The Lyman Great Plains is closer to a real Hawken than the TC stuff, as is the Pedersoli Santa Fe Hawken.

If you get a barreltwist that is proper for heavy loads with PRB, itwill be too slow for conicals much longer than the Maxi Ball. If you wan to shoot HEAVY conicals, take a look at the Lyman Great Plains Hunter which has the proper twist for them.

IF you are really interested in getting to know something about traditional rifles, let me suggest that you check out this site!

http://www.americanlongrifles.com/

I don't know about the T/C , but my Trade rifle (1:48) likes Conicals more than PRB. I shoot a LEE REAL conical in 320 grain, with very good results. I tried some No Excuses 460 grain and all I did is bruise myself.

I believe the REALs, in .50 caliber at least, are short enough to work pretty well in a slow twist barrel (1/60" or slower).

I have a 54 Cal. T/C Renegade Hunter (single trigger). My load has always been 100 gr Pyrodex RS under a 435 gr Maxiball. I use the T/C peep sight. The gun shoots very well to 100 yds, and I've killed deer to about 80 yds. This load works very well on deer, but any heavy lead slug will work as well if it shoots accurately in your gun. Pass-throughs are the norm, which is good for bloodtrails, and in my experience the trail will be short.

Unclenorby - glaed you entered that post. I tried the 435 gr Maxiballs in my 54 Renegade but was only shooting 80 and 90 gr of RS. I was thinking of trying to push them a bit harder to see if accuracy would improve.