shooter50

I recently picked up an old T/C Renegade (.50cal)off of an old man for $125 bucks. The gun is in great condition considering the age.Because of mynot so good eyesight I put a 4X scope on it and itshoots .490 roundballs at 75 yards in a 2" group. I have already shot 4 deer this year so the freezer is full and I was bound and determined to shoot a deer with the round ball. The day before yesterday I shot a little doe at 60 yards quartering to me in the neck and the ball ran through her and came out in front of the rear ham. My dad has hunted with a .54 Hawkens for years with roundballs and taken deer out to 100 yards with ease and he recommends that if I choose to contine using the roundballs I should get a .54 GMB 1-70" twist drop in barrel. Im not doubting his experience but what do you all think. Also I dont want to shoot conicals due to leading issues, can you use powerbelts in the old renegade? is it effective? And also where I hunt I have shots out to 150 yards. Any info and suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

UncleNorby

It's your preference to shoot roundballs, and that's fine. But don't stay away from conicals for leading reasons. I've shot conicals in 50 and 54 cal Renegades for years with no leading problems. I don't think you could generate enough fps with normal loads of BP or Pyrodexin a 1:48 twist to create leading problems.

A 54 cal RB is "better" than a 50 cal RB IMO, but as others have said on this forum, dead is dead.

bronko22000

Your old Renegade is a fine rifle. And I am willing to bet it has a 1:48 twist. Your barrel should shoot Powerbelts just fine. You may also want to try some 300 grain .430" Hornady XTPs and Harvester Green Crushed Rib sabots (50 cal for .44 Bullet).
I assume your rifle is a percussion cap so you may want to push that bullet with either FFg or Pyrodex RS. Start at 80 gr and work up to 90 and 100 and see what shoots best for you.
Good luck.

cayugad

First off welcome to the forum.

You have a good rifle. But I will state that I do not recommend shooting roundball out to 150 yards although they will do it. Conicals do not lead up the bore as much as you might think. I shoot conicals out of mine all the time and with a bore brush and some solvent can clean up anything that might be in there.

Some of the 1-48 twist barrels shoot powerbelts very well. Even sabots. So all you can do is experiment. If you want to shoot powerbelts, many suggest a load of 80 grains of power. If you can place that powerbelt, conical, sabot, even a roundball, it will still do the deed out to 150 yards. You might not get a drop and flop, but there is the potential.

The .54 caliber barrel you mention is a good barrel. And one of our members demonstrated what a .54 caliber roundball can do on a elk at long range this year. I shoot a lot of Renegades. They are one of my favorite rifles. If you wanted you could go to a 1-28 twist and shoot sabots. Then you have a scoped rifle that is as accurate as any inline with a sabot. I also have a 1-28 barrel and I shoot a .58 caliber 1-70 twist and it is a very accurate rifle with a 110 grains of powder and a roundball....

shooter50

The man i bought the rifle give me a box of maxi-balls and maxi-hunters. They are so old the grease on them has turned white and gotten hard and falling off. What do you use to re-lube them? I was told that once you leaded a barrel you could never get it out, but I am glad to hear that is not the case. What are ya'lls cleaning method with sighting and shooting maxi-balls for example?

UncleNorby

Bore butter or Wonder Lube, or whatever they call it will work fine. Crisco will do ina pinch. You can make your own with bees wax and other stuff around the house. Cayugad did a real nice post on cleaning. Search this forum for it.

cayugad

That's my Renegade with a 1x32mm scope on it. That is a stainless steel 1-28 twist barrel made by Green Mountain Barrel Company. I honestly believer that with a good scope of magnification, I could shoot sabots as well as any inline rifle out there. Right now I shoot 100 grains of Pyrodex RS and a .44 caliber 300 grain Hornady XTP in a green harvester crushed rib sabot.


To clean lead out of a barrel get a bore brush, patches, cleaning jag, solvent, and gun oil. Saturate a patch with solvent. I like Hoppies or Bore Scrubber. Even brake cleaner will work. Then swab that bore and get it good and saturated with the solvent. Now put the brush on. Dip that in the solvent. And push all the way to the bottom of the breech and back up. I never scrub with the brush on as it will wear down the bristles. Also as the brush goes down the bore it follows the lands and grooves and removes any deposits in there. Pull the brush back out, and check to make sure it is tight as they will turn loose. Dip it again, and do the same thing. Now put on a cleaning jag and saturate a patch with solvent and swab the bore of the barrel. If there is any fowling, it will be out. Now dry patch the barrel until dry and clean. Now apply a good quality gun oil to a patch and swab the bore of the rifle with that oil patch. You are good to go now.

shooter50

How many shots you think could be fired before the accuracy starts to go and that cleaning process will be needed? I have to tell you I have used inlines for 10 years now. But I am down to one inline now and I know it will never see the woods again that old renegade has got me hooked!!! By the way thanks for your responses

UncleNorby

You need to give the gun a cleaningafter each use. At the range you can and should swab between shots or every other shot.

I have never found it necessary to remove lead from any of my Renegades, and all they saw was lead conicals of one type or another.

cayugad

For many years I shot REAL conicals out of my .54 caliber Renegades, and we practiced all year. I think I only bore brushed them twice a year. The lube on the conical helps to protect the lead from melting and also helps in the rotation of the conical in the trip up the bore.

When you clean your rifle between shootings, you will see small dull gray flecks of metal on your patch. That is lead. That means you might want to bore brush the barrel with some solvent. Other then that I just give them a hot water bath like normal, then a solvent patch or two, then an alcoholpatch to help dry them, some dry patches and finally an oil patch to protect them. I have four Renegades and they are all good shooters BUT one of them, I have never found a conical that will shoot well out of it. But it does shoot roundball excellent. So that's good enough for me.