Why Calico, my .50 Firehawk, is Boss Hen

[Confederate rifleman]

Y'all know her. 24 inch, stainless/ walnut .50 caliber, aperture sight.
I have a number of loads, all use 70 grains of 3f Swiss. The 230 grain XTP uses a regular Harvester smooth sabot. The 250 and 300s require crush ribs.
Big lead is the Lyman 400 grain Plains, lubed with SPG and a .54 lubed Ox Yoke wad. There's also the 370 grain Lyman Maxi, same lube, bottom groove only and same wad.
Velocities as follows:
230 grain- 1630 fps
250 grain- 1575 fps
300 grain- 1500 fps
Lyman 400 grain- 1350 fps
Lyman 370 grain- Not yet chrono'd, but I suspect about 1400 fps.
Here's the kicker though. Zeroed to have the 300 grain XTP hit point of aim at 100, the 230's are + 3", the 250s + 2", the Lyman 400s -1" and the Lyman 370s- dead nuts.
So. Out to 100 yards, 5 different loads can be used with ZERO necessary sight changes!
I have done no bedding work on this one. The barrel came fully floated.
To me, this borders on miraculous.
Such a GOOD girl...
Calico and the " doe loaf". That one fell to the 300 grain XTP. 85 yard shot. Didn't feel like wasting the round after bear season, sooo...
She was 125 lbs dressed. On scales, no guesses.

 

[phalanx]

Sweet looking rifle!

 

[Confederate rifleman]

Thank you. She do be purty! Has some really nice grain in the action area. It's also very hard walnut there, and that's a very good thing for standing up to recoil forces. She does introduce herself when shooting big lead. Haven't weighed her, but she seems to weigh about the same as a '94 Winchester carbine.
The stock is incredibly well designed. It's funny. Shooting these loads out of my Hawken and Renegade, excepting the 300 grain XTP which need a 1-39 to stabilize, recoil is more noticeable in spite of their greater weight.
Firehawks are one of the few rifles I recommend without hesitation or reservation. The ONLY caveat is if someone wants to use BH209. Then, it's an Omega.

 

[snapbang]

Its interesting how some guns fit a person just right. They do all that is needed and a little more. When you pull the trigger you dont even need to look because you know the shot hit its mark. Some are pretty others not so much, but they are as reliable as the sun rise tomorrow. Its nice to have one or two of those kinds of guns around. It gives you a measure of what to expect from the others.

 

[deermanok]

You get good results and don't have to overpower that gun with heavy powder charges.

 

[phalanx]

Recently saw a Firehawk on GB, seriously thought about bidding on it based on your posts here about Calico but I have like 5 Thunderhawks and couldn't convince myself. I should probably rethink that!

 

[Confederate rifleman]

The Thunderhawk is a VERY fine rifle as well.
Had one.
Until Baby Girl cast her eye on it...
I think T/C REALLY had something in those first generation inlines.
Simple, reliable, accurate, GREAT stocks and no fuss.
I still hold to the 1-38 being the ideal twist in a .50, for 99% of us muzzleloaders. The 1-28 is good. But for what I shoot, the 1-38 is much better. Ymmv.

 

[Leadball]

I have been looking for one of those its #1 on my list along with a pre QLA Renegade

 

[Okie Hog]

My blue and walnut .54 Fire Hawk came from a Lawton pawn shop. The price tag read $175. Told the shop owner i would be back with more money. Her response: How much money is in your wallet? Told her $100. She handed me the rifle and took my $100 bill.

The rifle had some handling dings and appeared unfired. Rifle shoots the 250 grain SST bullet in the red sabot over 100 grains of Black MZ powder. That rifle is a great round ball shooter too.

The Fire Hawk has a very slim wrist, i've seen two stocks broken from firing heavy conicals; one was on a lead sled.

 

[Confederate rifleman]

I've heard about broken stocks too. The lead sled connection makes sense. No place for recoil to go. Something's gotta give...
Amazes me that they made them in .58 caliber!
Talk about light for caliber!
Would love one though...