Load for T/C Cherokee

[Longbow68]

Any 45 cal. Cherokee owners out there?If so,I'd like to know what load your shooting(preferably conicals)so I have a good starting point on bullet/powder weight.It kills my billfold to go buy several different boxes of bullets just to have them end up on the shelf.Thanks.Chris

 

[roundball]

I experimented with TC .45cal/255grn Maxi-Hunters in TC 1:48" barrels and their accuracy was outstanding...80/90/100grns Goex 2F in their Hawken barrels.

TC's load manual (tcarms.com) lists 60/70/80grns Goex 2F in the thinner/lighter Cherokee/Seneca barrels

 

[Longbow68]

Thanks RB.I was out shooting it the other day and had it waddin' them up at 25yds.Well,I went back the following day(squeeky clean bore)and backed up to 50yds and started spraying them all over the place.I was cleaning after every shot so I could adjust my sights.I finally put it away before getting discouraged.The load was a 255grn. Maxi-H unter setting on 60grns. FFFgoex.I am wondering if it's creating to much pressure with that combo.What do you folks think?Thanks.Chris

 

[roundball]

Thanks RB.I was out shooting it the other day and had it waddin' them up at 25yds.Well,I went back the following day(squeeky clean bore)and backed up to 50yds and started spraying them all over the place.I was cleaning after every shot so I could adjust my sights.I finally put it away before getting discouraged.The load was a 255grn. Maxi-H unter setting on 60grns. FFFgoex.I am wondering if it's creating to much pressure with that combo.What do you folks think?Thanks.Chris

If you have 2F you could try some...but I'd also try 70grns, 80grns of what you have.

Seems odd they would go from a single hole 25yd situation to spraying everywhere in the next 25yds.

If you have any Oxyoke wads to put over the powder try that...if not, seat a lubed patch down over the powder, then seat the conical down on top...all in an effort to serve as a firewall and improve shot to shot consistency...OP wads always tightened groups some for me.

Also, if the conicals were not heavily lubed you might be having leading build up

 

[Longbow68]

RB,I forgot to mention I was using ox-yoke(pre-lubed)wads and heavily lubed bullets with a combo of beeswax and olive oil.The fouling pulled out real good in between shots. :hmm: Thanks.Chris

p.s.This little gun kicks like a rabid mule off the bench.

 

[roundball]

That relatively short light 13/16" barrel...

The heavier Hawken model tames that down...I think I read somewhere that the Cherokee/Seneca models were originally .32/.36cal only, then later a .45cal barrel became available, and I always heard what you said... that .45cal hunting loads were a bear in them.

Well, maybe you were just off your game the second trip to the range...it happens...give it another go next weekend

 

[Zonie]

Well, I know the original post was about conicals but just maybe that Cherokee would rather be shooting roundballs?

A .440 or .445 diameter roundball is a lot cheaper to shoot than the bullets folks buy and although its 128 grain weight may seem light it will be more than enough for a deer out to 80 yards.
It also won't kick like a mule when it is shot.

 

[lonedave]

I've used the 255 gr. maxi-hunters in my Seneca, but I haven't really ever used them in my Cherokee. I use 70 gr of ffg and it'll keep a pretty good group out at 50 yards plus some. I cast my own with a T/C maxi-hunter mold, but I have several packages of T/C cast maxi-hunters that I can't get to work at all. They do as you say and pretty much spray all over. Thay are also noticably harder to start (very much so), so I believe they are a bit different in diameter. I can shoot 5 of them and get no group, but shoot 5 of mine and the groups tighten right up.

The other thing you might do is start playing around with your charges a bit in say 5 grain or smaller changes. You may find a sweet spot. I stay at 70 grains max even though the T/C manual says 90 grains maximum. I've seen too many Seneca and Cherokee stocks with splits near the lock and wrist and I'd hate to crack mine with too high a load. I've killed 2 mulie bucks at about 40 - 45 yards each with mine and though neither bullet went clear though, they were pretty clean kills.

Don't forget to try round balls too. They seem to shoot really well and kill well too. You do need to keep your shots a bit closer and put the ball right behind the shoulder, but the one mulie doe I've shot with it dropped like a rock using a pretty light load of 50 gr of ffg.

Keep after it, you'll find the right recipe.

 

[Russ T Frizzen]

I'm not sure about the Cherokee, but the Seneca was available as a .45 right from the start. I have a .45 Seneca that I bought new right after T/C introduced them, and it has a low four digit number. It handles ball or Maxis equally well.

 

[xxgrampa]

greetings longbow,

a lot of the pre cast maxies were junk. don't know who cast them for tc. but, they were no good.

look back in the archives. don't think anyone had good results with them..

..ttfn..grampa..

PS.. howsomever, if you cast your own, they did pretty good...

 

[roundball]

I'm not sure about the Cherokee, but the Seneca was available as a .45 right from the start. I have a .45 Seneca that I bought new right after T/C introduced them, and it has a low four digit number. It handles ball or Maxis equally well.

I stand corrected...I was remembering things wrong...the Seneca came out first in .36 & .45cals

Then the Cherokee appeared a few years later in the 1984 catalog, in .32 & .45cals

 

[410-er]

These are small framed guns.I only hope I never crack that stock.I enjoy mine and not going over 55grs of FFFg with a RB and YES it kills deer. :grin:
If I think I need more snuff,I'll get the standard 45 TC Hakens out.Its built heavier. :thumbsup:

 

[dick rankin]

We have a .45 Seneca and have shot only RB in it. Usually shoot .440 ball and 65gr for deer and we've shot several with this load, probably none over 50yds though. Seems to be4 pretty accurate. Once I loaded it for my wife as we were in a bit of a hurry to get out of the house. When she got to her stand she re-loaded it again. So, powder, ball, powder and ball again. Shot a deer with it that morning too but I turned white as the snow when she told me she had loaded it after reaching her stand. I guess everything turned out ok but sure will never do this again. Sorry, no experience with a bullet in this gun.

 

[Longbow68]

Thanks for the tips,fellas.The stock on my cherokee had previously been cracked through the lock bolt down to the wrist.I have since glass bedded the stock and refinished the entire rifle.So far it seems to be holding together good.

I think I will take you folks advice and try some RB's.I used to shoot them years ago in an old Hawken rifle and they were tack drivers.Thanks again.Chris

 

[Russ T Frizzen]

You have to read the grain in these stocks--through the wrist and lock area. These are some of the sweetest production guns ever made, but with production guns it's difficult to have every stock run as it should. Any degree of musket grain in the wrist of these rifles is apt to fracture even with moderate loads. And the wrist and lock area is incredibly delicate on these guns anyway. If there's any runout, I would stay with patched ball and 60-70 grains of powder.

 

[Rat Trapper]

My Seneca likes .440 balls better than maxi hunters. In my TC Hawken rifles the Horanday great plains bullets have always out shot the TC maxi balls or maxi hunters. With 70 grains of 2F GOEX, Lehigh valley patch lube, and a .440 Hornaday round ball will group under an inch at 50 yds.