Shoot a .54 in a T/C Renegade and wouldn't think about a .50 for real blackpowder hunting with longer ranges in mind. Go with the .54 you'll be suprised where you can find .54 stuff when you start looking.

So what do you think you are going to go with?

Pretty sure I'm going with the 54, will hit a couple of Rendevous with a good friend of mine and then see if another barrel is in my future. If I could get by with shooting roundballs for 99.9% of my hunting I'd be tickled..........sounds like a 54 is just the right animal for that job.

Thanks for the insight. Maybe by next week I can post some unremarkable groups[8D]

i would go with .50cal.like said, get twist you want for round ball or conical.i have 2 t/c hawkins.they dont shoot the round balls well but do the MAXI-BALL.at 75 yards,open sights,i can put the .370 MAXI-BALL not MAXI-HUNTER,stay away from hunter,almost touching each hole.80 grains of 2f,wonder pads,4 f in pan.the frizzens are junk on t/c hawkins and others,but lyman frizzens , they are good.less powder,the more accurate.take care.

Went and picked up my "sporterized" hawkens from Cabela's today, seems like a really nice gun. They had 2 in stock so I at least had a choice, wood is fairly pretty. I've wiped the gun down and cleaned the bore, will have to wait till tomorrow to give it it's first shot. Goex 2F and a .530 prb, can't wait.

Can see a new set of sights in my future, not real crazy about the V grooved back sight. I'm sure I'll be able to hit a deer with these though.

Thanks again for all the insight. Charlie

You might be surprised at how well the V rear sight works. When you get used to them, they are very accurate.

Good luck with your new rifle. We all will be waiting for a report on it. If you have the technical ability, throw a picture of that rifle up for us. They are a nice looking rifle for sure...

Guess this will be a test, it's not a good picture but will see if I can get anything to post.

Well I guess that does work. I'll get some better shots tomorrow.

great gun.i was going to refinish mine but after looking at it roundball, cayugug,its real nice way it is.i never really looked at it lately,ha. anyway,i would get the v-peep site from www.rmcsports.com. i have them on both of my hawkins.look up v-peep when you go to their site. i live 30 minutes from RMC .they are 36 dollars.get the refills also, i think they are 5 dollars in case your front sight breaks. i can tell you, my shots are better with v-peep on target and deer.front sight is real fine on size, thats nice.its also legal to use it in the latemuzzleloader season here in pa. that sight has made shooting much better for me. other sights were blurring out on rear sight,not the v-peep.take care

Thanks for the heads up, I'll give them a look. Charlie