Another Round With The .45 GM LRH Renegade

[Semisane]

Well guys, Saturday was opening day on deer for us in Louisiana.

I sat in my stand Saturday morning and evening, and Sunday morning with the .54 GP flintlock. I was hoping to see a mature buck (don't we all) but had every intention of taking the first mature doe that came along. Didn't happen. I had easy shots at a button buck, a 6" spike, and a young forkhorn - but the "big boy" I've been seeing on my game camera never showed up. Neither did any does - not one.

So instead of a kill report, you'll have to settle for a range report.

When I returned to camp from the Sunday morning hunt, I slid the GP into the truck gun box, took out the .45 GM Renegade, and headed for the shooting bench.



For this shoot I decided to use 75 grains of GOEX FFFg (as measured by my TC U-View measure) and some .40 200 grain XTPs in Harvester 4540B sabots.

Started off with three shots at 50 yards and got just what I expected.



Took three more shots at 75 yards - looking pretty good.



Then shot three at 100 yards.

That stray shot had to be something with the sabot or bullet. I had a rock solid rest, good sight picture, and felt really good about the trigger pull.

Sometimes it happens.
I blame it on the 7th. god of muzzle loading - Loosgroop.



So I got adventurous. With all of the shooting I've done over the years I've never shot a sidelock over 100 yards. What the heck, let's try a target at 125 yards.

The gun is sighted for "dead on" at 75 yards, so I wasn't surprised to see the group about four inches below the point of aim - was pleased with the group though.



Now I'm thinking - 150 yards??? Why not?

Knowing it would hit pretty low, I taped two targets together and aimed at the top one. (This target was too long to fit in my scanner, so I took a picture of it with the camera.)



WOW! That's a lot of drop. But a pretty darn good group.

I told my wife I'd be home early Sunday evening, so it was getting time to pack up the truck and head out. But I shot one more target anyway and upped the powder charge from 75 grains to 85 grains.

100 yards



What a great week-end. Three enjoyable (though fruitless) hunts and a fun range session in beautiful weather.

[cayugad]

That is some darn good shooting. I have the same barrel but have not really shot it too much. Maybe I better break it out and have a go with it.

[Semisane]

Cayugad, I got my barrel a little over a year ago and have around 275 shots out of it. I really think it's just getting broken in. It seems that groups have started to tighten up over my last three range sessions.

The next time I play with it I'm going to stick with 85 grains of 3F and adjust the sights for about two inches high at 100 yards to see what that does to trajectory out there at 150 yards. It would be really funny if my "long range" muzzleloader turns out to be this sidelock with 40 caliber bullets.

[gregrn43]

Not bad semi, not bad atall.

[idahoron]

Nice shooting! Does that barrel have a 1-28 twist? I just got a barrel from GM that is a stainless steel 45 with a 1-28 twist. I got it for 110.00 a couple of days ago. Mine is 15/16 and all my guns are 1" so I am going to have to find a donor stock. Ron

[Semisane]

Mine is a blue one-incher Ron, with a 1:30 twist.

I recently picked up a 15/16" 1:28 50 caliber GM LRH barrel from Cabala's bargain cave and was thinking like you - I need a stock to fit this barrel. Then I remembered a post by Sabotloader about putting a 15/16" barrel in a 1" Renegade stock with no problem. You might want to give it a try.

[Johnmorris]

Try it your 1 icnh stock I have read that there is not a lot difference but I have not tried it my self.

[idahoron]

I thought about it and maybe shimming it until I find a donor stock.
This is my second 45 barrel. I also have a 1-18 twist 45 that is blued. Ron

[sabotloader]

idahoron

In most cases no shimming is necessary... the 15/16ths will drop right in. Remember that is only 1/16th off your one inch barrel and that computes to 1/32nd on each side of the barrel. The only problems that I have encountered is with the very old Renegade stock the under rib on the LRH is just a bit long. And the other thing you may have to work with is the alignment of the hammer on the nipple - and that is an easy fix also.

One other point to mention you may encounter - the older TC tangs may not fit the hook on the new GM barrel - the new TC tangs fit just fine.

I have 3 GM barrels and they are all interchangeable in and out of my Renegade stocks.

Here is a picture of swap that happens right before you eyes... These are both 15/16ths barrels one is blued one is stainless.