Investarm Hawken Carbine Loads?

[DiMarco_Mercantile]

Hello,
I picked up an older .50 Investarm Hawken Carbine manufactured in ‘89 to mess around with. What kind of loads have y’all found the most success? I plan to shoot .490 round balls, and see what patch thickness likes the pitted bore.

 

[Hound]

My investarms loves .490 balls with .018 lubed pillow ticking patches. My target load is 60 grains of 2F and 80 grains for whitetail.

 

[Rock Home Isle]

Those are nice little carbines, great for chasing deer in thick cover. The one I had was very accurate, I regret very much ever selling it. My two grandsons would’ve loved shooting that gun.

Mine was accurate over a wide range of loads.

Target Load: .490 RB, pillow ticking patch, 50 to 60 grains of fffg powder
Hunting Load: .490 RB, pillow ticking patch, 90 grains ffg.
Maxi-Ball: 85 grains ffg, lambs tallow/beeswax lube…stout for such a light gun, intended for 75-80 yrds…hit 2” low

 

[ryoung14]

What's the rifling twist, if you know. I have a 50 Cabela's carbine by Investarms that supposedly has a 1:24 twist. It does quite well using unmentional conicals over about 70 gr Pyrodex RS.

Want to work up a PRB plinking load for it, but have yet to shoot the PRB out of it.

 

[Urban Coyote]

Those are nice little carbines, great for chasing deer in thick cover. The one I had was very accurate, I regret very much ever selling it. My two grandsons would’ve loved shooting that gun.

Mine was accurate over a wide range of loads.

Target Load: .490 RB, pillow ticking patch, 50 to 60 grains of fffg powder
Hunting Load: .490 RB, pillow ticking patch, 90 grains ffg.
Maxi-Ball: 85 grains ffg, lambs tallow/beeswax lube…stout for such a light gun, intended for 75-80 yrds…hit 2” low

I use the same PRB loads, I don't shoot the Max-Ball, in a T/C PA Hunter Carbine 21" barrel.

 

[Rock Home Isle]

I use the same PRB loads, I don't shoot the Max-Ball, in a T/C PA Hunter Carbine 21" barrel.

Yeah…but the report…would be memorable, out of that short barrel

 

[pab1]

No help on your .50 cal @DiMarco_Mercantile but I've been impressed with the accuracy of my .58 cal Cabela's carbine.

The total length of this gun is just under 37 inches with a barrel length of 21 inches. I bought this gun knowing it had some bad pitting in the bore. Its been an accurate gun.

Here's an example of the accuracy of these guns. After playing in the woods in the pic above I stopped at a public range that was a couple miles down the road to "unload" it. When I arrived at the range there was nobody else around. I had planned to just fire the gun at the berm and go but I noticed someone had left a target up at 100 yards. A quick look with my binoculars showed it was a clean target. I figured I might as well unload the gun on it.

As I noted on the target, the bead front sight covered the entire green area at that distance. Not ideal for precise shot placement. I took a quick offhand shot and though I was a little low left, I was happy. Not a range session at all but shots like this, offhand with a clean bore, similar to hunting conditions, definitely build confidence in the gun and load.

I've used my .58 cal carbine with light powder charges to take grouse and snowshoe hare with a patched round ball.

 

[DiMarco_Mercantile]

What's the rifling twist, if you know. I have a 50 Cabela's carbine by Investarms that supposedly has a 1:24 twist. It does quite well using unmentional conicals over about 70 gr Pyrodex RS.

Want to work up a PRB plinking load for it, but have yet to shoot the PRB out of it.

Unfortunately I’m not too sure, I haven’t had much luck looking for info on it.

 

[pab1]

Unfortunately I’m not too sure, I haven’t had much luck looking for info on it.

I believe they are 1:48 twist. You can easily check it with a ramrod.

 

[Grenadier1758]

@DiMarco_Mercantile, checking on the Investarms Web Site, I find the specifications for their 120B rifle (Basically the Investarms Hawken Rifle) to show a twist of 1 in48".

https://www.investarm.com/en/muzzle-loading-rifle-120b.html

 

[DiMarco_Mercantile]

@DiMarco_Mercantile, checking on the Investarms Web Site, I find the specifications for their 120B rifle (Basically the Investarms Hawken Rifle) to show a twist of 1 in48".

https://www.investarm.com/en/muzzle-loading-rifle-120b.html

Thank you, I appreciate it.

 

[bang]

60-80 grains a good range of loads for a PRB.