Question on re-boring a barrel

[Bucky182]

I am thinking of having my Renegade stock .50 re-bored to a .54 but in a twist more suitable to patch and round ball by Mr. Hoyt. Have any of you had this done and if so does your rifle shoot the PRB better? What twist did you but in it? I am looking for a flintlock that will shoot the PRB as well as I can make it shoot for deer hunting. Realistically I am looking at open sight shoots at 100 yards or less. Any and all help would be appreciated.

 

[Sidney Smith]

Why not just stick with the .50? It's probably got a 1/48 twist now which is perfectly adequate for round balls as well as conicals. And a .50 cal will drop deer in their tracks of hit in the right spot.

 

[SDSmlf]

I have a couple of Bobby Hoyt rebored TC Renegade barrels. Both 58 caliber, radius bottom rifling, 1-60 twist (per Mr. Hoyt’s suggestion), one flint, one percussion. Both are ‘tack drivers’ and have been my go to hunting guns for a number years now.

If you use Bobby for a rebore, tell him what you are doing and ask what does he suggest.m

And for what it is worth, both barrels were sewer pipes before rebore. Doubt I would do it to a barrel with a good bore.

 

[Bad Karma]

I am thinking of having my Renegade stock .50 re-bored to a .54 but in a twist more suitable to patch and round ball by Mr. Hoyt. Have any of you had this done and if so does your rifle shoot the PRB better? What twist did you but in it? I am looking for a flintlock that will shoot the PRB as well as I can make it shoot for deer hunting. Realistically I am looking at open sight shoots at 100 yards or less. Any and all help would be appreciated.

I’ve got a Hoyt rebored .54 that started life as a .50 caliber T/C Hawken... it’s just as sweet a shooter as you’re likely to be lucky enough to own. It’s a round bottom rifled 1 in 60 and it will handle lighter conical bullet like the old Ball-ets just fine but I’ve settled on a .535 ball with .010 linen patch dry lubed over 60-80 grains of Swiss ff or fffg lit by a #11 Remington cap.
I like it so much that I recently bought a White Mountain Carbine, (200 shipped!) and I’ll be sending it away for the same treatment unless it really surprises me in the factory .50 configuration.

“Why not stick with the .50?”

For my part I use these rifles for everything from rabbits to moose and the .54 is just better for all of the above.

 

[Rat]

And a .54 is lighter than a .50".

 

[bang]

4/100 is really not much. You can get similar energy of a .54 with a .50. If you are having accuracy issues you might just need to refurbish the barrel. I just did a .45 and a .50 and got markedly improved accuracy.

 

[BIGBEAR]

I had a badly pitted TC Hawken.50 - rebore by Bobby Hoyt to .54 1/60 - great job .

 

[nit wit]

Bobby Hoyt is the Man!
Nit Wit

 

[Grimord]

Bobby has re-bored a T/C .50 flint barrel to .58, and a Browning Mountain rifle .50 caliber to .58. his work is excellent. Both barrels have 1:66 round bottom twist, and both will keep .575 balls in a 1.5" group (from the bench) at 60 Yards. My personal hunting limit distance is 75 yards, mostly because I don't see the open sights too good beyond that and the fact that I hunt in heavy laurel where seeing a deer beyond 50 yards is near impossible.