I wish! I cant wait for Alberta to join the union!
50 or 54?
- Thread starter Trooper
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If I really need to, I can always borrow my wife's .50
I guess hitting an elephant with a .50 would be all about bullet placement. maybe a head shot to the animals brain case.
My wife seems to handle her .50 TC Hawken ok, so far, she has only been out once with her rifle. It's either too cold for her or too windy. She'll have plenty of opportunity to shoot when the weather warms up. Anyway, she started with 40 gns of FFG and may work up her load, depending how she can handle the recoil. I shot my .54 and started with 80 gns of FFG. When I bought this rifle, It had some kind of plastic front and rear sights with fiber optics..... They are horrible! I found someone on E bay that had the original TC Hawken sites up for sale, I'm just waiting to see them delivered to our post office. I have a REAL bullet mold for .54 and one for .50 as well as a .495 RB mold for Alice. I'm casting our own using soft roofer's lead. What I really need is a RB mold .530 or preferably, a .535!!!!!!
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There again....I was using MY experiences from MY guns to answer the question. I never claimed to be an expert.
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A 530 is a RB that can adjust tighter with patch thickness ,then if you get a 535 you commit to thinner patch material . See where this goes ,better get the gun and find out it"s preference by asking to obtain 530 the 535 after .10 up to .20 patch material mattress ticking from Joannes Fabric ,seems I got all that stuff just ask/Ed
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.62 is on the list of things to get soon.
Eekjellander, you are right. since I'm just learning about this rifle, I've ordered both the .530 and .535 RB molds. I've acquired about 50 lbs of soft roofer's lead to cast round balls. I've also ordered a replacement site for my .54 ( there was a cheap useless plastic site system on the rifle when I bought it) I should have that new Hawken site by mid or end April, then comes the "testing phase"...
MtnWanderer
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I think they require 54 cal for PRB because they want you using a heavier projectile, and the 50 cal balls aren't as heavy as the 50 cal conicals.
And you're right. if you want to buy 54 cal bullets, you pretty much have to go mail order. And since Hornady quit making the 54 cal Great Plains, it's really a pain.
Well I found both the Lee .530 and .535 RB molds, so I'm set for the .54 cal rifle. I've also located and purchased both .490 and .495 RB molds for our .50s as well as a .50 REAL bullet mold. I've given my .54 to my stepson, Bobby, and my wife and I will be strictly .50 cal.
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I wouldn’t hesitate for two seconds to shoot an elephant with a .490 round ball.
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I was faced with this decision about 25 years ago when just getting started into ML and looking to buy my first rifle. I wanted to use it with conicals for elk in Colorado. The prevailing wisdom at the time said that the .54 was better for elk, so I went with that in a TC New Englander. Later I learned that, yes, their is some benefit to the .54, but it is quite slight. About that same time, the movement toward inlines hit, most of them in .50, so I switched to that, and of course they work fine for elk.
I applaud your decision to simplify your life and move toward just one caliber. When you're dealing with various molds, alloys, lubes, sizing, wads, etc, etc, having two calibers exponentially complicates matters. Trying to organize everything becomes a nightmare - it's hard enough with just one caliber!
A lot of it depends on your temperament. Some people don't mind the extra bother!
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To simplify muzzle loading /castin was never even considered by me , as boring would quickly come to mind ! I have been known to buy another gun in a different caliber because of a newly acquired mold in that caliber (many times) . If not for molds I would miss that and it is an extremely important part of my life ,so much that I pity those that are missing out. Kinda like building your own arrows/strings/bows ya know/Ed
Same as Tying your own flies. The satisfaction you get when you've created items that enhance your hunting or fishing experience is unbeatable.
I'm sure that Bobby will be asking me to cast RB and conical bullets for him. The whole idea of shooting together will bring our family closer together.
Matthew323
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The .50 cal is a better all around choice. There is nothing short of a grizzly bear that it won't kill, and kill well with a patched ball at 75 yards, and closer. If you are going to go larger, than jump up to at least .58 caliber. I have owned .45, .50, and .62 caliber long rifles, all with barrels at least 40" long. My favorite was the .62, but the most economical to shoot, lead wise, was the .45.
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Energy is energy, and a 500 grain slug out of a .45 has just as much as a .50 cal 500 grain slug, traveling the same speed. I would hunt anything, in North America, very confidently, with either. The .45 just extends your range a little. Less wind drag equals more speed which equals more energy.
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My vote would be for a .50 simply because supplies are a bit easier to find. In the unfortunate event you would need supplies almost every mz shooter could help.
Having said that, If I were restricted to shooting elk with a round ball I think I would find an excuse to get a .54. You know, never hurts to have another ml.
Having said that, If I were restricted to shooting elk with a round ball I think I would find an excuse to get a .54. You know, never hurts to have another ml.
I sure love the idea of a Hawken rifle. Just swap out your barrel to another caliber. I had originally bought a .54 caliber from a fellow living not too far from me. I actually traded a savage scout rifle (a safe queen)for the TC Hawken Renegade. The barrel had a set of plastic fiber optic sights that were meant for a round barrel, not the octagon barrel that the Renegade has. I removed them and installed a proper set of TC sights. My Wife at the time, expressed an interest in shooting BP, so that kind of gave me license to find a TC Hawken for her. I located a Decent .50 caliber Hawken in a pawn shop in B.C. We played around with our two rifles , but then I realized that we should have concentrated on only one caliber. I located another 50 cal TC Hawken on Town post and made arraignments to purchase that rifle. Again, I traded a shotgun (A safe queen) for this .50. Incidentally, the oldest of all three, but in pristine shape. I purchased a 54 caliber RB barrel from a fellow shooter on this site and asked my wife what now? Well, her son Bobby also expressed an interest in this sport, so he became the owner of the .54 caliber rifle but with the 1 in 70" twist barrel. The .54 caliber barrel with the faster twist that came with the rifle when I traded the Savage scout rifle, I'll keep. During all this, I found, through various sites, all the molds required to make the balls and R.E.A.L bullets for both rifles including a Lee precision production pot. This all started in the beginning of March, now we have all we need.
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