renegade .56

[taylorh]

Hello yall,
I just wanted to share the joy I'm having with my new smoothie. I am fairly new to black powder shooting. Recently while at a gun show I picked up a new-in-box renegade .56 smoothbore for $100.00 because it was an 'odd' caliber and no one wanted it. I guess everyone wants a rifled bore. Being curious, I bought it as my first muzzleloader. What a deal! I found the bore to be exactly .550 (not .56) too large for plastic shot-cups (which fit in a plastic shell), but perfectly sized for 28 gauge over powder cards and wads from circle fly. I use a 24 guage card for over the shot. Currently I'm very satisfied with using 70g (1 ounce) shot and 70g pyrodex. If any of you can suggest a 28 gauge buck load I'd be interested. For ball I use either hornady or speer's swagged .535 ball and ox-yoke .018 patch lubed with tc butter bore lube over 80g pyrodex. The balls fit tight, but as long as I use the lubed patches I can shoot all day without fouling, great stuff! For accuracy, I can hit a mailbox off-hand all day at 50 yards. If any of you have used the renegade .56 smoothbore I'd like to hear of your success or failures, especially concerning loads.

 

[SCATTERSHOT]

I had one, and I found that it shot very well with .535 balls, blue jean patching, and 90 gr. FFg. The patched ball was a VERY tight fit, but I got 1 1/2" groups with it. Great gun. I had mine rebored and rifled to .58 cal in a fit of foolishness. Wish I hadn't now.

Congratulations on your find, and good luck with it. :thumbsup:

 

[roundball]

I had one and liked it a lot...I used .550 size Warren Cast balls and it was extremely accurate at 50yds, the only distance I tried it at...70grns Goex 3F and 80grns Goex 2F, Oxyoke overpowder wad, .015" prelubed patch...had to give the short starter a sharp smack with the palm of my hand to start it but it was very accurate.
But I already had a good .54cal rifle, plus was transitioning to Flintlocks about that time, and ultimately sold it, and got a .62cal(.20ga) Flint smoothbore barrel instead.

The .56cal is a .28ga and uses .28ga wads...since it's a strong, thick 1" barrel, you can use much larger shot charges that an ounce...I bought "Hunter Packs" of wads from:

Flintlocks, Inc.
John G. Eder
Nineveh, IN, 46164
317-933-3441

A "Hunter Packs" = 100 sets of three wads:
100-Over Powder cards
100-Over Powder cushion wads
100-Over Shot cards
$6.00 / Hunter Pack

 

[taylorh]

Wish I had known about those hunter packs before, circle-fly only sells by the 500-1000. That can get expensive if your experimenting. Thanks

 

[taylorh]

Just one more thing that might be of use to some of you. I replaced the tc sights (not very pretty or authentic) with a set of callifornia sights. All I had to do was blue them and grind down the front sight dovetail just a tad. They fit and work fine. I'm very pleased.

 

I can hit a mailbox off-hand all day

Does'nt the Mailman complain. :crackup: Bill

 

[adkmountainken]

i have a T.C. 56. cal named "Ole bob " that i love. killed a nice jake with it at about 9 yards and knocked a few feathers out of a huge tom at around 30 yards. know its limits and you will be fine. it was a hard lesson learned on that big long beard but a lesson learned it was!! i will keep all shots under 20 yards with the 56. and be as patient as i can for the ole long beard to take a few steps closer. round ball shoots excellent out to 30 yards, very tight group. however just after 30 it really starts opening up. try alot of different loads and see what works for you. here is a pic of the jake i tokk with "Ole Bob"

 

[taylorh]

Hey thanks for the pic, nice bird! I have had similar results as yourself with the gun, and am very satisfied. Using a 1 oz load with 70 grains of powder (7 1/2 shot) I can still put several pellets through a can at 30 yards. I think this would be acceptable for doves etc... Using .535 swagged balls and .018 ox yoke wads gives me the confidence to shoot as far out as 75 yards, if the target is a 5 gallon bucket. ::

 

[arcticap]

If you are interested in experimenting a little, these folks have round balls listed as .56 caliber, but I think they may actually be .550, just ask them.

http://blackjackhill.com/

 

[taylorh]

Hey thanks for the heads-up on the .550 balls. I'm betting the're a real tight fit. I'll try some and report back to you later.
:RO:

 

[rudy parnell]

I have just purchased the very same tc 56 cal. and i'm very glad to gain your wisdom and experience in this area. I had hoped to shoot chilled shot from the piece and have had very little to go on. I was in the process of interpelating ballistics and load data from very general information i found in blackpower magazine. Where in the world do you get the ball from....can't get tc arms to hardly acknowledge that they ever made the gun....mine is serial number 250899 and i got it at the big flea market in Hillsville,Virginia this weekend....labor day. It's in good condition but has some pitting around the charge or spark hole and along the barrel in that area. What do you recommend hunting with load that you have described and are you using musket caps or #ll caps?

 

[roundball]

I have just purchased the very same tc 56 cal. and i'm very glad to gain your wisdom and experience in this area. I had hoped to shoot chilled shot from the piece and have had very little to go on. I was in the process of interpelating ballistics and load data from very general information i found in blackpower magazine. Where in the world do you get the ball from....can't get tc arms to hardly acknowledge that they ever made the gun....mine is serial number 250899 and i got it at the big flea market in Hillsville,Virginia this weekend....labor day. It's in good condition but has some pitting around the charge or spark hole and along the barrel in that area. What do you recommend hunting with load that you have described and are you using musket caps or #ll caps?

I used "Warren .550 spruless balls" in mine, very accurate...70grns Goex 3F, oxyoke wonderwad, .015" prelubed patch...October Country carry them, and others I'm sure

 

[rudy parnell]

Roundball, I have been unable to find a website or internet address for Flintlock Inc. I want to know if they also carry the round ball in .550 that has been reported to do so well. I am interested to make all the purchases at one store and perhaps get a discount on the shipping. You might be interested to learn that I phoned ,Carolina Hunter, a gunshop in my area and Larry stated, " that in 30 years of business, he had never had a request for 28ga. shot wad and overshot cards for such." I just smiled to myself and figured quietly that I must really be on the trail of something good. I am getting anxious to place my order and begin to wait for the day when my shooting supplies will arrive. People in the hills around where I live are starting to talk about hard times coming....I intend to get my share of the squirrels and make up a big pot of squirrelguinna gumbo...my own special recipe. You're welcome!

 

[roundball]

Roundball, I have been unable to find a website or internet address for Flintlock Inc. I want to know if they also carry the round ball in .550 that has been reported to do so well. I am interested to make all the purchases at one store and perhaps get a discount on the shipping. You might be interested to learn that I phoned ,Carolina Hunter, a gunshop in my area and Larry stated, " that in 30 years of business, he had never had a request for 28ga. shot wad and overshot cards for such." I just smiled to myself and figured quietly that I must really be on the trail of something good. I am getting anxious to place my order and begin to wait for the day when my shooting supplies will arrive. People in the hills around where I live are starting to talk about hard times coming....I intend to get my share of the squirrels and make up a big pot of squirrelguinna gumbo...my own special recipe. You're welcome!

Rudy, I'll send you that contact info tonight when I get[url] home...in[/url] the meantime, you can contact John & Linda at October Country...they carry the warren balls and I believe .28ga wads sets also or they can certainly get them...
(Flintlock, Inc did not carry Warren balls when I was playing with the .56cal)

 

[musketman]

Roundball, send it to me as well and I will add it to our links section... :thumbsup:

 

[hwalker]

I have a stock of the 28 ga wads and cards that I got from Track of the Wolf. PM me if you would like some to play with, until you can locate a supply of your own. I think I still have some of the 550 balls, too.

 

[roundball]

Roundball, I have been unable to find a website or internet address for Flintlock Inc. I want to know if they also carry the round ball in .550 that has been reported to do so well. I am interested to make all the purchases at one store and perhaps get a discount on the shipping. You might be interested to learn that I phoned ,Carolina Hunter, a gunshop in my area and Larry stated, " that in 30 years of business, he had never had a request for 28ga. shot wad and overshot cards for such." I just smiled to myself and figured quietly that I must really be on the trail of something good. I am getting anxious to place my order and begin to wait for the day when my shooting supplies will arrive. People in the hills around where I live are starting to talk about hard times coming....I intend to get my share of the squirrels and make up a big pot of squirrelguinna gumbo...my own special recipe. You're welcome!

Flintlocks, Inc.
John G. Eder
Nineveh, IN, 46164
317-933-3441

"Hunter Packs" = Qty 100 sets of three wads:
100-Over Powder cards
100-Over Powder cushion wads
100-Over Shot cards
$6.00 / Hunter Pack

 

[taylorh]

Hey Smoothbore,
I haven't tried any of the .550 balls yet, but if you read my .535 load data I think you will be satisfied with the results. I've been getting round six inch groups at 50 yards, offhand. Also Dixie Gunworks has the .18 dry oxyoke patches in stock. One nice thing about the thicker wads is you won't burn through. Just lube them up with some of T/Cs natural lube and you can shoot all day without a cleanup. They are also a tight fit as is. I recently saw two of these barrels on ebay and they sold for about $65.00. Kind of wish I had bought one for a project gun

 

[rudy parnell]

Texan, I took the tc/56 down to the local gunshop today and a couple of the fellars confirmed the bore size to be .568 with a micrometer. The gauge tool went in also and it is bigger than a 20ga. full choke. Realize that a 20ga. is .620, I think. I'm wondering if 20ga. cards and wads won't get it done? And finally, no doubt you can hit the bucket with your 54cal. but, think you'd do better with the .550 ball. But, there I go....thinking again. Preciate all you guys in the forum...this has added greatly to my overall enjoyment of the sport. Thanks! everybody.

 

[rudy parnell]

Roundball, I appreciate your help on this. Thanks.