TC 56 cal smoothbore?

[smokepolehall]

Has anyone had any dealings with one ? i was looking thru my 1993 TC catalog and they don't even list one

[cayugad]

The .56 caliber smoothbore is a small game shotgun. It will also shoot roundball. It would be a 28 gauge approximately. I never owned one, but I do own a couple smoothbores. They are fun to shoot.

One thing about the smoothbore (and this is ONLY my experience). I bought one when I heard people brag of their accuracy out to 75 yards shooting roundball. That distance, being more then enough for me, I figured, why not.. So I got a .62 caliber smoothbore. While it makes a good shotgun for squirrel and rabbit, a roundball shooter it is not. Out to 40 yards it is pretty good. I have tried loading that roundball about every way you can think. One time it shoots good, next time out, all over the place. Out to 35 yards, it would be deadly with hunting accuracy lets call it. Past that, I have missed a 8x11 sheets of paper. I was shooting 100 yards one afternoon with it, and could not hit a cardboard box, so I aimed under the box and finally managed to put a hole in the box.

If you want a good squirrel shotgun or rabbit, it could be a lot of fun. I have grouse hunted with my .62 caliber and it makes a heck of a sport out of it with the only one shot. I now have two 12 gauges as well.

[smokepolehall]

a friend has given me this TC smoothbore. i am hoping to clean it up and use round balls .540-.550 out to 50 yds deer hunting. so far in my book Fadala wrote he had best accuracy cleaning the lube out of bore after seating his load. thats prior the capping it. saying 8" groups were what his shot

[cayugad]

I once (and let me stress the word once) shot a two inch group at 44 steps I believe it was with my .62 caliber. I was shooting 80 grains of powder and a 324 grain .600 dia ball and patch. I was kind of excited. I was never able to repeat that group.

Good luck with your smoothbore. They are a lot of fun to shoot.

[smokepolehall]

i read what you said and i spect your on the money. i figured i would try to see what 50 yds will bring and drop off 5 yds each time til it gives me max of 8" groups. if all she will do is 35 yds that will work for me, thanks

[arcticap]

The TC.56 was made expressly for the Massachussetts smoothbore season when BP deer hunting was first re-introduced there in the 70's. TCbuilt it using their .54 Renegade barrel blanks, and they intended for it to be a smooth rifle.
It canshootwith rifle like accuracy at 50yards witha tightly patched .550 ball, a .015 patch and90 - 100 grains of Pyrodex. Starting that combo could be assistedby tapping with a mallet, and wiping between shots is important.
A looser combination using a .530 or .535 ballwill shoot with acceptable accuracy but justwon't group as tight.
When hunting, one idea might be to first load with the tight combination and then toreload with the looser combination for more quickness and ease.
And aslightly thicker patch may also shoot a little bit better if using the looser balls.
Heavy turkey loadscan bedeveloped for it that are effective out to about 25 yards or so.

Track of the Wolf sells cast .550 balls:

http://www.trackofthewolf.com/(S(rnx12eni5lzure55fefvlo45))/categories/tableList.aspx?catId=2&subId=25&styleId=58 &PageSize=25&Page=3