T/C Round Ball Accuracy

[shooter50]

I got into a heated argument with a older fella' at work today about T/C barrels with the shallow grooves and round ball accuracy. I know my Renegade barrels are about .006" vs my green mountain barrels that are .010" - .012". He was trying to tell me that he has had T/C Hawken and Renegades and none would shoot round balls because of the shallow groove and the 1:48 twist barrels. I told him about the accuracy I get out of my Renegade barrels and he was basically calling me a liar. We both walked away pretty p****d off. I feel I get great accuracy and that he is full of it. Now I will say my GM barrels with the 1:70 twist really do shoot great (probably better) and pretty much shoot any patch/ball combo vs my 1:48 barrels that are a little more picky but I always have found a patch/ball combo that shoots accurately (hunting accuracy). What kind of accuracy do you fellows get with you factory T/C 1:48 Hawken/Rengade type barrels?

[mountaineer magic]

deleted : no longer want to be on the forum

[cayugad]

The 1-48 twist is the most misunderstood twist you find in muzzleloaders. On one hand you are both right. Yes there are better shooting roundball rifles then a T/C with 1-48 twist. No one can or should argue that. But I have numerous 1-48 twist T/C traditional rifles. All of them are good roundball shooters. Now that don't mean I want to compete with them at the range. And maybe I don't want to shoot 200 yards with it. But for the average hunter, who if you ask most of his shots are 80 yards or less... that 1-48 twist will put meat on the table almost every time.



Now understand, the rifle a .54 caliber New Englander is scoped. But the way it shoots roundball at 50 yards.. I dare anything to come in front of me with it.

When people speak of muzzleloaders now, they speak of rifles able to shoot 200 yards. When I started with muzzleloaders, we were tickled to shoot 100 yards with roundball. We hunted with roundball, but we hunted close quarters, and picked our shots.

With open sights I can normally shoot a 4 inch group with a 1-48 twist at 100 yards. Sometimes I get a flier and it makes a liar out of me. 3 inches is a good day for open sights. And actually when I had a T/C Peep sight on my Renegade, I could on occasion shoot under three inches at 100 yards, depending on sunlight and shadows. But the main group is usually in there, where a kill zone would be. And that is plenty good for hunting.

[Semisane]

The secret to good accuracy with a TC 1:48 is a very tight patch/ball combination and moderate powder charges. Most guys who buy .490 balls for their .50 TC and a pack of .015 prepackaged patch material are not going to get the accuracy the barrel is capable of, especially if they drop 100 grains of powder down the bore.

[shooter50]

In my 50 cal I shoot a .490 ball and a .020 (dosen't like .015) patch with 80-90 grains of FFG. One of my 54's likes a .530 ball with a .015 patch the other likes a .020 patch both like around 90-100 grains of FFg. All of those shoot baseball size groups off a rest at 75 yards. These are hunting guns so that is plenty good. All of the deer I have taken I have had all pass thru's. I feel the 1:48 twist is under rated and if you find the right patch/ball/powder charge combo they can be great round ball shooters. Now I will say my GM barrels pretty much shoot any ball/patch/powder charge I throw in it. But I would rather carry a rifle with a 26" barrel through the laurel thickets up the mountain than I would a rifle with a 32" barrel.

[lemoyne]

Well I must admit that the two most accurate PRB guns I have own were not TC 1-48 twist guns. One is a Hopkins & Allen 58 caliber that with a really tight PRB would tear a raged hole at 100 yds the load it liked was 100grains, the other was a 54 I hand built with a green river barrel which I used in the Hawken and Mountain man competition at Friendship. But with that aside I have gotten good accuracy from the 45 50 and 54 TC 1-48 barrels I have. One of the things I have found is that it takes a scope to really find out what a gun will do at 100yds.