.54cal Flint Smoothbore

[roundball]

Have recently been thinking about finding a TC .56cal smoothbore barrel and trying to talk TC into letting me pay them to convert it to a Flint barrel.

But now I've discovered that GM makes a 15/16" x 32" x .54cal Smoothbore Flint barrel as a drop in for a TC Hawken...they don't advertise it any more so I suspect they've taken them out of their catalog due to low sales, but they still have them left in their on hand stock inventory.

The 32" barrel appeals to me a lot more than the short 27" TC barrel anyway, so this might be one heck of a squirrel gun...already have a spare stock and flint lock asm...if it gets here by this Friday, I'll play with it Saturday.

.58cal/.54cal wonderwads with work fine as OP and cushion wads...my main concern is having overshot cards that will fit/work, without also having to use a heavy wonderwad for that too.

I like the thin .030" OS cards but don't have any .28's on hand...worse case, .62cal OS cards would probably ram down and seat tight... :hmm:

Thought and comments are welcome...

 

[Rebel]

You could always use a square of tissue or some newspaper until you can get some .28 ga wads. Should have to worry about them smoldering if used overshot. Just a thought.

 

[musketman]

You can make a punch from an old pipe and use cerial boxes to make OS cards with ease...

If T/C converts it at their factory, they should still warentee it then, otherwise I'd think hard about that GM barrel...

Either way, you would have a great squirrel gun...

 

[joeboleo1]

See there's a .54 smoothie GM barrel on the Classifieds on ML forum.

 

[roundball]

Ed Cain at Cain's Outdoor, West Va. coordinated the barrel purchase with GM for me, otherwise I would have had to pay full MSRP if I had ordered it directly from GM.

Ed Cain is simply having GM direct ship it to me instead of it going to him first...he also just Emailed me again to confirm he has a bag of .28ga OS cards in stock that he's mailing out today.

I'll hunt squirrels with it October instead of deer hunting...the only place I have to hunt deer in October is a mile long hike into the backside of a public game management area.....and in past years I've been able to drive through a landowner's fields to bring out deer a couple times, but it's changed hands and is now gated...no way I can or would try to drag a deer out of there for a mile.

Of course, this means that while carrying a load of #6's a B&C record trophy buck will walk past me at 50yds away!

 

[roundball]

Bag of .54cal OS cards arrived yesterday, .54cal GM Flint smoothbore barrel arrived today...with plug, it's 33" long...truck is all loaded and I'll hit the range at sunup...let you know how she does
:front:

 

[roundball]

Outstanding performance from the .54cal GM Flint smoothbore barrel this morning...set it up for 25yds...best load for the best, even, consistent pattern was:

70grns Goex 3F
Two .54cal Oxyoke wonderwads
1+1/8oz #6's
Circle Fly Over Shot card

Puts a dozen #6's through a 4" tuna can at 25yds...the squirrels are in serious trouble!

NOTE 1:
No paper shot cup...just the load I described out of the .54cal cylinder bore barrel.

NOTE 2:
Even thought I really soaked / scrubbed the barrel last night with steaming hot soapy water, I noticed while shooting this morning an odd, very strong odor from the muzzle after I'd shoot...but it was getting fainter by the time I was wrapping up the range session...I guess it still had some manufacturing oils leaching out of the bore? Or it was from the bluing in the bore?...dunno....but it sure stunk, almost a burnt oil smell but not quite that...never had a barrel do that before.

Anyhow, this 33" .54cal Flint smoothbore is a sweet shootin' thing...I suspect it would also deliver an excellent turkey load as well.

:front:

 

[Rebel]

Well, it sounds like that is a winner barrel. Now you just need to try it out with some roundballs. Sounds like ya had a good day at the range though. Not sure what the smell could have been. Were you the only shooter there? Nobody upwind of ya? ::

 

[roundball]

Well, it sounds like that is a winner barrel. Now you just need to try it out with some roundballs. Sounds like ya had a good day at the range though. Not sure what the smell could have been. Were you the only shooter there? Nobody upwind of ya? ::

Naw...had the whole place to myself...I usually get up at 5:30-6:00, be shooting by 7:00, gone by 8:30-9:00...and I could bend down smell/tell it was coming right from the muzzle.

I was was really pleased with the way it turned out...and an interesting discovery too...I usually use 3 oxyoke wads in my .62 smothbore so I started out with 3 wads in this .54.

Patterns were almost OK but not good enough...not a doughnut pattern, but open splotches here and there...varied the powder charges a couple times but no help.

Then remembered I'd read that too much wadding can sometimes have so much weight that the wad column can drive forward into the shot...so I dropped down to only two wonderwads and that pattern tightened up incredibly...at 25yds it shoots a tight, perfectly spread 24" pattern...could shoot skeet with it.

So two wads instead of three made magic...one wonderwad isn't very big but it made all the difference in the world.

 

[Rebel]

Yea, those smoothbores can be interesting to figure ut. Well, at least you can save 1 wad each shot with it. Shoot enough shots, and you will be able to buy 1/2 gal of gas with the savings in wads. ::

 

[bnail]

What good is a .54 cal. Smoothbore?
I've seen smooth rifles with .54 bores, but they just seem too small to be effective fowlers. what's the shot pattern (generally)on a .54 smoothie? and, about what's the guage equivilant?

 

[Mike Brooks]

I've won many a shot gun contest at Rondevouz with a 28 ga.
The long barreled small bores shoot phenominal patterns when shooting shot. Mine had a 48" barrel, and not only would it grind up skeet, it would shoot RB just like a rifle.
One place I used go to had a card board turkey head set out, you were to use their dipper for loading, so everyone loaded the same load. I usually got at least 14 pellets in the target every year. I was never defeated in this event. :blah:
I have no experience with a short barreled 28ga. so couldn't say what their capabilities may be.

 

[roundball]

What good is a .54 cal. Smoothbore?

Same things a .28ga shotgun are good for.

 

[bnail]

Thanks Mike.
I've often wondered about a .54 smoothie, but it always sounded so danged small! I never realized it measured out to 28ga. Have you ever seen these barrels in swamped Octogonal? or would that make the gun too heavy for a fowler.

 

[musketman]

What good is a .54 cal. Smoothbore?

Surirrels, wood snipe, quail, doves could all be taken easily with smaller bores...

No worse than a modern .410 or 28 guage, whatever you can hunt with them, you can hunt with a .54 smoothbore...

 

[Mike Brooks]

Thanks Mike.
I've often wondered about a .54 smoothie, but it always sounded so danged small! I never realized it measured out to 28ga. Have you ever seen these barrels in swamped Octogonal? or would that make the gun too heavy for a fowler.

Yes, I've built a pile of smooth rifles around "C" weight Getz barrels in 28ga. I call them "Widow Makers". Damned good shooting guns out to 100 yards with RB. They shoot shot well, and are great for squirrels, as they are sighted.

 

[bnail]

I've built a pile of smooth rifles around "C" weight Getz barrels in 28ga. I call them "Widow Makers".

Mike, We gotta Talk! I've been wanting a true smooth rifle for a while, but was worried about the bore size.
What's the best way of getting in touch with you about possibly making one?

 

[Bearbait2]

Mr. Skagun,
We had Grouse for dinner this evening that were taken with our Lyman.54cal smoothbore. It also performs quite well on Snowshoe Hare, Squirrels and Caribou (with PRB). Have no doubt a Moose will be in serious trouble under our self imposed limit of 70yds.
Best Wishes

 

[bnail]

Thanks! I think I'm going to commit :thumbsup:

 

[Rebel]

No need to be commited, just buy ya a gun and get over them feelings. ::