New poster
 

Greetings all. I'm just getting started posting on ML sites. I inadvertantly signed on to another site where mentioning those little plastic thingies you put around bullets gets you a mild reprimand. Nice folks over there and I did pick up some usable information, but they're kind of stuck in their ways. Anyway, thankyou "Semisane" for guiding me over to this site. I looked around for a bit before I registered & I think this may be a better fit for my present needs.

A while back I picked up a T/C Hawkins for a very good price. But then, if you get a bullet stuck in a barrel & then remove it by welding a drill bit on the end of a rod and don't stop till you start to break through the breech plug, it kind of spoils the value of your gun. Idiot! Him, not me.
The gun sat around a while till I discovered GM drop ins. I ordered the 50 cal. 1:28" twist because I wanted to shoot sabots. Between using 100 gr. 777 and the fact the gun really didn't fit me, I had real accuracy problems. The first thing I did was get rid of that T/C stock and build me a real nice thumbhole stock from a chunk of cherry I had kicking around my shop, complete with a Limbsaver buttpad. That made it more comfortable to shoot, but still didn't do anything for the accuracy. At least the fellows over at that other site did help me by letting me know I was using way too much 777. I'm not shooting great,yet, but I know I can make a deer dead if the opportunity presents itself in the next few weeks.
When I have more time, I'll come back for more & try to post a few pictures

Moosehuntersupreme

Good to have you here, welcome aboard the roller coaster - it certainly has its ups and downs - but for the most part this is a great forum...

mike

Also Moose, we sure do want to see some pictures of that cherry thumbhole stocked Hawken.

If you want to sell that TC stock, shoot me an email

Welcome, and I want to see a picture of that Moose you shoot too.

"But then, if you get a bullet stuck in a barrel & then remove it by welding a drill bit on the end of a rod and don't stop till you start to break through the breech plug, it kind of spoils the value of your gun."

Holy crap!

Yea lets see a pick of this beast you built!!!!

welcome to the forum.

Welcome to the forum. Don't let the comments bother you we have a couple of people that are immature.

Just so you know, in case a bullet finds its way down your new barrel without the benefit of a powder charge beneath it, there are 2 easy ways to remove it. I know it sounds dumb, but it happens to just about everyone eventually.

Easiest may be the bullet worm which screws on the end of a ramrod. Just push against the bullet and turn clockwise until the thing screws into the lead, then pull it out.

The other way is to remove the nipple and push grains of powder into the breech through the flash hole. Takes a few minutes but it doesn't take all that much. Replace nipple, cap and fire at a target a few feet away.

Moosehuntersupreme

Great to have you here! It's a good place to waste some time, laugh at the nonsense and learn things along the way. I would love to see a pic of that custom piece you've made!

Photos -maybe
 

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Welcome to the Forum!!!

You must be talkign about the Traditional Muzzleloading Forum...I'm over there as well, just don't mention what other muzzleloaders I have... :)

Uncle Norby, Yep, I know that, & the guy who did the drilling could have known that too, if he'd just asked. I'm not totally new to ML, I'm just new to this gun.

Flounder 33, Patience! I do have a few moose pictures. Some of mine & some of buddies I've helped get their first. They're all on film, so I'll have to do some copying first

thats a very very nice job on that stock.and welcome..........karl

That is one sharp gun! Welcome to the forum.

Welcome to the forum.:sign0016:

Good looking ml, welcome to the forum.

Welcome to the forum. That is a really nice gun.

thats a bueaty, love the stock. welcome

I really like the job you did on the stock!! That looks fun to shoot.

Wow Moose. You're got a nice touch with woodworking tools. It's a beauty, but the Hawken brothers would poop their pants. :D

New Poster
 

Thanks Semisane and all the other posters who had nice things to say about my stock. It definitally is a departure from the Hawken style, but, who knows, maybe the brothers would have liked it if they had thought of doing it that way. And, for sure, if it was an original Hawkens, I never would have committed a sacrilege like that.
I recently put a commercial thumbhole on my Dad's Rem 725, 30-06. Never before have I shot that gun so comfortably or so accurately. I figured if it could do that for a CF, it couldn't be bad for a ML.
I've still been having some accuracy problems, so I've followed Semisane's progress with his Virgin Sister. I took the rear sight off the old barrel & ground the bottom to fit the tang of the new gun & filed the slant off the back of the notched sight. To that I soldered a brass disc I made from the ear off an eared brass pipe elbow. The whole works was screwed to the tang so it lined up with the original GM rear sight. After removing the GM rear sight, I had a real nice peep. I'm still waiting for the 7/32"x40 tap I need so I can install a proper aperture. In the meantime, the 3/16 hole gives me a ghost sight that allowed me to shoot 4" groups with 60 gr T7 & 250 gr SSTs at 50 yards. That'll be good enough for deer next week & when I finish the sight & have more time, I'll work at finding the sweet spot on the powder measure for that gun and see what it'll really do.

Sounds awfully technical to me!
But it's a real nice looking gun - - and welcome to the forum.
I too started out on that other board several years ago, but after selling my only round ball gun, discovered that I had nothing to talk about. :biggrin:

Sounds like a neat sight job Moose. Can you post a picture?

I love "make it work" tinkering. I have an idea for converting the existing bolt on my recently acquired Rem 700ML to work with 209 primers. It seems so ridiculously simple that I can't believe it hasn't been done before. (Well, maybe it has - and didn't work. :s2: )