TC Renegade .54 Cal. Advice

[Pirate's Son]

You can have a lot of "fun" figuring out loads for your rifle. I've been having "fun" with my T/C .54 Renegade since I ripped off the wrapping paper on the kit my ex-wife gave me for Christmas in 1981.

A couple of questions come up like what grade of powder are you using? I find that using FFg 50 yards and under and FFFg for over 50 yards gets satisfactory results. Depends on what the ground looks like in the area you're going to chase game in.

Another question is are you treating your range shooting like you would field shooting? By which I mean is the barrel clean and cool on every round fired. Are you duplicating the conditions for your rifle that you'll when you get out of your rig, put on your Elmer Fudd hat and go hunting Wabbits?

Besides the above things to consider I've tried quite a few things to improve my accuracy. Adjusting my set triggers to the "Surprise" setting. Narrowing the front blade sight. Installing the T/C Peep sight. Converting the No.11 nipple and percussion caps to a Musket nipples and percussion caps. And as recommended by previous author's over patching your powder.

To get really into the nitty gritty of accuracy you are going to need to match weights of your round ball and volumes of propellant. And speaking of the stuff that makes the boom try as many types and brands of "make it go boom stuff" as you can get ahold of.

Have fun and remember it's ONE SHOT, you have to know what your rifle is going to do when you have a chance at that Boone & Crockett worthy Wabbit!

 

[Nuthatch]

My BP manual has your charge clocking in somewhere around 1500 fps at the muzzle & less than 1000 fps at 100 yards. That has the ball going transonic again before it hits the target. So your groups could be just fine at 50 and then start getting wonky right around 80-90 yards or so as the sound wave slaps the ball in the rear. A rifle wouldn’t be affected as much as a smoothbore. And a fast-spinning conical less than a slow-spinning one. Can’t say for certain if that’s what’s happening but I wouldn’t rule it out either without further testing.

If you want to test that theory, try a subsonic load at 50 vs 100 yards. There’s going to still be some variation due to the longer flight time to the target. But I’d think the difference would be more linear and less geometric.

You could also take your current load & plot the group size on a graph & test every 20 yards. If you’re getting solid consistency at 20, 30, 40, 50, 60, and 70 but things start opening up right around 80-100, then I’d put that transonic slap as highly probable.

To beat it, use a conical and drive it hard & fast. The same manual has a load for 100gr Goex FFG and a TC Maxi 430 gr with a starting velocity of 1390 and a still at 1100 at 100 yards. Using one of those modern sleeve things, you can get even better results to keep it supersonic at those longer ranges.

Just some thoughts to play around with.

 

[gunpa]

There are lots of good long range bullets ( not balls) for hunting. Check out No Excuses bullets. They have the 54 covered. Round balls don't carry the energy a conical does at 100 yards. That means more powder too. Recoil is real but I ignore it.

 

[justinoldguy]

Shooting tiny groups at 100 yards with a PRB can be difficult. For example, a 5 MPH crosswind (almost nothing) will blow a .530 ball @ 1600 fps nearly 6" at 100 yards. 10 MPH moves that to nearly a foot. If you have variable wind, say between 5 to 10 mph per shot, with everything else being perfectly aligned, you will have a 6" horizontal dispersion. I've seen fellas shoot tiny groups, and on rare occasion, I've shot under 1 MOA at 100 yards. 3"-4" inches from a rest is more common, and if I can hit an 8" circle at 100 yards off-hand, I'm OK with that. I prefer very close shots, but on longer opportunities, say 75 to 125 yards, I adjust instinctively for whatever crosswind is currently blowing, and still shoot minute of deer. Same for vertical adjustment, I sight in about 2" high at 50 yards, which is slightly low at 100, and without much thought, hold higher at longer ranges. That is the way I have done it for over half a century, other guys have equally valid methods that work for them.