I have a TC Hawken that I built from a kit in 1985. It is 50 cal, and will shoot 370gr Maxis fairly well, but I can't get it to group consistently with round balls. I have tried differnt patch thicknesses, different powders etc etc. Sometimes it will group two or three rounds almost touching, and then the fourth and so on go all over the target. My usual sight in distance is 75 yards. I have scrubbed the bore, and have tried everything I can think of, but to on avail. Any ideas?????
Thanks

http://www.muzzleloadingforum.com/

Look for a guy named

ROUNDBALL

He is the TC shooter who has some good advice!

MoreBS,

Thanks for the tip. Lots of good info there.

Try less powder. But some TCs just don't shoot roundballs well for whatever reasons - they have a compromised twist 1:48.

Brent

Also, once in a great while you'll find a T/C bbl. that's out of spec, i.e., a lemon. If less powder and/or a tighter patch don't improve things, try a slightly larger ball. If nothing works, return the bbl. to T/C with an explanatory note.

Sending it back is a waste of your money They are a bunck of store clerks !

Three rounds touching at 75 yards isn't anything to sneeze at. It's certainly minute of whitetail. The flyers may be associated with fouling build up from that point on. Try removing ALL OIL from the bore and from that day forward using T/C Bore Butter or I swear by Wonder Lube. With 90 grs of 2FFG and a .490 ball with suitable patch it should upset and fill the grooves very admirably. You also might try a Wonder Lubed felt wad on top of the powder and below the round ball. That would move the projectile above 20 years of corrosion in the chamber. Lastly, have it freshed out to .52 caliber and cast your own round balls for it. There were many original muzzleloaders recut to slightly larger caliber and kept on shootin!

1115:
The owner of Four Flags in Wichita years ago told (he has since passed on) me that if a Muzzle-Loader has to fast a twist that it will not shoot round balls accurately with a stiff charge. The reason being is the ball will skip the rifling in other words will not spin but instead go straight down the barrel thus affecting accuracy. My Knight Predator 54 cal has shallow rifling and is made for sabots if I keep the charge to 60grs of Pyrodex RS it will shoot round balls great. I bought a Lyman Great Planes 54cal rifle kit with a slow twist 1 in 66" (if I remember correctly) It will put 5 shots into one hole at 25 yards, and 5 into 3" at 100 yards off the bench with 100 grs Pyrodex RS with open sights.

Hope this helps.

If you want the rifle to shoot round balls at a really good accuracy, you will need to replace the TC barrel with a Green Mountain replacement barrel with a twist of 1-60 or even better 1-66. As stated above, TC barrels are 1-48 due to the idea they will shoot RB fairly accurate and heavier buffalo bullet accurate at that rate of twist. Playing around with the powder charge can help to a degree BUT the one thing that will bring accuracy up with round ball is a barrel with 1-60 or 1-66 twist. Hope this helps.

JJ is correct ! Before you get a new barrel ! I have a question ? do you pound the round ball after it is seated ? meaning ! Fireing ramrod down barrel to seat ball several times ? I have watched novices doing this and then ask why the gun don't shoot very well at 100 yards , after beating the soft lead to a pulp it won't carry down the range for S--t !

Thanks to all who have given me supportive advice here. I did buy a Green Mountain barrel that is 32" long and has a 1:70 twist. Using a .015 lubed patch, and 100gr of Black Mag3, I get three inch groups at 100 yards. I am about to test it on the local hog population, and will post the results.

Concho,

I am always careful to seat the ball on the powder with the same pressure, and no "pounding". I have seen this done by others and have always winced when they did it. Thanks for the suggestion though. The ball and patch combination I use allow me to load with one long steady push on the ramrod.

Good shooting 1115 I have several Green Mountain barrels as I make black powder single shot cartridge rifles my hobby , Their craftmanship is outstanding in my openion as of this date !

Greenmountain makes some very nice barrels, you will never be sorry for buying a 1 in 70 twist for shooting roundballs.

My TC Renegade Hunter shoots round balls pretty good at 25 yds., but, not so good further away. 370 gr. Maxi Balls groups around 4 inches at 100 yds. So that's what I use.

Garryowen