What i want from my Seneca.

[bobthemotorcycle]

What I want is the smallest, lightest deer rifle I can have and I want powder, caps and other stuff to work on my pistols too.

This rifle i am leaving as is. I have a .54 Pedersolie but I want even smaller for backpacking.

Will a Seneca in .45 be as powerful as a regular size .45 cal Hawkin? I want a one rifle arsenal. I can buy everything to make a .45 Seneca but it's going to run about $700.

Should i just stay with my .54 cal Pedersolie and suck it up and buy two powders, caps ect.

This Senica dont hold the ramrod in very well. Is the spring or detent missing that puts pressure on the ramrod or did it not get made with that feature?

Hate saying this but when i go .45cal I want a wad cuter type bullet.

 

[Bad Karma]

I would shoot what ever the rifle likes best, and don’t load your Seneca like a Hawken. It’s lighter and th stocks will not take a diet of 100 grain loads. I load up to 70 grains with round ball or maxi balls. The rifle is happy and so am I.

 

[Rifleman1776]

Will a Seneca in .45 be as powerful as a regular size .45 cal Hawkin?

Yes. No difference in energy, etc. My wife killed two deer in one day with her Seneca. They dropped almost where they stood. She use patched round ball. I was disappointing to see your last sentence. Why the preference for a bullet? I shouldn't ask.

 

[Greg Blackburn]

I like being able to shoot through a shoulder if I need to, so, I'd go bullet in .45 caliber too. Test this rifle of yours out, see what she likes and does best with, and then go on with your plans. According to Shooting Thompson Center Black Powder Muzzleloading Firearms, 60 to 80 grains FFG charge recommended for a 190 to 320 grain bullet.

*80 grains is in red print, so do not go beyond 80 grains max charge.

*A member was kind enough to send me this book.

 

[hanshi]

I've taken so many deer with .45s and prb that I can't begin to count them. A .45 prb WILL (not "can") take a deer cleanly with one shot as long as you hit them right. A .54 isn't a good deer caliber if you don't place the ball in the vital zone. Same with a .45.

 

[bobthemotorcycle]

The reason I am tired of gun collecting is there is too many wants and possibilities and its way to expensive.

I'm giving the Seneca back to my mom who owns it and I will stick with my Pedersolie Harkin in .54 cal. It's not much bigger than the Seneca.

 

[bobthemotorcycle]

It's very tarnished, how can I clean it up before giving it back to her. I looked last night and bore is actually perfect so no need to worry bout that. The picture make tje stock look bad but stock just needs wiped down and get layer or dirt off. How can I clean up the brass.

 

[Bledfor Days]

The best way to polish the brass is to remove it from the rifle. Any metal polish will do. I clamp the end of a micro fibre rag in a vice and pull it tight with one hand. I put polish on the rag and move the part I'm polishing back and forth across it. This works a lot better than wearing your fingers off with a dab of polish on the end of your finger.
Good luck!

 

[mooman76]

Some people like the aged look. Myself included.

 

[Bledfor Days]

I think it depends on what mom likes.

 

[Rifleman1776]

A .54 isn't a good deer caliber if you don't place the ball in the vital zone.

Amen, Bro.