Renegade .54
 

Hi all

I have been doing some research on a Thompson Renegade in .54 caliber but wanted to ask opinions on what this muzzleloader would shoot the best. PRb, conical etc. I have two Omegas now and shoot 300 grain XTP's very well and would love to do the same with a Renegade but from research it doesn't sound promising.

Your thoughts please

No offense here. But wouldn't you find it 'boring' to use the same 300 grain bullet in your 54?

For instance:
I have two 1:28 MLs in 50-cal. Been thinking I want to shoot monster 460 grain conicals in my Knight and lightweight 200 grain sabot/bullet in my Omega. I also have a longrifle Shenandoah that covers my slow twist, roundball/patch fetish I get.

Why not conicals or a roundball in that 54? That's the Uno Numero #1 caliber for roundballs (my opinion). Why buy 54 cal plastic sabots to shoot XTPs 54/45 in a third ML?

Personally I would turn that 54 into a full-bore, all-lead / no sabot ML.

Seeing as how it's probably a "middle of the road" 1:48 twist, I would try everything and see which it likes the taste of best.

BPS

I have two of the .54 caliber Renegades with the standard barrel. They shoot roundball real good. They also shoot some conicals. But in the few instances I have tried shooting sabots... I did not have good results. Now in the .50 caliber that's different. But never had the same luck with the .54. And I never had them accurate to distances. Out to 50 yards.. they did hunting fine. But the roundball is all you need in that caliber.

I had zero luck with sabots.

Maxi-balls stabilized, but accuracy was just OK (Did not keep me from killing plenty of deer, but that was due to getting real close).

Maxi-hunter would not stabilize, and LEE REAL were in between.

I also tried Great Plains bullets will mixed results.

All testing was done with Pyrodex RS.

No offense taken at all! Simplicity is what I was thinking of, it would be fun to learn another muzzleloader and do something different. To be honest I figured the consensus would be a patched roundball but wanted to ask. Thank you

Thank you for your response. Are you saying that even with .54 caliber and PRB you could not get accuracy to 100 yards? Where we hunt we can easily have a 100 yard shot yet do realize I need to keep expectations grounded with what I'm working with.

Thanks again

Mark

I would try some maxiballs and great plains. No excuses (460 gr) might also do well.

And if you keep the powder low (say in the 90-100 gr range) powerbelts would probably be accurate and should be big enough to do the job in 405 or 444 gr bullets.

The patched round ball is plenty accurate out to and past 100 yards if you have good eyes and practice. I never had sabots shoot all that accurate. I also shot a lot of conical bullets and while out to 100 yards they did fine, after that I never tested them much. Some of the conicals my rifles like is the maxi ball, Great Plains in 425 gr which they no longer make I understand, I shot some of the BS conceals but had mixed results depending in the powder and the charge. My .54 did shoot the 405 grain Power Belts very good.

My .50 caliber Renegade did shoot sabots better then the .54 caliber. I was able to get hunting accuracy. But understand, my ranges in the woods are 50 yards and under for the most part.

90 grains FFG Goex + 018" pillow ticking patch + .530" round ball shot well from my T/C Renegades. 1 percussion, and 1 flinter. Never had any luck with Maxiballs, and Maxihunters.