Range report: T/C Renegade .54

[Confederate rifleman]

Her best results to date!
10 rounds. 4 were No Excuses 535 grainers kindly provided by Michiganmuzzy.
Thank you Sir!
6 were ball. .530s to be precise.
The 535s are a BIG bullet and I wasn't sure they'd stabilize in a 1-48 twist. Took 4 just to see.
The first shot went high and right. She doesn't usually do this, but it might've been me anticipating recoil.
And there WAS recoil...
They went down like a minie. LOVE that! I did use a .58 wad too.
All loads were with 70 grains of 3f Swiss.
The ball loads were Hornady swaged .530s, .015 Ox Yoke pre lubes and a .58 wad. This combo is a HARD ram! Would be impossible in the field.
The bag said the patches were .018, but my caliper , uncrushed, said. 015.
The last shot... Aaargh...
The patch was off center and was rather abused.
Wonder if it would've cut the 3rd shot from the 2nd group...
I have a T/C aperture sight on her and it really does wonders!
Previously, I had Iosso bore cleanered the daylights out of her, in an effort to make her more polite to patches.
She has no pitting, but she does have the usual complement of tool marks...
No leading with the conicals btw.
One good day does not a trend make.
But it is encouraging!

 

[bronko220002]

I'm not recoil shy and shot my share of big bore CFs but at almost 70 years young I refuse to shoot those big chunks of lead out of my 54s and 58s. Of course they wouldn't shoot very well out of my 58s as they're slow twist. I do shoot 480 grainers out of a couple of my 50s and they're not too bad.
That's respectable shooting.

 

[Semisane]

Looking darn good CR.

 

[Semisane]

I'm not recoil shy and shot my share of big bore CFs but at almost 70 years young I refuse to shoot those big chunks of lead out of my 54s and 58s.

I'm right there with you Bronko. For me, 54s and 58s are ball shooters only. I don't even shoot heavy lead out of my 50s, though I do like Ed Mehlig's 460s in the .45 Renegade. When it comes to big bores, the older I get the more I favor my balls.

 

[Confederate rifleman]

Thanks all.
My P53 Enfield does quite well with minies. Lyman 575213OS to be precise. 460 grains iirc, but in a 10 lb rifle it ain't 'tall bad. I can only imagine what big lead out of a T/C Big Boar would be! Especially with higher charges than my 70 grains. The B.B. is lighter than my .54 Renegade.
This load in the Renegade isn't as bad as the 400 grain Lyman Plains out of my BARELY 7 lb Firehawk.
THAT'S an attention getter. Accuracy is SOLIDLY in the spooky realm too.
With decent weight, and a good stock design, recoil can be controlled surprisingly well.
Still, sometimes that whole " equal and opposite" thing is unpleasant.
But I can imaging what one of these soup cans could/ would do to a bear.
That they load so easily is a point in their favor in such applications.
Let's get that second round on powder quickly!
Just in case...

 

[edmehlig]

Mark, the last time I spoke to Idaholewis he uses .020 with his 530 size balls for the best accuracy. and 50cal patches. Yes, it was a little harder to push down but it gave him the best accuracy. Next in line was the .018 patches. Oh yea, he used his favorite load 80gr of Swiss 2F.

Here's a video that he created on what he does in shooting patch and round balls that I thought you might find interesting. He claimed he got better accuracy with this method.