TC Hawkin Question
 

I just picked up a newer TC Hawkin 50 cal barrel with the QLA muzzle. I don't need it, but the price was tOOOOOO right. I know that TC barrels are tight or can be tight, the gentleman I purchased this gun from has only shot PRB's from it - very few at that, the bore is a bright mirror. My question is have any of you, shot sabots from this type of barrel? I am not intersted in power belts. I have a TC 54 it is almost impossibe to get sabots down it, so I am wondering about this barrel.

I am hoping I will get a chance to shoot it this weekend....

Thanks for the information in advance.

RE: TC Hawkin Question
 

My Hawkins is not a good sabot shooter.. but it does very well with PRB and conicals. It sounds like a good deal anyway to me. Have fun.

RE: TC Hawkin Question
 

Cayugad,

Is yours one of the newer ones? This one is only 3 years old...
What make of sabots are you using? I have a lot of different ones on hand
I just wish i could walk out in the back yard like you and do some shooting - I have to drive awhile....

RE: TC Hawkin Question
 

sabotloader : check out tradition web site,go to closeout items ,you will see the keith nose HP in the green sabot in 350 grains.I can tell you they easy to load in my t/c hawkens 50 cal. flinter and shoot great.I did purchase them off the tradition web site last year. I tried the Hornady SST and the xtp mag 240 grain,they will load in a clean barrel, after the shot the second one is a nitemare to get down the barrel,I won't try them at all.I found that thr REAL 320 grain conical and the keth HP 350 grainers shoot the same pattern with 85 grains of goex 3f.

RE: TC Hawkin Question
 

My Hawkins flintlock is one of the old ones. So old infact I had to send it back in for the newer model hammer and frizzen. It is a good roundball shooter and will shoot ball-ets excellent.

My two old Renegades are the old models also. They will not shoot a sabot to save their life. At least I have not found one, and I have very few sabots in .54 caliber to try in them.

RE: TC Hawkin Question
 

Cayugad,

Got home this evening from school and could not wait for the weekend - so I got a Nosler sabot and a 45 cal - 300 grain XTP mag - dropped it in the QLA pushed a bit more with the tip of my thump - got the range rod and pushed it down the barrel - piece of cake... it went down with resistance nothing real tight at all. I figured I could do it because I could blow it out with a CO2 discharger. I am really encouraged but I will actually get to shoot it this weekend.

I have a really older Renegade 54 cal - that I do shoot sabots and it shoots really well. It is that one I got off e-bay and I think I told you before the barrel looked terrible inside and even after i did everthing I could do to clean it up - but with t7 and 300 grain XTP's it is really accurate.

RE: TC Hawkin Question
 

I just ordered a pack of Speer 300 grain PSP for the .54 caliber I am going to give them a try. I figured for what little I paid for them, if they do not shoot, I throw them in a different sabot and shoot them out of something just for the fun of it.

Tomorrow I am headed to the big city (if you can call it that) and see what Wal Mart has on sale again....

Who makes Nosler Sabots? I have MMP, Harvester, Knight, T/C and Claybuster but no Nosler.... I am willing to try anything as long as I can shoot...

RE: TC Hawkin Question
 

I find the Noslers to be difficult to load. They seem to have changed plastic sabot manufacturers also. This time they appear to be MMP... just like T/C recently did by switching to Hornady. My most recent batch from Nosler featured tan 44/50s that were a bear to load. I threw the remaining 46 or-so leftover from the package away. I still have the black 45/50s. They are real thin & long petaled. I think they are MMP HPH-24s. However, they don't slide easy like the Harvesters. Both of these appear to be too soft of a plastic material that grabs the bore walls instead of slides. Stay with the Harvesters for tight bores... otherwise buy the MMP HPH-12s for normal/oversize bores.

I'm getting more n' more into shooting bulk Speer Gold Dot bullets. They come in 180, 200, 210, 240 and 270 grain for 50/54 caliber. I prefer the soft points . but I also own the hollows. They are just as accurate as the Hornadys. Eventually, I'm going to try Nosler bullets too. I see they come in .429 and .451 bulk too.

RE: TC Hawkin Question
 

Cayugad,

I am not sure who does make the Nosler Sabot... They do not match the pattern of any of the big two (Harvester-MMP). Originally they wre using a very odd color, a washed out orange (54), a real pale red(50) and another odd color for 44's. I thought I could sit down here at school and recall of this information, but it escapes me.

Tonight when I get home I am going sit get them all out, all brands, and compare them again. I have always been convinced that they were not MMP. The new Noslers I bought from Wholesale Hunter did change color to the more common Black 50 - Green 44 - Orange 54. They way i TRY to tell the different manufactures are the bases. Anyway I try to compile a table tonight if I get a chance. I am pretty sure that the Nosler is slightly thinner than Harvester or MMP HPH-24's. If I do not give myself to much homework tonight that will be my "project." I think at one point I had myself believing that Nosler might be making their own....

RE: TC Hawkin Question
 

Sabotloader

My purchase was relatively recent.. maybe a couple of months ago. First time I ever saw tan 44/50 sabots.

RE: TC Hawkin Question
 

T7,

I really think I remember those tan colored sabots - I beleive they are actually the older ones, and the 50-45's were another ulgly washed out color but I can not remember color it was. I am all out of the older Sabots - the newer Nosler's are 50-44's a washed out orange color 50-45's Black and 54-45's a faded out red color. These are the new colors. That is why I am having a problem matching up what company might make Nosler sabot no other company has their ugly/faded colors. Same for TC Mag Express sabots they have changed colors also their 50-44's use to be black now they are green and their 50-45's were another color but now they are red. The older TC Mags worked well in my guns but the new ones are a bit tighter.

Right now on the counter to my right I have 21 different sabots lined up looking to make some comparisons. The only definite one I come up with right now is a green Hornady and an older green MMP are the same. The TC mag Green 50-44 is different than either of those. The green Harvester 50-44 does not match up with any of the other green 50-44's.

I have taken some pictures and I will try to post them and some comparisons. In my guns the Nosler's are the easiest ones to get down and appear to be the thinnest. I am going to try to mic some of the petals, but I am not an engineer so I do not know how qualified I am, but I should be able to satisfy my curiosity.

Knight sabots are pretty easy to pick out the have the largest gaps between petals. New MMP HPH sabots are the tallest of the bunch - taller than any of the others. Well anyway I will do some more comparing...

RE: TC Hawkin Question
 

I find trying to measure sabots thickness is difficult if not impossible as some if not all seem to have thinner petals near the top but taper to thicker at the bottom and when the bullet is in the sabot it is usually slightly off the base of the sabot. When the bullet is pushed with the ramrod it forces it to the bottom of the sabot and into the thicker section making the OD larger. Generally Harvester sabots seem to be easier to load in my Omega which is real tight and most sabots won't go down with all my weight on the ramrod. Unfortunately I only weigh 158 lbs. When the sabots load that hard I find it nearly impossible to determine what compression I am putting on the powder charge and cannot get decent shot to shot comparison. Powerbelts shoot more consistently for me and I am sure it is because I can seat the bullet on the powder the same each time.