Suggested Charge?

[Muzzy73]

I've recently begun shooting a .50 cal TC Hawken after years away from BP rifles. My father had always measured the powder and prepared "speed loads." I found his old gear and a measure was in his possibles bag. It appears to be marked at 75 grains but not sure. Does anyone have a suggested load for a patched round ball for hunting whitetail? That and any other help would be appreciated. :thumbsup:

 

[nchawkeye]

Anywhere from 75-100 will do the job...See what the gun likes the best...Good Luck...

 

[roundball]

I've recently begun shooting a .50 cal TC Hawken after years away from BP rifles. My father had always measured the powder and prepared "speed loads." I found his old gear and a measure was in his possibles bag. It appears to be marked at 75 grains but not sure. Does anyone have a suggested load for a patched round ball for hunting whitetail? That and any other help would be appreciated. :thumbsup:

That should work assuming you keep reasonable distances in mind...it's just below the halfway mark in TC's load data chart which goes up to 110grns for a .50cal PRB.

If you don't have one, call TC's customer service and they'll mail an owner's manual to you for free.

 

[paulvallandigham]

You don't tell us the barrel length, but you should know in advance that there is a maximum amount of pwoder you can burn in a barrel shooting a PRB. The formula is 11.5 grains per square inch of bore. If you have a 36 inch barrel on that gun, the maximum charge you can burn is going to be 81 grains of 2Fg powder. If you shoot 3Fg, you might be able to burn a little more since it has a higher burning rate. However, 3Fg also has some pressure spikes that screw up accuracy, so be nice to the gun. I suspect that the 75 grain charge is going to be very close to what that gun likes.

Do some penetration tests, shooting a " target " load, and a huge "hunting " load. I did tests with my .50 using both a 65 grain "target load ", and a 100 grain " Hunting load ". Both round ball penetrated the same number of pine boards. I settled on a 75 grain charge simply because it seems to be the most consistently accurate load in my gun at 100 yds. My barrel is 39 inches long, and has a 1:48 ROT, just like yours.

I do not tell anyone that this particular load will be ideal in their gun. Barrel are different, and they can be fussy about the loads they like. I worked with both 3Fg, and with 2Fg powder before settling on 2Fg for this gun. I don't have any trouble, as some others here report, with it getting more dirty in the barrel than using 3Fg. My gun is a flintlock, which changes how the pressure rises in the chamber. With a percussion action, it helps to compress the load consistently for each shot. With a flintlock compression works against quick igntion and a fast rise in chamber pressure for consistent velocity and POI on the target. I pour my powder into my flint lock with the barrel canted so it slides down the barrel and doesn't drop, and compact from the fall. I run my PRB down to a mark on my loading rod, where the ball just touches the powder, but does not crush it, and compact it. That seems to give me consistently uniform velocities and POI on target.

 

[Padre]

I've read Mark Baker's load is 50 grains (3F I think). He says he has taken deer, amongst other animals, with that load. Is that a little on the light side, or would that be similar to what the old timers used, or maybe that is the most accurate load for his rifle? He obviously is very experienced and I enjoy reading his books!
Regards,
Padre

 

[paulvallandigham]

A pure lead ball does not depend on speed for expansion, nor for penetration. It is a fine killer of deer even at modest velocities. Since most deer are shot at less than 50 yds( all of mine to date) even a so-called " target load " will do the job. That is why I have advised people to do penetration testing with their guns.

Most of us came to BLack Powder shooting from shooting modern guns. There more speed is generally better for penetration, and for tissue destruction. But the bullets we use are very small, and even those designed to expand don't expand very much when compared to the diameter of a lead ball or its expanded size after the kill.

Different systems= different rules. But, you still find the advertisers telling people that more is better. It isn't always so.

Paul

 

[roundball]

I've read Mark Baker's load is 50 grains (3F I think). He says he has taken deer, amongst other animals, with that load. Is that a little on the light side, or would that be similar to what the old timers used, or maybe that is the most accurate load for his rifle? He obviously is very experienced and I enjoy reading his books!
Regards,
Padre

IMO, yes, that's a little on the light side as a general purpose powder charge for deer hunting.

One of the problems with some of these out of the ordinary recommendations is that they usually lack qualifying information...what were the hunting conditions, what were the distances, how many times did this actually occur, etc.

For example, I can make the folowing claim:
I've killed multiple deer with my .45cal Flintlock and a 40grn charge of Goex 3F with a Hornady .440 patched ball...100% true statement.

But, the qualifiers are, I was sitting on an Oak ridge squirrel hunting with that light load a few afternoons, one fall a couple years ago, and in addition to the occasional squirrel a Doe wandered through at 20 yards, shot her in the heart and she fell 35 yards away...couple afternoons later, I'll be darned if a 5 pointer came through on the same trail, shot him in the heart and he also fell within sight.

But I would never even hint that a 40grn charge of Goex 3F was a general purpose deer hunting load.

If all my deer hunting was done while squirrel hunting and I only took a heart shot at a standing broadside view of a relaxed deer at no more than 20 yards, 40grns would be OK.

But that's not general purpose deer hunting...so when I deer hunt I prepare for the worse case scenario...a max distance shot, the ball hitting heavy bone, etc...so I use max or near max powder charges...ie: 90grns Goex 3f.

 

[justafeedboy]

I have a t/c renegade 50 cal 90g of ff is my hunting load

 

[captaincaveman]

my deer load in my .50 T/C is 90gr 3f, a .490 ball, and prelubed T/C piller tickin

Josh