T/C Seneca 36 caliber

[PARidgeRunner]

I have been thinking of buying a 36 caliber percussion rifle. Any thoughts and opinions about the T/C Seneca as a squirrel gun? Are patches and balls hard to come by?

 

[deermanok]

Round balls and patches are the easiest parts to find. Lol

 

[Gtrubicon]

I have a TC Cherokee in 36, very similar to the Seneca. It’s very accurate at the distance I practice at, 50ft. That’s about the distance I can shoot squirrels at. It’s very effective as a caliber for small game. My gun likes 20 grains of 3f.

 

[PARidgeRunner]

I have a TC Cherokee in 36, very similar to the Seneca. It’s very accurate at the distance I practice at, 50ft. That’s about the distance I can shoot squirrels at. It’s very effective as a caliber for small game. My gun likes 20 grains of 3f.

Thanks so much for your response. You mentioned "50 ft" as the distance you shoot which is about 16 yards. What would you say is the ultimate range of the gun?

 

[Indy Durtdigger]

I've taken rabbits cleanly out to 50 paces with my Cherokee 32 cal. That thing is one of the most accurate little muzzleloaders I have. I also have a 45 cal barrel for it that makes it one of the handiest deer rifles for close in woods hunts I own.

 

[user 31257]

The Senecas are great little rifles, I much prefer them to the Cherokee though I have more Cherokees.

 

[flntlokr]

Thanks so much for your response. You mentioned "50 ft" as the distance you shoot which is about 16 yards. What would you say is the ultimate range of the gun?

i have nailed squirrels out to almost 100 yd with mine. I use an old 30-30 brass as a powder measure; not sure about true weight . FFF. Very accurate little rifle. In the safe now, as I built myself a long rifle in .40 and flint. Waiting for the grandson to get big enough to start shooting.

 

[Gtrubicon]

Thanks so much for your response. You mentioned "50 ft" as the distance you shoot which is about 16 yards. What would you say is the ultimate range of the gun?

No, that’s my squirrel range, I routinely can shoot clay pigeons at my range off hand at 75 yards, 40 grains fff black powder. I call it the 22-250 of muzzleloaders

 

[Bill Bryan]

I've had a .45 cal Seneca since I bought it new in 1972. A couple of years ago a saw a .36 cal barrel on sail on EBAY and bought it. I love both. Patch cloth from Hobby Lobby is easy and casting your own balls is fun. Bill

 

[mushka]

I have a .36 cal Seneca and it is an ideal small game rifle. Tree top squirrels are toast and rabbits to 50 yards are too. It's a short range rifle, 20 grns 3F and a .350prb is my load.

 

[ETipp]

Ya know, I plainly remember way back when TC was building the Seneca and they were plentiful. Being young and dumb I never gave them the first consideration. Now I would just about sell a kidney to buy a good one, if one can even be found.

 

[PARidgeRunner]

Yup, they are not easy to find. Fortunately, I stumbled onto .36 Seneca that is in almost mint condition and I bought it before the owner changed his mind. It didn't cost a kidney but almost an arm and a leg. lol.

 

[Flint Striker]

If you check out Midway and Natchez, both have recently had some Hornady round balls on great sales. Might be worth a look if you definitely have a Seneca lined up to buy.

 

[hanshi]

The .36 makes a fine small game rifle that can tackle varmints up to bobcat size. I used a .32 for years but like my .36 a bit more.

 

[GregK]

I have a 45 seneca, saw a 36 for sale on another forum and was tempted but he's asking $650, I paid $500 for mine and thought that was high.

 

[user 31257]

I’m not sure about now because I’m mostly out of the market , but a few years ago it was pretty easy to find .45 Senecas in nice shape for $400ish, 36’s more like $600, I wouldn’t consider $650 for a nice .36 out of line.

 

[PARidgeRunner]

If you check out Midway and Natchez, both have recently had some Hornady round balls on great sales. Might be worth a look if you definitely have a Seneca lined up to buy.

Thanks so much for the tip, I will definitely check them out!

 

[smoothshooter]

i have nailed squirrels out to almost 100 yd with mine. I use an old 30-30 brass as a powder measure; not sure about true weight . FFF. Very accurate little rifle. In the safe now, as I built myself a long rifle in .40 and flint. Waiting for the grandson to get big enough to start shooting.

A .30/30 case full of powder would be a heck of anstout load for a .36.
Don’t know how much that would weigh, but it would have to be a lot.

 

[Dale Allen Raby]

I've got a Seneca in .36 and a Cherokee in .32. Both handle squirrels fine out to about thirty yards. Beyond that range, you can hardly see a squirrel's kill zone, let alone actually hit it... unless you got young eyes.

You won't likely find either .310 or .350 round balls on any shelf in the local gun shops. Just not enough demand to justify a small business stocking them.... not even larger chain stores for that matter. You'll have to order from Dixie, Track or somebody else. You can also cast them. Oh for the days when I worked at a gun shop that stocked all that stuff!

The bigger issue is parts. S&W bought out T/C some years back and they no longer honor the warranty on the older guns from pre-takeover days. They don't supply parts at any price either, so you gotta either make/repair your own parts when they break or keep extra guns around for parts scrounging. Some of the parts in those locks are pretty complex. That said, they don't seem to break very often. I've had my Cherokee for over twenty years and the Seneca for about ten. I had to work a sear engagement on the Cherokee once about ten years ago and I got a crack starting out in the Seneca. Neither repair is especially difficult.

True story about my Cherokee:

I was working at Olson Sales, a local gun shop just outside of Green Bay, Wisconsin. A man brought me a chunk of wood with a rusty piece of iron attached to it. He claimed it was a gun, but I had my doubts. Eventually we struck a deal and I then purchased the piece of junk from the boss for well under a hundred dollars as near as I can recall.

I sent the gun back to T/C under warranty to have the broken hammer replaced. It came back with a new hammer. It had also been refinished... except for the stock, which wasn't all that bad anyway. I dunno what they did to the bore, but it seemed much better than it had been when I sent it out.

As I was not the original owner and the gun was at that time probably fifteen years old, I fully expected a hefty repair bill. No charge. All expenses covered under warranty. You just don't see customer service like that anymore!

All in all, I would absolutely recommend either a Cherokee or a Seneca as a small game/target rifle. There isn't much out there these days to compare them to.

 

[user 31257]

A .30/30 case full of powder would be a heck of anstout load for a .36.
Don’t know how much that would weigh, but it would have to be a lot.

A 30-30 case will hold 42 grains of BP according to a list that’s available somewhere on this site or possibly the sister site.