Hawkens .50 cal muzzleloader question

[elkslayer]

Hawkens .50 cal muzzleloader question. those of you who hunt with a hawkens what type of powder do use and how many grains for use with a round ball. What distance do you sight in and what grouping do you get with your chosen load.

[Elmer Fudd]

Pyrodex powder, I forget what I bought last time but it's supposed to be the better stuff. I haven't shot with round ball in a while but generally I do not like to exceed 90 gr as I find the accuracy falls off... others here have said so too.

From what I hear, the rounds tend to go through the deer anyway with a muzzleloader so 90 is plenty.

[bigjake]

Hodgdon triple seven powder or Hodgdon Pyrodex Select RS powder, Id use conicals over round balls they kill better.

[idduckhntr]

85 grains of Pyrodex with a TC 370 Maxie Ball at 3in high at a 100, get 2in groups.

[buckhunter]

82 grns patched roundball. Sighted in dead on at 50 yds. Most my kills are much less than that but I've shot a few over 100 yds.

[Kentucky Hunter]

i use 90 grian elefant ear black powder with a 490 t/c round ball and a tight patch for better acuracy i set my hawkins t/c 50 cail at 50 yards 1 inch high from center x it general is about 1.5 inches low at 100 yards from center x but it all depends on the rifleing you have mine is 148 some are 166 and barrel lenght also you will most likely have to shoot your gun alot to find the best combitaion for it but i would stick with round ball

[Beekeeper]

Sight in for 50 yards. My 50 flintlock likes 80 grains of Swiss 2F black powder. I shoot a .490 round ball patched with 18/1000 pillow ticking and mink oil patch grease. See Track of the Wolf for the mink oil. You will have to find a good working load for your particular rifle. Each one is different and I've yet to see one that didn't have its own load preference. Start at 70 grains and work up 5 grains at a time to find your load.

Big Jake,

I take serious issue with your contention that conicals kill better than roundballs. That is sheer and utter nonsense. I seldom have an animal even feral hogs that I don't shoot through with a roundball, 50, 54 or 58 caliber. The only deer and hog I ever lost hunting with blackpowder were shot with conicals.

Roundballs make a nasty wound channel and pack plenty of punch for big game at reasonable distance. Experience is an excellent teacher and it has taught me well the virtues of a well placed round ball!

[buckhunter]

I'll second beekeeper. I've lost one deer in over 25 years shooting a patched round ball and that shot was deflected by a branch.

I better knock on wood now.

[Elmer Fudd]

If using roundball I would have a prepared reload round using a conical. As the civil war soldiers found out.... mighty handy

[007]

80-90 grains of FFF, patched with a scrap of denim greased with an even mix of bee's wax and bear grease. I don't shoot iron sights very well so I line in for probably around 75 yards or so. The good friend who got me into flintlocks would likely take serious issue with the conical debate as well.

[bigjake]

Beekeeper,Ive never lost an animal using TC maxiball conicals, nor have I undershot any, and I hunt critters much bigger than hogs.

[Gary Spence]

I treat large bore Black powder rifles much like I do shotguns. Obviously shorter is better. I'd limit my shots to 75-100 yd range, assuming its a rifled BPWD rifle.
The second consideration would be round ball or Maxie Ball. For me either way keeping it within that range gives a margin for range estimation error. Your individual skill. I stretch mine into about 125 however BP is BP and projectile weights can vary. I cast my own.

[Sarge01]

In my EuroArms Hawken I shoot 90 grains of Pyrodex and the 385 grain Hornady Great Plains all lead hollow point bullet. I have killed a lot of deer with that load. I found out that more powder starts spreading the load out. In my CVA Optima inline I shoot 295 grain Power Belt hollow points or 295 Hornady flex tips using 2 50 grain Pyrodex pellets. I have killed deer with both these loads too.

[JasonT]

I shoot 400 grain cast bullets in front of 120 grains of pyrodex

[CD2]

I had a TC Hawken .50 cal (Silver Elite). Also had a couple of TC Renegades and a New Englander. My roundball load was a Hornady swaged .495" ball w thick cotton patch and 100gr FFg w #11 cap. Accuracy was excellent.............lost my old New Englander target of a cloverleaf in the X, shot at 100 yds benched, iron sighted. I never understood the hoopla of 1 in 66" being superior to 1 in 48".

Maybe w reduced target loads it is?

My 2nd Renegade had some QC issues and once fixed it was wicked good. Guy bought it off me and didn't shoot it for some time. When he did he came to me at work all excited..........older guy, pretty mellow..............he was "HOLY COW! That's the best freakin' shooting MZ I've ever seen". Duh, told him it was a good one.

Did take a buck w 385gr GP bullet and 100gr FFg from my Hawken. They shot well but recoil was brutal, my cheek took a slam each time (something about that gun- buddy's .54 doesn't whack me). Even dropping to 240gr sabot stuff, or 275 gr Maxi Hunters...........100gr FFg (or BP substitute equiv) just pops me now and then.

Backing down to 90 grains the chances of cheek smack go way down. I never did shoot a deer w the thing backed down to 90 gr. Said screw it and gave the gun to my dad.

.50 cal, Thompson Center..........100gr load w roundball is comfy and kills deer dead.
On my New Englander I did notice bad vertical stringing until I had about 100 shots through the new barrel. Then it was excellent.