With a new (to me) T/C Hawkin .50 caliber I wanted to tune it into a roundball shooter. Most my shots hunting are 30 to 50 yards max. Most of them 30 yards. So I brought the target in to 30 yards. I knew I had the sights close but never dreamed I was this close.
I was shooting 100 grains of Graf's & Sons 2f black powder. The reason for this is black powder is consistent. No matter how dirty it is, or what people think of black powder, if you want accuracy, shoot black powder. It will amaze you. I was also shooting cast ball I purchased from Gander Mountain. They are .490 diameter. And to set them of course I use 100% pillow tick with moosemilk I spritz right before loading.
I swabbed the barrel clean of any oil, popped a couple caps through it and loaded up. My first shot was real good I thought, just off the dead center of the bull at 30 yards. Without swabbing, the next two really started getting me excited.
After that I started shooting roundball.
This was the patches. They look beautiful out of that rifle.
Then I decided I wanted to try some sabots out of this rifle. I was told that they would shoot well out of a 1-48 twist. Well I was surprised how well they shot.
This was the first shot. I did swab with a spit patch between shots.
When I did not swab, it did throw them a little bit. But over all I was kind of impressed with these Precision Rifle Extreme HP 300 grain sabots.
Just to check things, I tried two 300 grain .44 caliber XTP's in crushed rib sabots with the same powder charge... they did not do as well.
T/C Hawkin roundball and others.
