Bullet for TC 1:38

[redcarpet]

Still need to pay for it but I will have a Treehawk on the way soon.

1:38 twist.

Looking for a conical that will match up well with this twist. 350-450sh grains.

Any recommendations?

 

[Dale Allen Raby]

The Treehawk was essentially a camouflaged White Mountain Carbine. I only ever saw it in .50 caliber, so I assume yours is also a .50. It ought to shoot conicals and sabots well, but I would stay on the light side with both bullets and charge weights. Hard to make a recommendation for a specific bullet without knowing your intended target.

This is primarily a hunting gun, though, so my recommendation is 70 grains of 3f black powder under a plastic sabot with a Hornady .45 caliber 250 grain XTP. Yeah, I know, sacrilege. That said, it will kill most game suitable for this gun without knocking you on your keester. If you use much more powder than that... or in a bigger granulation, you will have a huge muzzle blast and more recoil than I would care to subject myself to. This is an effect of a short barrel.

This is, realistically, a fifty yard hunting gun, though some can do better than that. My groups average three to four inches at fifty yards, but I am not a very good marksman anymore.

I've also had fairly good luck with Lee REAL bullets that I cast myself using my White Mountain Carbine, but sabots shoot better in my experience so far.

All this said, though, I am mostly a hunter of empty milk jugs in the back yard these days. Others might have better recommendations for hunting loads.

 

[redcarpet]

They made the Treehawk and Greyhawk in .54 as well.

Whitetails.

Ranges probably under 50 yards.

Planning to use black as that is what I run in my .54 with PRB.

 

[SDSmlf]

They made the Treehawk and Greyhawk in .54 as well.

Whitetails.

Ranges probably under 50 yards.

Planning to use black as that is what I run in my .54 with PRB.

Have you tried PRBs in the Treehawk?

 

[Dale Allen Raby]

It ought to do well for you in that application. Try a few different weights, but I would stay away from really heavy bullets... and you probably want some kind of hollowpoint.

 

[Dale Allen Raby]

PRB's probably won't shoot well out of a Treehawk, but there is no harm in trying it.

 

[redcarpet]

I have a PRB gun. Wanting something with the ability to shoot heavier conicals.

 

[redcarpet]

I have a PRB gun. Wanting something with the ability to shoot heavier conical.

.54 is a PRB gun, don't want to mess with .50 round balls. Easier for me to keep bullets straight for the .50 and round balls for the .54

 

[chorizo]

Never mind... I just remembered you have a 50 cal. Too many hot rum toddies.

Might try Hornady GP HP-HB It should engage the shallow rifling well.... also use an over powder wad

 

[Erwan]

If the twist rate is really 1:38 and shallow scratches the PRB could be lower accuracy than the sabots: the twist is relatively short and the efficiency of the PRB is minor than the sabots, the risk of skipping the scratch becomes more important when the twist is shorter, which often forces decreasing a bit the BP load...
REAL could be also better than the PRB...
Must be tested and compared...

 

[Idaho Ron]

Here is a White Mountain carbine that uses my paper patched Lee 500S&W bullet. This deer was shot at 125 yards.

 

[chorizo]

Here is a White Mountain carbine that uses my paper patched Lee 500S&W bullet. This deer was shot at 125 yards.

Listen to him.....He knows of which he speaks!

Nice buck Ron. God, how I love the high desert and the sage brush. God's Country.

 

[Idaho Ron]

Listen to him.....He knows of which he speaks!

Nice buck Ron. God, how I love the high desert and the sage brush. God's Country.

I wish this hunt was a 10th of what it used to be. I haven't seen a really good buck in a long time.

 

[redcarpet]

Here is a White Mountain carbine that uses my paper patched Lee 500S&W bullet. This deer was shot at 125 yards.

Is that mold on Lees site?

 

[Idaho Ron]

Listen to him.....He knows of which he speaks!

A guy has to be really careful with these rifles. This one ended up with a cracked stock due to my friends desire to get a short barrel rifle to shoot a 458 gr bullet at 1350 fps. He was shooting T7. Lots of it.

 

[Idaho Ron]

Is that mold on Lees site?

On Lee's web page it is a 440 gr.

 

[redcarpet]

A guy has to be really careful with these rifles. This one ended up with a cracked stock due to my friends desire to get a short barrel rifle to shoot a 458 gr bullet at 1350 fps. He was shooting T7. Lots of it.

I won't need that much juice. Just a nice 50 yard and in deer bullet.

 

[Idaho Ron]

I won't need that much juice. Just a nice 50 yard and in deer bullet.

That Lee bullet is a 50 yard train.

 

[Idaho Ron]

You know. At 50 yards the REAL isn't a bad bullet.

 

[chorizo]

A guy has to be really careful with these rifles. This one ended up with a cracked stock due to my friends desire to get a short barrel rifle to shoot a 458 gr bullet at 1350 fps. He was shooting T7. Lots of it.

That is what I am going to shoot...about 90..a little more or a little less.. grains of T7 at 1300 to 1400 fps out of a 1:38 54 cal barrel I am having made, but I have the later through bolt to the trigger assembly model and have also added some strengthening of my own, like bedding the tang face and tang and adding a through bolt on the back screw hole on the tang. I also relieved the screw holding the lock and ensured that the lock is seated correctly.

Having been instructed by a Spanish master gunsmith from Eibar on such things (sidelock shotgun and sidelock double rifles in heavy calibers) on what to look for and how to reinforce a sidelock gun, I think I am ok.

But the proof will be in the shooting!