I would like to thank everyone for their input to this threadconcerning the questions I asked about the T/CFIRESTORMconcerning shooting apatch & roundball out of it. I WON'T be shooting Powerbelts anymore, can't afford to!

Gosh I wasted a lot of money shooting those things.I had tried every load possible at 50-75 yards and even had them hitting the target sideways.... For those of you that can shoot them out of your "Firestorm" and feel confident you know where the bullet is going youra better man then me. The Firestorm Does have a 1/48" rate of twist and from what I have read and learned on here this is NOT the optimum for shootingPB type bullets. Just like with a rifled shot gun barrel the rate of twist is much faster to stabilize a rifled slug more like 1/26" twist.

Somehow T/C came up with this hybred flintlock about 10 years ago that's suppose to use both the 50 grainBP pellets instead of looseBP and these expensive new bullets or roundballs if you like. It's my personal opinionand experience that theBP pellets are best usedin a gun where a primer cap can be usedto ignite them like in a Muzzleloader (they work great like this)I'm not sure this"best of both worlds" thinking with the Firestorm is inline with their superior product philosphy.

I'm glad to here the Firestorm will shot roundballs fairly well but the ideal is supposably a 1/66" rate of twist. I guess this gun is kinda like an "All Season" Radial tire.They arebetter then summer tires on your car in the winter but still not like having a set of good winter tires.I will say this though about the Firestorm; it ALWAYS fires, which pleases me a great deal. I see guy's at the range with guns that will not fire. With a good English flint and the frizzen scratched up good you always get a great flash in th pan. It's just too bad you get that delay between the time of the flash and the main powder charge going off. That is hard to get used to not to flinch but I'm learning to rest the gun on something or against a tree to help stabilize things. Maybe someone knows how to decrease the lag time between the two charges going off? I put a tiny bit of FFF down the barrel first and shake some in the touch hole but doesn't seem to make much difference.

Bronko,

If this windy weather keeps up your probably right, stick to the valleys and find some hemlocks or thick cover, thats where the deer should be not on the ridges. I have hunteda large 300 acre Hemlock Swamp I like to stalk through with my nose in the wind and the deer like to crawl up on the Hemlock Hammocks and bed there. It's warmer in there and quiet.

Special thanks toCayuqad, Eldequello, and Crokit.By the wayMike you got ascreaming deal on that Stainless version of the Firestorm, that's what I'm shooting and with those supplies (which can add up mighty fast for blackpowder hunting) makes it all the sweeter. With that said I took the advice on here and went out and purchased 100 T/C 175 grain Cold Swaged Roundballs and .018 pillow ticking. The 100 roundballs were $12.00 and for that I couldn't buy 15 Powerbelts. It's back to the range again and I will use theff down the barrel and work up from 60grains with fff in the pan.Ithink what Crokit is saying about using a "fouling" charge makes sense. I have noticed my 1st shot when going to the range is always way out from the rest shooting with a clean barrel. I'm thinking it's best to goshoot a fouling charge before you go out hunting so everything is consistant.