sabet bullets in old tc hawken 50 cal

[casper31]

I have had a t/c 50 cal hawken it is about 22 years old and still shoots great with pyrodex and hornady buffalo bullets.Just wondering if i can shoot all the new bullets out there or do i have to stick with the lead bullets in this older style of muzzleloader?

 

[Whiterock]

Over the years I have took several deer with Hornady XTP bullets in sabots from my T/C Renegade.It shoots them pretty good.I kind of retired the Renegade now ,but still would not hesitate to use it.

 

[ce61]

i have shot a couple deer with the 250 grain tc sabots with the yellow plastic tip with 100 grains of pyrodex. i also went to a musket cap for better ignition. ce61

 

[cannonball]

Every ML is different. I custom made a 45 Cal Leman Trade rifle with a 1 in 60" twist Green River 36" long barrel. Couldn't shoot a round ball and be legal for deer, so I tried a sabot that a friend was using in his Knight Rifle. I was completely floored by the tack driving accuracy. Trial and Error is the only way you will know what will work and what won't. That's from my 38 years of ML experience.

 

[ce61]

trial and error may be the only way, but if a bullet shoots good out of the same type of rifle, with the same twist, sounds like a good place to start. ce61

 

[cannonball]

Yes, but only a start. Don't discount any combination until you have tried it in your gun. I started out with the old TC and some guns would shoot great and some would not - - and some - - - - well you just had to find the right combination for them to shoot accurately at all. Some you would have to shoot the barrels in before they would group (several hundred shots).

I'm just here to tell you that stories could get wild about the slow twist days and combination used. Heard of one person using a little modern powder along with black powder. Ended up with his head stitched up and a blown barrel.

Most of you modern ML hunters it is just another hunt, but in the "beginin" it was a way of life.