shot Bobby Hoyt barrel today

Well finally got my Renegade barrel out to shoot it today, it was a chopped .50 barrel I did, but sent it to Bobby to be rebored to .54 due to a severe rust/pitting problem it had from previous owners...anyway 1st 5 shots were with 90 gr. Goex 3f and a 535 gr no-excuse, let me say this that load in the now very light Renegade will get your attention, even with a rubber buttpad I mounted on it... got it centered on bull at 40 yds then shot 5 more with 80 gr. of 3f, much better but still a stout load.. ended up with about a 3 in group.. this was at 40 yds off Primos shooting sticks standing... still needs alot of breaking in yet but looks promising, would hate to be a whitetail on the recieving end of those big slugs. will post pics of groups after broke in and get a load worked up.. want to get some big .500 pistol bullets to try in it with a sabot, its a 1:28 twist now...

it sounds like a interesting barrel. I will be watching your post because I have a barrel that might need the same thing. and I'd like to have a conical shooting traditional barrel..

Going out in a bit to shoot it again, going to try 70-75 gr. of 3f and see how it does, only going to be shooting 40-50 yds max in the thickets I hunt so it doesnt have to be traveling super fast..its plenty accurate now for those distances but would like to get it down around 1.5 in. at 50 yds with open sights, not sure if my eyes will let me even if the barrel is capable..

cayuga said:

it sounds like a interesting barrel. I will be watching your post because I have a barrel that might need the same thing. and I'd like to have a conical shooting traditional barrel..

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Took it out and shot it again at 40 yds standing off sticks with 75 gr. Goex 3f this time and still got about exactly the same size group, softball size...going to have to get a Sims slip on recoil pad for it as after 5 shots my shoulder was toast, its got a big red welt on it now..
recoil is sharper then a 12 ga. slug especially with the hard rubber recoil pad I have on it, a Sims should make it bearable to shoot..
Ive bruised the crap out of my middle finger where the curve part of the trigger guard slams into it when I forget to put my finger inside it, wish it had a regular trigger guard like the single trigger ones have instead of this fancy looking one.
Will post more results after I get to gun shop to get recoil pad..

What twist rate did he put in it? I have shot large conicals with as little as 65 grains of powder and they still have plenty of thump behind them.

I told him to put whatever twist would work with these huge conicals, I thought he said 1:26 when I talked to him originally.. but when I measured it myself twice I came up with 1:28 so he may of decided on that twist as being better... would call him and ask but hate to bug him as hes really busy..

cayuga said:

What twist rate did he put in it? I have shot large conicals with as little as 65 grains of powder and they still have plenty of thump behind them.

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Good report.
In further testing if the groups do not shrink, consider trying a wad under the bullet.
If you don't have any but would like to try a few let me know.

My brother-in-law has an untested Hoyt barrel for his custom Hawken by John Bergmann, its rifled with a 1:24 twist like a White muzzleloader. John Bergmann said he shot it with .495 patched round ball and that he considered it a tack driver with a modest charge of KIK black powder. We had it made with the idea of shooting conicals like the .50 No Excuses 460 grain bullet.

thanks appreciate the offer, might take you up on it..

Curious as to the turn around time from Mr. Hoyt. I have heard nothing but good things about him and his work.

Your barrel should shoot the .500 size bullets just fine. I did a little experiment with my 54 cal Lyman Trade rifle. It's a 1-48 twist and I picked up some .500 size Rainer pistol bullets they are 335 grns HP copper coated lead. I paired them with a purple 54cal sabot from MMP. I began at 80 grns of fffg goex and ended up at 90grns. 2 1/2" 3 shot group at 60yds. The holes were nice and crisp so I believe they are shooting stable. I'm going to drop back to 100yds next time and see if they still group well. The 1-48 twist is not ideal but the bullets are for a 50 AE pistol and seem to be stubby enough for the twist. Good luck.

MidwayUSA had some Hornady .500 300gr XTPs on sale the other day. Probably not the best choice for a hunting bullet but they are quite "stubby". IIRC they also had some .500s in 350gr. I think they were Speers but im not sure. A 350gr will stabilize in a 54 1-28.

I just checked, it looks like the sale is over. The Rainiers are cheap though.
http://www.midwayusa.com/product/105014 ... uctFinding