I’m completely new to muzzle loading rifles so go easy on me if I’m doing something stupid. A friend heard I was interested in getting into ML so he gave me a T/C Hawken .50 cal that he built from a kit in the mid 70’s (serial number K175xxx). My interest is in shooting patched round ball only for the most part.
I can’t get this SOB to shoot, if it hits anything at 50 yards ”“from a bench- its pure luck and I’m about out of ideas. I’m shooting both 490 and 495 hornady roundballs, the prelubed patches and 3f Goex powder. I’ve tried the patches from .010, .015 and .018 ticking with both sized roundballs. I’ve also tried wetting the patches with moose milk. (which does make it load better after the first shot!) The best I can do, off a bench at 50 yards, is two shots about 2 inches apart, then the third a foot high and the fourth a foot to the right. Mostly I’m shooting 60grs of powder but I’ve tried other loads also. Most all of the patches I’ve found have been trashed ”“ never found a nice pretty one like I see in photos here. I also tried using those wads under the patched ball ”“ I got better patches but not as nice as some of your photos and it still shot poorly.
Now when I first received the rifle I cleaned it pretty well, it had been cleaned and stored correctly, and was a safe queen for the last 25 years so it wasn’t too bad ”“ the barrel looks good and clean with very minor pitting (very minor) I have
I can’t get this SOB to shoot, if it hits anything at 50 yards ”“from a bench- its pure luck and I’m about out of ideas. I’m shooting both 490 and 495 hornady roundballs, the prelubed patches and 3f Goex powder. I’ve tried the patches from .010, .015 and .018 ticking with both sized roundballs. I’ve also tried wetting the patches with moose milk. (which does make it load better after the first shot!) The best I can do, off a bench at 50 yards, is two shots about 2 inches apart, then the third a foot high and the fourth a foot to the right. Mostly I’m shooting 60grs of powder but I’ve tried other loads also. Most all of the patches I’ve found have been trashed ”“ never found a nice pretty one like I see in photos here. I also tried using those wads under the patched ball ”“ I got better patches but not as nice as some of your photos and it still shot poorly.
Now when I first received the rifle I cleaned it pretty well, it had been cleaned and stored correctly, and was a safe queen for the last 25 years so it wasn’t too bad ”“ the barrel looks good and clean with very minor pitting (very minor) I have