WE made it go BOOM!! today. <grin>

[SASS#23149]

our first outing with a used Hawken .50 was a bust...old lumpy Pyrodex..but today she go boom
Only had time to shoot about thirty rounds at various jugs and such at about 75 yards in a rock pit,but she seems to be a shooter.Worked up to 100 grains,and the grin factor goes up along with the charge size.
Shooting prb today,but will try some sabot stuff at the next outing just to see what they do.Also want to try 777 next time for comparison.
I could learn to like this stuff!!

 

[Beartracker]

A friend of mine uses 95 g of fffg and he can place them in a hard ball every time at 70 yards. It sure knocks a deer on it's butt!

 

[SASS#23149]

Yep,potent weapon if ya ain't in a hurry to relaod.

 

[4v50 Gary]

You've discovered a charm unique to muzzle loaders. Enjoy and welcome to the fraternity.

 

[AirForceShooter]

the BOOM is great, but the Smoke is better.

AFS

 

[smokemaker]

It's all about the boom. Definitely. (OK I like the smoke too)
I've had good luck in 4 out of 5 muzzleloading rifles, and the Knight 12 gauge. My .58 T/C Firehawk just won't shoot anything though, so can't blame 777 alone. Just remember that 777 is somewhere's around 10% more potent, volume for volume, so adjust loads down proportionally. (sp)

Have fun and shoot straight!

 

[bakert]

Try it out at night. Not only a BOOM but FIRE.

 

[Hawken50]

as you could infer from my screen name,

i'm a big fan of the hawken. my most accurate load seems to be 75g ff under a prb, so that's my hunting load. but that dosen't mean i don't stuff her to the brim once in a while just to see the smoke. there's a reason the Hawken has been around since the mid 1800s. you'l have some fun with her.

 

[brerrabbit]

I just got my lifetime license this year. So I kinda gearing up for black powder and archery this year. I have a .50 cal CVA with a ball mold and a maxie mold. It looks cheap but shoots like a dream with 80 grains of pyrodex.

This is my first black powder rifle and I love it! I'm planning on using it for rifle season this year instead of 12 gauge slugs, actually more accurate. I love the smoke and fire from the CVA, it just seems so ,,, satisfying

 

[SASS#23149]

Got more goodies for it today....

Picked up a twenty-pack of lead hp sabot bullets. thinking a large grapefruit might make a nice target...a nice JUICY target.

 

[Yukon Jack]

TC Hawkins .50 Caliber

I have joined the black powdeer fraternity as well. Does the TC Hawkins .50 cal fire conical bullets well?? I have heard thet the twist for the lead ball does not work well with conical bullets?? I will admit the lead ball shoots well out to 100 meters with 90grains of pyrodex.

 

[Hawken50]

Yukon

the tc hawken has what's known as a compromise twist. slow twists (1:70) are excellent for roundballs, while fast twists (1:30 or something) excell at throwing conicals. t/c hawkens have a 1:48 twist. so, in theory, it will throw both well, but neither "excellently". so your best bet would be to try both.

a good place to get more info is www.muzzleloadingforum.com

 

[SASS#23149]

re: prb accuracy vs. patch thickness

Our gun is certainly 'minute of popcan' at say 50 yds or sNly had it out once so more testing is in order.
Our local store only had .010 patches although the loadbooks show using .015. they are a 'snuggish' fit and seem to work all right. What size patch are y'all using on .50 cal prb?