Picked up thegun belowon gunbroker today, can't wait for it to get here. Sounds like it may have been n.o.s. or a rifle that saw very little use. Currently I have 4 .50 cals and have been looking for a little variety, either a .54 or a .45. The latter won out, but I'd still like to find a .54 with a slow twist. This picture is off of gunbroker, I'll post pics as soon as I get it as well as a range report. Thiswill make a nice gun for the trips when my wife accompanies me to the range, but I'll get some use out of it too


The addiction continues.

Glad to see some new iron coming your way Cory. We need a few "new gun" shooting reports. I'm still waiting for the .45 barrel for my Renegade. It should arrive next week andwillbe my first .45 also.Looks like we'll be shooting them at about the same time. Got any load plans yet? I've ordered some 285 grain Great Plains bullets for my break in range session.

great find man! I dont see many in .45cal.

I'm going to pick up some maxi-hunters, prg's, and whatever else I can find at the local shop. Don't think they carry much for the .45, may have to take a ride to RMC, I'll be in Pennsylvania in two weeks on the motorcycle and it's a nice ride to mingoville. If I don't make it to RMC, I'll order some conicals off the internet.

I downloaded the manual for the investarm and it says 55 grains max for prb's and 50 grains max for conicals, fffg black powder. Never had a .45 or paid much attention to people loads on here, seems on the low end, but that's what they recommend as the max.

I try to live vicariously through others on the board and love range reports and hearing about new guns, but there's nothing like doing it for yourself. I thought about another gm barrel, but thought I'd go with a whole new platform. Good luck with your .45 Semi.

Cory.

50 grains max with a conical? That aint right. Or atleast i hope its not!

Here's the link to the manual:

http://www.investarm.it/media/pdf/manuale_avancarica_uk.pdf

with ffg it says 60-75 grains depending upon conical weight. I have to take a look at my t/c manual and see what there numbers are for comparison.

That does seem to be a little on the conservative side. The TC manualshows 90 grains FFg for balls and 80 grains FFg for Maxi's in the .45 caliber Cherokee and Seneca models.

tc 45 hawken with maxi shows 100g ffg blackpowder as a max load.

I think you'd be safe using atleast 90 and 100 grains with the maxi. I can tell you this. 70g pyrodex p with a 240g maxiballs VS mule deer @ 30 yards SUCKS.

FG,
Did tha load suck for the mule deer (dead) or for you (lost or wounded deer)? Not quite sure what you meant by your post, but I think maybeit sucked for you.

Anyone have any experience with the investarm brand of guns? I believe they make Lyman's guns and cabela's hawken and they are both quality brands.

I have the exact model as that and in the cal. you wanted:



It is a Sportized Cabala's Hawkens Carbine in .54 cal. The only thing is it has a fast twist rate of 1 in 24". I like it though and shoot Barnes sabots in it. I harvested a very large doethis past season. It is a very accurate gun and one I like very much. The short barrel makes it an easy gun to hump in the woods.

A friend of mine gaveme an Investarms barrel in .50 cal. The only problem is it has somenasty corrosion within a few inches of themuzzle. Because it has a chomed lining, it makes it very hard to try and lap the damage. So far it shoots a PRB within about 2 to 2.5" at 50 yards. Beenthinking of getting a new barrel withthat caliber and twist rate for PRBs.

I guess I should check withGM? Most everyone seems to use them for replacement barrels.