Bear Hunting = Wild Idea
 

Well I went bear hunting Friday and today. With no such luck. Its still winter in the mountains and most of them havn't woke up yet. So we will have to wait and see. HOWEVER a very crazy idea came upon me. I have a 50 cal Renegade. I got the barrel from TC when they had no more .54. 50 cals are fine and that, but my bread and butter are .54 cals. My other Renegade is a .54, my flint is a .54, and my pistol is .54. See the pattern? I'm really thinking about selling that .50 barrel (its new, i never shot it) and getting the GM LRH in .54. Buying the Sabots from MMP and shooting GET THIS.... 500 grain XTP mags! Just the thought makes me giddy!! So this is what Bear Hunting has done to me.

haha
I have been dealing with the winter in the mountains also. There is still so much snow in the "good areas" that the bears haven't even thought of coming out...

-South

That's not going to work for you 50Cal. The GM .54 replacement barrels are 1:70 twist round ball barrels. I don't see any way that would stabilize a 500 grain bullet.

Its a .54 LongRangeHunter with the twist of 1:28. http://www.gmriflebarrel.com/product...aspx?id=323938 I can buy it from them direct or Track of the Wolf. And MMP Sabots make the sabot to fit the .500 bullet. http://www.mmpsabots.com/ Here are my xtps http://www.cabelas.com/product/Shoot...3Bcat104275080

I've pretty much convinced myself in getting the barrel just gotta sell my Renegade .50 cal.

Have you found the barrel in stock? GM barrels are hard to find now.


btw..Bears aren't that hard to kill. Unless you're talking about a Grizz. I'd carry all I could for them.

Great! I didn't even know GM made the LRH model in .54, much less actually have them available. If you want it, grab it while it's available.

Ive shot 54x50 in a 1-28 twist and ive found a Rem CLHP 50-385gr to be about max. The sabot simply wont handle much more powder and recoil is brutal. I had to go upto a max load of BH209 just to get good groups and several MMP purples failed. The Barnes RED 54x50 sabots are tougher (never failed) but only come with Barnes bullets.

I would use the bullet Tony Knight recommended with a 54x50....The Speer 50-325gr HP or the Rainier 50-335gr if you want to save a bunch of money. $29/100 is a great deal IMO at MidwayUSA and its good enough for Alexander Arms to load in Beowulf ammo at 1900fps.

Well I ordered it from Track of the Wolf. They were ten dollars cheaper. Also ordered 1000 cleaning patches from them. They were really cheap compared to what I pay for in town. Also order some sabots. Got 100 purple and 50 red. It will probably be awhile before I buy 500 grain bullets so I got red so I could shoot my 300 xtps that i have for my inline. I'm not worried about the recoil. My father has a .458 lott that I LOVE to shoot. I don't know why I like soo much punishment from a gun. Its interesting that the purple didn't hold up. Maybe you had a bad bunch. Have to wait and see. So who wants a .50 Renegade barrel????

Actually i talked to Del about the problem and that is why Barnes had him make a different sabot for them. ;)

Ive shot many many 54x50s and the 300-325gr options are PLENTY. The 50-300gr FTX performed really well. The 50-300gr GoldDot performs awesome in the 1700fps range and penetrates nearly 22" of gel. Speer offers a 50-350gr SP if you want even more penetration.

I seriously doubt you will get more fps than i can with 120gr of BH209 in a side lock, so your choices are even more limited. My little GMB54-120 carbine (6.5lbs) with a 385gr CLHP, pus sabot weight and a max load of BH209 is barking right on the heals of a full sized 458 Lott rifle in recoil. The calculator on handload.com puts my top load at over 55lbs of free recoil at just 1750fps with a 385gr/13gr sabot and 120gr of powder. Thats also adjusted for the extra weight of the scope and rings.

Recoil really isnt the problem, its getting the bullet to stabilize well and heavier bullets will need over 1700fps to even get close. Plus they may not expand properly if they will shoot slower.

I hope you asked them if it was in stock? TOW has a habit of taking the money even when it's backordered.

TOW is an excellent place to do business with, been doing it there for along time.

When you check out of TOW there is form for use to choose how you want to handle a BO if or when it occurs.

If you ever have a problem at TOW - Call Linda at TOW and she will fix the problem..

Not everybody feels the same way. Some have ordered gun kits and had the money taken up front. Some of the kit didn't arrive for 3 months.

I've had a couple of bad experiences. Mostly good, but not all.

You have an option at the time you order to be charged now or later, if you failed to take advantage of the option is that TOW's fault.

I can not remember the actual wording of the statement but it is there for you to choose...

What happen to ones i'm talking about is they weren't told all the parts weren't in stock. So, it was natural to pay for all of it. Trying to get the money back was the unfriendly part.

There's no problem if you insist on knowing if all the parts are in stock.

And again one the last order pages it gives you the option by saying if anything BO or not in stock, you can choose to pay for it now and get free shipping when it comes in or pay for it when it comes in but you will be charged shipping for the items.

So it is your choice...

Too bad it didn't always work that way for others.

You seem to have missed my point in all this. They don't tell you if something isn't in stock. It's up to you to ask. (my point)

Correct - that happens in the email you get later confirming your purchase and the one that they send to tell you what is being shipped.

You mean the ones you get after you payed? Or the ones you never get, because they didn't ask for your e-mail addy?

I don't want to argue about something as stupid as this.

I gave my advice. Ask if what you order is in stock. Simple.

ive dealt with TOTW before many times. The online order forum has a " if not in stock" and then options of like, cancel that item out, bill me later, ect. They've always been good to me and orders come in quickly.

I order everything by phone from everybody.

Well that might be kinda difficult since they require your email address and then even ask you to confirm it....

WOW.....whats the deal Muley Hunter???? It almost seems that on every post you are soooo negative. I dont see many positive post from you. Always a argument. And yes TOW had it in stock. Their website is very up todate and will tell you if its not in stock.

I was just trying to help by saying to check if it was in stock. It became negative when others don't believe it's a problem.

I should just ignore them and let it be.

This is not the only forum I post on. On another forum there was a long thread on the problems some guys have with TOW. I was just passing it on.

Here's the problems with forums. Everybody has an opinion based on their personal experience. If they don't have a problem with something. They assume there's no problem. It doesn't always work that way.


As for my attitude lately? 100 stitches in my face, and the only eye I can see out of has lost half it's vision. I guess my fuse is a little short when i'm given some grief. Sorry.

Miss my post about the phone?

I think I feel a group hug coming on... :arms:

:party0005:

Lets just have a few beers and call it good. But dont shoot and drink.

I've been in a crappy mood the last couple of weeks. Sorry guys.

Its ok it happens to the best of us. I wasn't trying to mean, just something I noticed. I'm sure if we were in your shoes we would all be the same way.