Christmas came a little early for me

[tddeangelo]

Tom that is one beautiful piece of art.The curly maple grain looks fantastic. Curious about the Rice barrel and the way it was rifled. It looks to be octagonal which is true to the period and style of the pattern. That 8-8.5lbs will feel like 5lbs since they balance so beautifully.
Mr Martin created a master piece for you.

The muzzle is "coned," Rodger, which makes loading easier. What you see there is the opened up muzzle. I think, although I'm not positive, it's round bottom rifling.

And I was mistaken on the barrel origins. It's a Hoyt barrel.

The rifle is heftier than anticipated. It pushed my little kitchen spring scale to 10.5lbs. Allen told me its slim compared to the original Schreit, too!

It carried very nicely and locks in on the target perfectly still. It fits me almost like you'd expect from a fine shotgun..... Look at something, fix my gaze on it, then bring up the rifle. It's almsot perfectly aligned and on target all "on its own". With its weight, I won't hold on target for lengthy periods of time, but that's ok.

If I were to do it again, I'd be tempted to go about 4" shorter on the barrel, but I like the height when it's stood on its buttplate. One nice thing about the barrel length is that it feels difficult to be "twitchy" with it, unlike a short TC "Hawken". They're short and weight-forward and dance all over when aimed, compared to how this rifle just "hangs" on target.

Dang work keeping me from my shooting!

 

[JD338]

Very very nice!

JD338

 

[truck driver]

Bobby Hoyt makes so nice barrels.I haven't been in his shop for a long while. I've had him freshen out several TC Hawkens and they would shoot better when you had the groves deepened. Bobby must have got a new cutter for his signbar rifling machine that Ray Good set up for him before he pasted. Ray was another fantastic barrel maker, his shop was in Contocton Furnace just out side of Thurmont, MD.

 

[tddeangelo]

Rodger, some day we will have to meet up to chat. I'll bring this rifle and you can check it out in person. Pics are only telling part of the story, as I know you're aware.

TC rifles are capable of great accuracy.....in someone else's hands. Lol. I had been able to shoot my Renegade ok for a while, but it's a struggle because it fits me so poorly. My dad likes it, so I left it with him for however long he wants to use it.

 

[Darkhorse]

TC rifles are capable of great accuracy......

I shot the Southeastern NMLRA regionals back in 1977 with a TC .54 Renegade using round ball. I was very nervous to say the least but I finally settled down and took 3rd in the 50 yard offhand bull with something like a 48 3X, can't remember exactly. But yes, those old TC's were often capable of excellent accuracy.
When I bought my .40 barrel from Mr. L.C. he advised the round bottom rifling as it cleans up faster than the square bottom. I like it.
Several times I nearly broke down and coned my barrels but I never did. I just wasn't sure how it would affect the accuracy of a proven barrel. I might still do the .40 though as it's a beast to start a patched ball.

 

[tddeangelo]

Shot the rifle tonight. Wow. What a easy-shooting rifle. 90gr FFg was very, very little recoil. The patches I had recommended were too thin, however. I talked to Allen, who immediately told me to get thicker patches. So, I'll get some pillow ticking my dad has had for decades, and give it a go.

The coned muzzle made loading so nice...didn't even have to use the short starter.

It's showing potential. Won't know for sure what it can do till I get more properly sized patches in it.

And my 50-cal Renegade shoots great. My old man is using it this year, actually. I don't like how it doesn't fit me any more, but he loves it, so I put it in his safe for as long as he wants to use it.

This long rifle is sooooooooooooooooooo stable, though. I will need practice, but I can tell that this rifle and I will get along quite well.

 

[Darkhorse]

When I buy pillow ticking I always take a set micrometers to measure it. It should measure .0175. Also I always buy from a regular fabric store as I only want 100% cotton. Some of the discount stores have some nylon in their fabric and it melts. I don't want that mess in my rifling.
I have found the good pillow ticking bought by the yard is superior to the stuff sold pre cut. So I buy several yards, it lasts a long time. Maybe not so long with a .62.

 

[truck driver]

Tom, 90grs FFG is my hunting load and 75grs FFG is my target load. I guess you already know that by adjusting your powder charge you can lower or raise your point of impact.
I have been lucky that a local gun shop owner was big into muzzle loading and always kept quality patching material on hand. I use Speer or Hornaday round balls and would match the ball to the patch material for accuracy. The cone muzzle should help you keep from wearing the muzzle out seating balls.
Are you casting your own balls or have a supplier?

 

[tddeangelo]

For now, I'm buying .600 balls at Dixon's (literally 20 min away for me), but I will cast them myself eventually.

I shot it again tonight with pillow ticking. A little stiffer to load (not bad at all, though), but better results. I tried 100gr, and recoil was fine, but it cut patches. Dropped to 90, and patches look great. I was shooting leaning off the corner of my parents' garage (they live where I can shoot in their yard) at a 3" dot at 35 yards. I got about 3" from the load I used, and it was raining (I was under the eaves).

I'll have to put it on a rest to see what it can really do, but it looks promising. At least my patches are looking better now, lol.

 

[truck driver]

With a .62 cal. bore I would try to get some balls cast to .61-61.5 and use .015 patching for the .61 cal. and .010 for the 61.5 cal. If my memory doesn't fail me. The .60 cal. with .020 patching will slip in the rifling. The closer to bore diameter that you can get with the ball the better. At least that has been my experience in the past.

 

[tddeangelo]

The patches I was running last night are 024, so they do fill a bit more. The cut patch at 100gr tells me it was skipping over a land, so it shouldn't be loose in the rifling I wouldn't think?

I can try all sorts of combos. For now, I need something adequate to hunt before next Friday when the season opens. Lol

 

[truck driver]

I hear ya Tom and what you have should work fine for opening day. I was just relating too past experiences with my front stuffers. The thinner the patching and larger ball tends to be more accurate. And good old saliva works great for lubricant just don't let it set in the barrel over night. :mrgreen:

 

[tddeangelo]

Interesting footnote....

I got to run 4 shots last night. I found the patch cut after the first shot, which had a 100gr powder charge. I shot another with the same charge and couldn't find the patch. I assumed it was cut badly and went into bits.

Shot two shots at 90gr and the patches looked reusable.

This was done in my parents' backyard as they live where I can shoot a little and not have to get to the range.

This morning, my father found a patch in the yard. It looks perfect.

So one patch with 100gr got cut, another did not. Could be the bore being new yet.....so there's hope for bigger charges.

I'm going to see if I can get some 610's tonight and run them tomorrow. Experimenting is fun....

 

[truck driver]

I think you will be surprised. My thinking is still the undersized ball and thick patch was skidding in the barrel and as you fowled the barrel it tightened up. What are you using for patch lube?

 

[tddeangelo]

WonderLube to start, but tried some bear fat yesterday.

Dixon is closed on Wed (forgot about that), so it'll be tomorrow till I can go look for some 610's. Allen sort of recommends the opposite approach (he prefers a smaller diameter ball and thick patch), but I'm open to ideas at this point.

I guess I can try Cabelas, but I've learned not to expect much from them for muzzleloaders.

 

[truck driver]

I guess you have to find what works best in your rifle. The round bottom rifling could act differently. A combination of bees wax and Crisco has worked well for me in the past but try to stay away from anything with salt in it . It's been so long since I played with this stuff I can't remember the formulas and I didn't right them down. I have a bunch of old books I read when I was building rifles and tried to reproduce the original formulas used in the day. Every thing from tallow to bearing grease was used.

 

[tddeangelo]

I've barrowed down some good ideas on patch lube. Lots of guys are running mink oil for hunting and Hoppes 9+ for range work. Both are fairly cheap and well regarded.

Just gotta get the time to shoot and play with it and see what the rifle likes. And time is what I have in shortest supply!

 

[truck driver]

If you can find Gunzilla which is an all natural bore cleaner it is great for cleaning black powder along with modern firearms. The NSSA guys really love the stuff for cleaning their civil-war era muskets. It might also work for patch lube. I use it to clean my 1911's.

 

[SJB358]

If you can find Gunzilla which is an all natural bore cleaner it is great for cleaning black powder along with modern firearms. The NSSA guys really love the stuff for cleaning their civil-war era muskets. It might also work for patch lube. I use it to clean my 1911's.

Can't speak for Flintlocks, but Gunzilla is all I use on my muzzleloader. Great stuff, made in the USA and does as it advertises..

 

[tddeangelo]

I use a highly sophisticated solvent for cleaning..... hot water.

Seriously, for just cleaning out fouling, water does fine for black powder.

For patch lube, fat-based lubes are best. I have a small supply of bear fat for the time being. I plan to move to mink oil when that's gone. The Hoppes patch stuff is really just for long range sessions, but to be honest, good ole spit works for that too.

Where I'm at is finding what the rifle wants in order to shoot. That means patches and balls and powder charges are the main variables.