I am buying a hawken(.50 cal)tomorrow night and it will be my first percussion rifle. I have mastered the inline so I want to make it a challenge. I plan on shooting 70-80 grs. of T7 powder and a .490 round ball with a .015 patch. What kind of accuracy should I strive for?What can I expect from this load on deer? Will I get a pass threw? Expansion? Next thing how often do I have to clean it? When I am shooting groups do I need to let the barrel cool down at all? Can you guys tell me everything you know about shooting and hunting with a percussion and roundball.

Thanks,

Die Hard

Wrong. Stay away from T7 and a PRB. Some say you can use a wad between the patch and powder to keep the patch from buring. That IMO is more $$ you have to spend and more time in the field to reload.
Goex or pyrodex when shooting PRB.

Who makes the hawken you are buying?

Ive found that a .018 Pillow Ticking patch loads easier and offers better groups than a .015 TC patch.

I'll leave everything else on your list for someone else to answer

As for cleaning, When its gets tough to load the next round is when i'll call a break and swab clean. My deer creek .45 shoots better the more i shoot it on a dirty bore.

http://www.cabelas.com/cabelas/en/templates/product/standard-item.jsp?id=0006567210042a&navCount=15&pod Id=0006567&parentId=cat601141&masterpathid =&navAction=push&cmCat=MainCatcat20712-cat20720-cat601141_TGP&catalogCode=IH&rid=&pare ntType=index&indexId=cat601141&hasJS=true

Round balls? Get the .54 .

Die Hard - congratulations on the Hawkins. They are a great rifle.

With 80 grains of T-7 2f you will blow right through a deer without problem 99% of the time. As for accuracy, that's a hard question as some rifles like T-7 and some hate it. Normally I get real good accuracy using it. Expansion will depend on what you hit on the way through, but roundballs are deadly. They really do a number on deer. If you notice your patches being shredded, blowen apart, or burned up, you will need to put a wad between the powder charge and the patch. If you have no wad, then add about 20 grains of corn meal and level that on the powder.

What kind of accuracy to strive for is up to you. Some people are happy with 5" at 100 yards. Some demand much better. Normally I strive for a 3" group at 100 yards. Some days I shoot much better, some days I don't talk about.

You clean the rifle at the end of the day after you're done shooting. If you mean swab the bore, that will depend on the rifle and how bad it fowls out. Some times I can shoot 20-30 rounds other times 10 rounds. Also the kind of powder I shoot will effect the amount I have to swab the bore. Triple Se7en is pretty clean burning most the time, but if you load a ball and feel the crud ring down there, then swab it out after the next shot.

AS for cooling the barrel, it is not all that bad of an idea, but not as necessary shooting roundball as it might be shooting sabots. Only range time will tell.

Not really. I can tell you some of the experiences I have had. But there is nothing better then in the woods training you might say. Range time is still the best way, but you ask away with the questions, and we will try to answer them for you.

If you havent bought it yet, Get the .54!!
80 grains pyrodex RS or Pyrodex P, .015 patch, Hornady or speer .530 roundball " If you get the .54" If not, .490 roundball will git'r done.

Should be capable of decent accuracy with a PRB. I'd stay with Pyrodex or BP as suggested. Probable start off at around 80 grains & work up. I expect 2" or better groups at 50 yards with any of my muzzleloaders. If it wont do that well with a PRB try a conical.
As for cleaning - EVERY time you shoot it! The hooked breech makes cleaning easy. Just remove the barrel, remove the nipple, and throw the nipple in the bucket of hot soapy water you're going to use for the barrel. Wet a patch, stick the breech in the bucket, run the patch bownbore on the cleaning rod& "pump" water up & down in the barrel several times. Change patches & repeat until the patch stays white. Run a few dry patches through, let it set & completely dry while you're cleaning the nipple, hammer, lock, etc. When everything's clean, oil, re-assemble, and that's it!

All I will say is you are in for a lot of fun. I have been on the Inline bandwagon for9 years now, just decided what the heck I want to shoot the Hawken again. Well after an hour out back at the range i was putting them in there as good as I wanted for all practical purposes at 50 yds and one to check at 100 I realized I was having a riot and so was my 5 YO little girl helpin dad! After reading all the posts on this forum I use too much powder by the sounds of it but it what dad and I both used when we got our hawkens which is 90gr Pyrodex RS with the TC patch and a 490 roundball....