my first time out with the .54 Hawkins

[TraprMike]

no pics or vids, not that techy i guess, might get some another time.

ya I think I'll keep the Hawkins.

after much reading on this board the past few months and gathering the stuff i need to go out and shoot. i found the time yesterday to do it. nice weather, healing from broncitis (sp)from the past month..

gun: .54 cal CVA Hawkins i got used a couple months ago
powder; 3F black powder w #11 caps, round balls from Cabelas.

started at the 25 yd mark. loaded 80 gr of bp and patched with bore butter patches. used a 1/2 inch oak dowel as a range rod.

everything shot well. and i even hit the target. after several rounds from 25, moved back to 50. hit the little 8 inch target about half the times. i didn't have a larger backing so unknown where the others went. next time I'll bring a huge piece of cardboard.

at 100 yds, well,, again, without a backer, i have no idea where the rounds went.. moved back to the 25 and 50 rest of the day..
45 rounds total, in about 2 hrs. great day at the range..
collected some lead to eventually use to make my own round bullets.
all in all a good day..
thanks guys for the words of wisdom on this board.
traprmike

 

[jethro224]

:haha: Now that you've smelled the smoke you're a gonner... Hooked for life!

Sounds like you had a good time. It only gets better! :thumbsup:

Be careful using that dowel rod for a rammer. If it has any grain runout and breaks it can stick right in/thru your hand.

 

[aeatwood]

+1 to what Jethro said. I use oak dowels for loading my (5/8") 12-bore Gibbs rifle, and my (3/4") 8-bore trap gun, but you have to pick through the bin for straight grain. I found 3 of each size, and the first one I'm using hasn't broke yet. I would not use anything below 1/2" for loading a muzzle loader, and I wouldn't use even that size for the tight ball/patch combo's I like.

Alan

 

[TraprMike]

correction; using 2F at 80gr.

second time out i brought my 15 year old son. showed him how to load and fire it.

from what I read. this is a solid deer load with round ball... surprised me on recoil, or should say lack of.

tonight I smelted about 5 pounds of range lead and made a couple of ingots for future use in making my own bullets. all over a campfire in the back yard. I have watched many YouTube vid's on this and took all the safety precautions.

on my short list of things to get now is a leather bullet bag. I've been looking and i think this could be my first project to make.

 

[Leatherbark]

If this is not a muzzleloading only range your "Range Lead" will be too hard for muzzleloading balls although they may work.

If you picked up bullets fired from modern handguns they are most likely made from hard lead. When you use this lead in say a .530 round ball mold the balls will be much larger than .530 and lighter too. Your mold is calibrated for lead to to shrink to a certain diameter when it cools. If you use hard lead it does not shrink as much. They will not grip the patch to rifling very well. They will be good for a smoothbore. The hard balls will be harder to load.

Separate out any "bullet" and save what looks like it used to be a ball or maybe a musket mini ball and all should be OK.

Bob

 

[ChrisHarris]

gun: .54 cal CVA Hawken i got used a couple months ago
powder; 3F black powder w #11 caps, round balls from Cabelas.

started at the 25 yd mark. loaded 80 gr of bp and patched with bore butter patches. used a 1/2 inch oak dowel as a range rod.

Lose the bore butter. It's awful for fouling, in my experience. You can buy water soluble cutting oil from Napa Auto in a pint container for about $8. Mix it 10:1 with water. (10oz water/1oz oil)
Recommend you go to the 25yd range and start with 40gr 2F or 3F - which ever you have. Shoot groups of 3 from a bench. Move up to 50gr and shoot another group of 3. Then 60gr.
Starting off at 80gr is assuming a LOT. You might have marched right past the best load for your gun and you don't even know it. Start over. Go slow. Write it down in a notebook.

When I'm shooting at the range, I run a patch down the barrel after every shot. I know some would argue fiercly that I'm doing more work than I need to do. I don't do it so much to remove the fouling -- more to snuff out any embers in the barrel and guarantee shot to shot consistency. My thoughts are that if I swab after each shot - then the next shot goes through the same barrel as the last one. If you shoot 10 times between swabs - then each shot is different and thats no way to sight in a rifle IMO.
Get a tiny 4oz squirt bottle and fill it with windex. I use the cheap stuff from the dollar store. Squirt a couple shots on a patch and use that when you swab and load. The cleaning agents and water in the windex help remove a lot of fouling. I notice a much cleaner barrel when I get home from shooting. Saves time cleaning at the end of the day.
I will shoot about 12 - 15 shots with a swab/loading patch and then toss it away. Grab a fresh one and spray it. Swab after each shot and leave it on the jag for loading too.

45 rounds total, in about 2 hrs. great day at the range..

45 shots in 2hrs is one shot every 2min and 40secs. Thats moving pretty fast. Might slow down a bit.

 

[Adui]

You know, back in the day with the unmentionables that would have meant sleeping for an hour and a half or more to get only 45 rounds down range. Now that I'm in the ML game heavy, I don't think I could put that many down range in two hours!
:hatsoff: to the OP you are a ML shooting machine! (but do slow down a teensy bit. IMO its more fun when you take your time)

 

[Jamie from Alberta]

Its "Hawken" not Hawkins :shake: