Well I had some time today so I loaded up the old 54 Renegade and went out to the farm to pop some holes in targets.

I had to goals in mind, no actually three, it started out two.

1. I wanted to see how many loads of t7-3f I could shoot without patching.
2. I wanted to get the Renegade sighted in with the 250 grain Speer Gold Dot.

I am shooting 80 grains t7-3f with a TC mag express sabot 54/.451

Well I shot 8 rounds without patching although 6-7 & 8 were getting difficult to seat - they went down the barrel alright but I would have to give them a tap at the end to get seated. The 8 shot group was terrible though. At 50 yards, I had at least a 4" group - I was really disappointed. So I patched cleaned and dried the barrel and thought I would fire another 3 shot group, patching between shots as normal,for location... That group was terrible also. I changed sabots to some Harvester - same thing terrible.

Remember I said 3 goals - well this in when the 3rd goal came into play - this barrel was purchased off e-bay and this "well taken care of barrel" as advertised came pitted something terrible. I have cleaned it up over the last couple of years but have always been concerned about it. Well today I confirmed my suspicions - I was just going to have to get a new barrel.

But justfor the heck of it I thought I would shoot a group of 300 grain XTP's - should not have done that - I had convinced myself to buy a new barrel- I should have just stopped right there. When I checked the 3 shoot 300 grain group it was a 1.75" group - open sights and snowing. I am sure it would be better with a good barrel.

OK - conclusion - the 1/48 - 54 cal barrelwill not shoot short 250 grain bullets in sabots accurately, but will shoot the 300 grain as all of my other 1/48's do.

Options
1. Get one of those new GM 50 cal stainless barrels in a fast twist so I can shoot the 250's at deer during our deer season. I would also then cut the barrel down tothe Renegade length and recrown it. I like the shorter barrel for deer hunting (not carbine length).
2. Get a new TC Renegade barrel 54 cal 1/48 twist and quit worring about the old barrel.
3. Do nothing and shoot some of the other sidehammer guns that are sitting around here.

I have six hours to make a decision

six hours?

Interesting results on the shooting for sure.

Why would you get a 50cal? GM has 54 in the fast twist I think.

Sharp Shooter

The stainless barrel they have on sale is a 50 - and I am not sure they do offer a fast twist 54 wouldn't be much reason for one.

cayugad

Actually I mis-calculated more like 3 hours... I'll let you know in 3 hours...

But seriously which way would you go - not that I am not into shooting round balls or conicals - and If I were I still have my 54 Trade Rifle. And as Terry says you have how many sidelocks now? and you need this new barrel why? And you know how they stand with their hands on the hips just to let you know they are not happy.

3 hours?? the clock ticks louder and with more authority.

That Stainless Steel .50 caliber GMB is a sweet shooter. It does not come in .54 caliber. If you can shoot it in any modern inline rifle real well, these fast twist GMB's will shoot them also. Both of mine are good shooters although I only shoot the one for now.

And yes I know exactly the pose or stanceyou are talking about that they enjoy doing, to strengthen their arguement. That's why I never argue, I just do what I like...

I have never had any luck shooting any sabot in a traditional barrel. I believe the deeper rifling is the culprit. I think the gas gets by and the rifling is skipped. What is interesting is that the heavy longer bullets worked better and I wonder if the back pressure caused by them forced the skirt to open futher engaging the rifling better.

I would try some maxi-balls or good old fashioned patched round balls in that rifle before I gave up on the barrel.

Pittsburghunter

Actually, I guess I have been really fortunate, I have been shooting sabots from all of my 1/48's with really good results for years now. My problem today was the condition of this particular barrel and and the 45/250's I was trying to shoot. The 1/48's work well with the bigger bullets. My other 1/48 TC, a 50 cal Hawkin, will shoot .458 - 325 grain bullets all day into a nice little neat hole. Theother 54, a Lyman Trade rifle 1/48, shoots 45/300 grain XTP's like theywere made for it, but it will not shoot any 44 cal consistently - might get 6or 7 in a nice little group ant then all of a sudden one will take as a flier.My hunting partner has a newer TC 54 Hawkin and he shoots 45/300's out of it has for years.

That is an interesting thought about the slippage and deep grooves- I wish I would have thought to recover some of those 250 sabots and compare them to the 300s. I can see where that might be a problem with the 54's the petals on thosesabots are really thick. Next time I talk to MMP, I'll pose that very question. I was thinking along the lines that the 1/48 might be to slow to stabilze the fast moving 250 grain bullet - I did not try to back down on powder - might be the thing to try.

I did not have the chrono set up on todays shoot, but in previous outings there certainly hasbeen no indication in the way of lack of velocity across the chrono.

cayugad

Well time is up and I was not willing to bid enough on a new Renegade barrel so I am stuck with the old one and looking hard at the stainless 50 barrel. Which really doesn't sound that bad because there just so darn many options out there you can shoot.

It will cost my an additional $50 to get the barrel cut down, front sight re-intalled and a target crown put on. But I can imagine it would be a sweet shooting Renegade. Going to have to wait awhile though before I can jump into the purchase.

Personally, I do not mind the extra length of the stainless steel barrel at all. I kind of like it actually. As for the sights, they are not fiber optic but they seem to work real good. Both my barrels are the 1" on the flat models since I got them for a .54 caliber. On some of the rifles you have to take a chunk of the thimble rib off to make it fit into the stock, or a chunk of the stock.