T Renegade

[grottorian]

My friend gave me a Thompson Renegade 50 cal. . Can I shoot round balls in it without messing up the twist? How do I tell what the twist of the barrel is?

 

[mykeal]

Shooting prb's in your Renegade will not do any damage to the twist or anything else.

To determine rate of twist:
Put a cleaning jag of the proper caliber for your gun on a ramrod. Place a lightly oiled cleaning patch centered over the muzzle and drive it down to the breech end of the bore. The patch should be a tight fit, so you might want to use two if they're thin. Also, this is easier if the rod has a 'T' handle. It can be done with a round handle, but it will be a bit more difficult as you must count rotations of the rod.

With the rod fully bottomed out, mark the rod with a pen or piece of tape at the point where it enters the muzzle. Then slowly extract the rod, allowing it to turn as it comes out. Observe the handle position (if it's a round handle you might want to also mark it so you can tell how far it rotates). When the handle has made a 180 degree rotation (1/2 full turn) mark the point on the rod where now enters the muzzle. Measure the distance (in inches) between the marks on the rod.

The rate of twist is 1 in (two times the distance between the marks).

 

[worker11811]

You should be able to shoot the flies off a cow's a$$ with that gun! :grin:

I've only been playing this game since last Christmas. If I put the gun down on a sand bag and shoot off the bench and buckle down real carefully, I can shoot 1-1/2 inch groups from 50 yds. using a patch and round ball. Once I get enough practice with that gun I have every confidence that I will be able to do even better.

Don't let anybody tell you any garbage about PRBs being less accurate or any such bull!

 

[kevthebassman]

Most likely it's going to have a 1:48 twist, that's the factory standard for TC guns, and it's what my .50 Renegade is. With mild loads you should be able to get great accuracy with a patched round ball, I would recommend using a tight combo, you might even special order some .495 balls, as most stores only carry .490 for the most part. The TC has shallow rifling to make better use of conicals like the Maxi-ball.

With round ball or conical the Renegade should easily be "minute of venison" out to 125 yards.

 

[MSW]

my well used and much loved Renegade is a 1:48 twist. originally designed for conicals (and a thingy called REAL- Rifling Engraved at Loading, a conical with bands on it which is fired without a patch) this was said to be the next best thing for deer in the newly established ML season dusing the '60s and '70s... that's right, sonny, long ago when men were men and when giants walked the earth...

being an inveterate cheapskate, i tried PRB in mine and, although the barrel's rate of twist is something of a compromise between PRB and conical, the PRBs work fine. i don't think i've launched a conical in the last two decades.

there is a 'sweet spot' where the rate of twist, the weight of the projectile and the muzzle velocity and the speed of the ball's spin all form some sort of cool harmonic, and you get the smallest groups. (Avagadro's number and the phase of the moon are probably in this equation somewhere, too: my math isn't strong enough to cope with more than about a half dozen variables). anyway, when you find this 'sweet spot,' your groups will tighten and if you use a smaller or heavier charge, they will open back up. i have read that if you have a slower rate of twist, your sweet spot will be bigger, and you will have a greater range of possible loadings. my 1:48 twist barrel doesn't like more than about three to five grains more or less, but i've neen told that so- called "roundball barrels" with twist rates as slow as 1:72, will let you get away with a variance of eight to ten grains and still pattern well. i haven't any personal experience with this, so take heresay with a grain of salt.

you should get minute of bambi with your 1:48 twist, with no problem. practice, of course, is much more important than equipment.

 

[Hamourkiller]

Grottorian, there is a T/C Round Ball .54 Caliber BBL New for sale in the classified section right now. 150 USD. It will be a tack driver and matched with a gifted Renegade the price will be right.

Now if you ever get tired of these varmit calibers, Green Mountain has some .58 and .62 drop in barrels for the Renegade. The .58 has 1x72 rifling and the .62 is smooth.

But for $150 that .54 barrel looks good and T/C has better fit and finish than GM.

I would get it but I just picked up a GM .54 BBL for 100 USD a few months ago.

A good starting point for your current bbl is .490 Hornady or Speer swaged Round Balls, .018 pre lubed pillow ticking patches and an over powder wonder wad pre- lubed as well.

What ever you do, remember to have fun doing it.

 

[Swampman]

Here's mine with a .58 caliber Green Mountain barrel installed. I finally just gave up on the factory T/C barrels.

 

[grottorian]

I put a GM 58 caliber barrel on it & fired it today with .570 balls & 70 grains ffg... I couldnt hit anything on a large target... till I moved up to about 30 yds. Looks like it's shooting way low at 70 yds. I'll have to work with the sites...

 

[grottorian]

I think I'll go back to my 50 cal. barrel - Can't hit the target with the 58.

 

[Galen Futtrell]

The G/M 58 SHOULD OUT SHOOT THE T/C 50? I KNOW MINE WILL, ALSO MY SHOOTIN BUDDY AGREES.575PRB 80GRS 777, 15PATCH.EAT THE BLACK UP AT 50YDS. GET ER DONE. :hmm:

 

[grottorian]

I'm hitting it good now at 50 yds - I was too far away & the ball was dropping too much...

 

[54]

keep up the good shooting :thumbsup: