Renegade barrel

[Omega218r]

Hi all

I have an early .54 cal Renegade percussion barrel that is pitted and am trying to figure out what to do with it.

Here are the options considered:

Have it bored out to .58 cal for round ball

Have it bored and lined to .54 cal for roundball

Have it bored and lined to .50 cal for conicals since there are more options available in .50 cal

Your thoughts?

 

[Treestalker]

You might bore it to smoothbore .54-.62 cal and use it for a shotgun barrel, you can then interchange it with a rifled barrel on the Renegade, or just build a nice 1/2 stock shotgun out of it. You could even turn the barrel 1/2 round to lighten it.

 

[Howie1968]

I have 2 of my renegades bored to .58 1-66 n one of them and .58 1-48 it shoots great with tracks 600 gr maxi the rb is awesome as well

 

[nkbj]

When you have it rebored for round ball there's no reason to make it a round ball only barrel.
Five groove .58 caliber with a 48" twist is what the British P-58 (1858 model) became renown for. So, why not have Mr. Hoyt duplicate that progressive depth rifling that was so very wonderfully accurate? It would shoot round ball great. It would shoot hollow bases and plain bases great. What's not to like?

 

[nkbj]

Uh oh. Maybe I just talked myself into a .58 New Englander!

 

[Omega218r]

When you have it rebored for round ball there's no reason to make it a round ball only barrel.
Five groove .58 caliber with a 48" twist is what the British P-58 (1858 model) became renown for. So, why not have Mr. Hoyt duplicate that progressive depth rifling that was so very wonderfully accurate? It would shoot round ball great. It would shoot hollow bases and plain bases great. What's not to like?

Hmm that gives me a lot to think about

 

[renegadehunter]

Get what you need for what you prefer to do with a muzzleloader. What is the majority of your shooting?
I'm kind of cheap...oh, I mean thrifty...so I'd go with a .50 or .54 over a .58 just to save on powder needed per shot.
In your shoes my choice dilemma would be between sending it to Mr. Hoyt to be lined so it could stay a .54 but with a better RB twist (99% of my preferred shooting), OR to bite the bullet and just order a brand new GM barrel from TOTW in a .54 1:66 twist for RB and then send the old barrel to Mr. Hoyt to be bored out to a .62 smooth so I'd be able to do some BP turkey hunting too.