Hawkens 50 Cal
 

My son and I have been playing with a new toy for the past few days. Got a Traditions 50 Caliber Hawken Woodsman. I have no idea what makes this one a Woodsman vs a St Louis or Mountain or Prairie Hawkens. They all look the same to me but it looks pretty nice for a pretty inexpensive model.



We sighted it in yesterday and today we started tinkering with finding a bullet and powder load that grouped well. Well we found one. This was shot from a Lead sled because I wanted to see what the gun would do with each load not what I could do. 80 grains of Swiss 2F black powder, felt wad over the powder lubed with Ballistol and a 275 grain TC Maxi Hunter conical. Three shots from 50 yards.


I can live with that. Lots of fun shooting these old style rifles.

Well Todd, sometimes you just have to accept a gun's limitations. ;)

(Excellent!)

Uhhh



Ya! I think that'll work lol

I guess that's not too shabby. I used that same bullet for years until I started casting my own. They work well on deer too.

Looks like you found a winner load. BUT I would advise no further use of the lead sled. My dad and I both experienced split tangs from using them. Rifle stocks are designed for the absorption of shock by the shoulder. Without the absorbing of shock, all that speed generated by the shot is transferred from the barrel/receiver directly into the tang like a wedge into wood.

I hear ya but I never put any weight on it like some do with sand bags or barbell weights. And I only use it for load development when I want to eliminate as much of the human variable as possible. I shoot off bags for the most part.

That 80gr of Swiss 2F has been a fantastic load for many 50cal ML’s