :cuss:
As far as sights go...I use the ones that they came with...I'm not really clear on what your's has...a picture would help!
 
Thanx for the info Bluehawk.
It's good to hear of your experiene with this little gem. Especialy that it's a pleasure to shoot. I bot this rifle mainly for my wife Janet to shoot. She loves to shoot out T/C .45 Hawken but it's weight is a bit much for her.
Thanx for the tip on the fouling. Do you use bore butter in your Senecas ?
I use it exclusively in my .45 and .50 Hawkens and can easily get over a dozen shots before any signs of fouling.

Here are pics of the sights.They are the T/C factory sights.
Don't know if you're familiar with the T/C Hawken sights, they are a rear V-notch and a front bead.That is the style i would like to put on my Seneca if possible.

Here are the Seneca sights.
I know this rear sight is an older T/C Contender sight.
Are yours the same ?
IMGP1971.JPG
IMGP1973.JPG
 
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I prefer to load 777 powder in a .36 rifle because its performance really shines.
It produces really good velocity with very little fouling over many more shots compared to other powders.
And the sound that the shots make is a nice sonic crack rather than the bellowing boom sound of the larger caliber bores.
 
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I'll give the T7 a go Steve but the "bellowing boom" is jist one o' the romantic aspects of the world of soot makin'.
That "sonic crack" is for that 'other' stuff.
 
My seneca has a different rear sight, as well as the ones my friends have. Mine doesnt have the factory front sight, but yours looks like the ones on my friends guns.

d-a
 
I can, I also have a spare set miunus the adjusting screw. Might be a day or two though.

d-a
 
Jim said:
I'll give the T7 a go Steve but the "bellowing boom" is jist one o' the romantic aspects of the world of soot makin'.
That "sonic crack" is for that 'other' stuff.
Click to expand...

You will? Sakes alive! That's more than I expected to hear from such a die hard sootmaker as yourself! ;)
 
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Hello, my name is Jim and i have a bottle of 777 in my black powder drawer.:eek:

Look at it this way Steve.
My Seneca aint stone sparked like a real front loader so it aint really cheatin'.:neener:
Right ? :uhoh:
 
The last time I shot my Seneca .36 (using Goex FFFg) it was more of a "crack" then a boom! :neener:
 
Hello, Jim. I bought my Seneca back in 75'. This was my first real precision muzzleloader. I used .010" pillow ticking with a .350 round ball. Black powder was hard to find then due to plant explosion..Hodgdon started importing Curtis & Harvey scottish made black. Sure wish they still made that stuff! It burn't moist..I was using 25grs. for best accuracy at 50yds. it would put them into one ragged hole. And didn't need to swab bore for 4 or 5 shots. If you can find some Swiss 3Fg, I would try that.
 
Its another Seneca rear sight, My .45 cal seneca shoots high so you can see both rear sights have been cut down to some extent. In your front sight pic, it actually looks taller than normal but I dont have a seneca front sight to compare with. I've added a .400 tall .08 thick silver sight on my seneca to try and get POA to the same as POI.

d-a
 
Must be a different 'era' sight huh? I'm gonna take the sights off o' one o' Hawkens' and see if they fit my Seneca.
If the screw holes line up for the rear and the dovetail fits the front i'll keep 'em on there for now. I 'spect i'll hafta file the front one a bit narrower to match the narrower flat width.

Thanx for takin the time to share yer info with me d-a.
 
The rear sight on my Old TC hawken looks similar to the Seneca rear sight except its overall length is longer, probably close to an inch longer. Ill try and get you a comparison pic of the two.

Oh and your welcome, between me and 2 friends we bought four senecas for $80 each this past spring.

d-a
 
Eighty bucks for a Seneca?? Were the sellers on crack??? :what:
Normally they sell for $300 on up depending on condition!!! (especially the later ones that you could only get from the T/C Custom Shop near the end of their manufacturing life)
 
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There were DNR trade in's/sell back we all got one each and bought one as a parts gun. Its has since became a pistol. Thats why I have the spare sight.

as a side note I tried selling mine after i got it cleaned up and operational and no one was interested(asked $300). Kinda glad now its slowly becoming my favorite front stuffer. Just wish it was lefthanded like my larger hawken

d-a
 
I'm unfamiliar with the term DNR.
You turned a Seneca rifle into a pistol?? I would love to see a pic of that! :what:
In my humble opinion you were very smart to hang onto the Seneca rifle...I got rid of my original .36 and kicked myself for many years for doing so. :banghead:
I now have another one...along with the .45 caliber model...and they are not going to be sold!!!!!!
By the way...the .36 shoots .357" hollow-base wadcutters quite well...no patches required...just put a little bit of lube around them and in the hollow base and stuff them down the barrel!
 
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DNR is short for Dept of Natural Resources. They used them for various training classes.


I didn't make the pistol, i just gathered up the unused parts. My friend built it, dont know if hes shot it yet.


Im going to keep the gun, Im almost to the point of getting a green mountain barrel and put on it due to it shooting high. Im going to the range tomorrow to shoot the Seneca and my left hand hawken (broke tumbler in it 3 weeks ago). It they both shoot well Im gonna try and shot a little Hog on sunday or monday with them.

d-a
 
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