I am going to buy a ML and start shooting over the summer. I hope to deer hunt with it next fall. My question is should I buy a 45 or 50 cal.? How much difference will I see in bullet velocity, drop etc. (I know loads will make a difference here, but in general will I be able to tell much difference.) I do not plan to scope this gun, so shots to 100 yards will probably be about the limit.


I am strongly considering a TC Omega. Will this be a good choice? What other in-lines should I be looking at?

Thanks for the help.

Randy

Welcome to black powder shooting/hunting!
I'd go with a .50
More choices out there for you.
The TC is a great gun.
I have 2 older,sidelock TC and they have served me well for 30 years.
I just bought a CVA Optima Pro and like it so far even though I have only been to the range once with and still do not have it dialed in to my liking.
Shop around, see what gun fits you best.

If you're not going to scope it, you'd probably really enjoy something like a TC Hawken in .45 or .50caliber...

100grns of FFg (Goex or Pyrodex-RS)
An Oxyoke wonderwad
.018" TC prelubed pillow ticking patch
Hornady .440 ball (.45cal)
Hornady .490 ball (.50cal)

They take deer year after year all over the country with iron sights at typical 50-100yd woods distances

The T/C Omega .50 and the Knight Disc Elite .50 are the two best pure muzzleloaders going right now. The T/C Encore is great also if you prefer a gun that you can switch barrels on. By all means, I would get the .50 in whatever you buy. There's way more in the choice of projectiles for the .50 and most people seem to be able to achieve good accuracy out of a .50 with a little less trial and error than with a .45 ML. Good luck!

.50 caliber is the better choice. There is nothing that a .45 caliber can do that a .50 caliber can not match or do better. Also the selection of bullets is much better in the .50 caliber. We are going to a slower projectile, why would you want to also go to a smaller one? I would take the .50 caliber any day......

thats why they make them all ; 45 ; 50 ; 54 and so forth.it depends on what you like.if you find a rifle you like and it is in 45 cal. don't hesitate to buy it. there are just as many bullet and powder chocies for the 45 as there are for the 50 or 54.most people go with the 50 cal. because if you go west for bigger game,the laws make it 50 or above????????????????????

for white tail with open sights at 100 yards or less,it depends on you and what you like.they all work just as good as the other.

I have shot 45 cal. for the past 35 yeard now and love it.TC 45 hawken sidelock.went to an inline about 5 years ago also in 45.it has put meat in the pot every year after the first year.thats a bunch of meat.JMHO.


wish you luck in what ever you choose.you may go to the range and watch and ask questions,most BP shooters will give you a chance to shoot there gun.

Treeclimber, I've reached the point where I'm lucky to have a few different calibers too, standard twists, round ball twists, percussion, flint, etc...but after all the shooting and comparing and deer taken with them all, if I had to be stuck with only one muzzleloader, it would be a TC .45cal flintlock with 1:48" twist.

They shoot the 128grn patched round ball very accurately from powderpuff squirrel loads to full power deer hunting loads...and the 255grn maxi-hunter is a tack driver in them providing plenty of weight & energy for longer ranges and/or larger game, etc.

Thanks for all the replies. I really appreciate them. I have shot BP before. Never hunted with one though. My brother made a hawken from a kit years ago, I really enjoyed that and am ready to get back into it. With the comments here maybe I will just talk him out of it. I don't think he has shot it in years. It is a beautiful gun .45 cal. and would have some additional sentimental value.

My reason for looking for a new one is that hawken was a son-of-a-gun to clean. We used to shoot black powder and it took forever to clean it after shooting. It seems that the in-lines would be a lot easier to clean after a hunt. How do the new powders work in these older guns. I am thinking this gun is 25 years old.

Inlines are no faster to THOROUGHLY & PROPERLY clean than most traditional muzzleloaders, and a hooked breech muzzleloader (ie: TC Hawken) is about as fast as they get...all I use are TC Hawkens and it's become a pretty straight forward 30 minute job...this is the way I happen to clean & lube my muzzleloaders:

1) Pull the barrel and put it breech end down in a steaming hot pail of soapy water;
2) While the barrel is soaking & heating up, if it's a flintlock, clean the lock with a tooth brush dipped into the hot soapy water, then blow the internals out with an aersol can of WD40 to drive off all the moisture, lightly oil internals with something like Rem-Oil;
3) Then pump flush the bore with patches and always a good bronze bore brush til clean back down to the bare raw metal;
4) Now pump flush the bore in a separate small pail of hot clean RINSE water;
5) Immediately dry patch all the moisture out of the bore to avoid flash rust;
6) Let the residual heat in the barrel bone dry the the bore for a few minutes;
7) Then while still a little warm, heavily, heavily, heavily plaster the bore with Natural Lube 1000 (from a tube, etc) so you're certain every square inch is covered/protected.

They've been a joy to shoot, cleaning and lubing them this way for years.

I used Pyrodex-RS in several TC Hawkens for years, but when I switched to Flintlocks and Goex, I found it to be so fast, clean, and accurate, I rezeroed all my percussions to Goex...but Pyrodex did very well when that's all I had...it's just with Goex, ignition is never, ever a question...ignites extremely easy & fast.

stay with the .50