Saturday:
I bought a 54cal TC Scout pistol today at the Gun Show.

It did not come with any instructions as far as the cleaning or loading. I am looking for some help on how to take it apart for cleaning, and what powder charge and bullets to use.

The nipple does not appear to be able to remove if it ever got damaged, but the pistol seems to be in good shape other than a small amount of rust on the barrel.

It also has what appears to be vents on the side of the receiver, what is there purpose? I have been looking for one of these as a backup when I go deer hunting.

I have several black powder rifles but this is the first TC Scout I ever owned.

Any help will be appreciated.

Sunday:
I took the TC out today to see just how well it shot. I tried 50grs Pyrodex RS with a sabot and a 240gr Hornady XTP. After trying several of the sabots and having to fight them down the barrel I gave up on the sabots.

Next I tried some Lee REAL bullets I had cast for my 54cal BP Rifle. They shot very well and I was able to get on target finely. I tried 70grs of Pyrodex RS and while it did not seem to kick anymore it did smoke a lot more. So I lowered the charge down to 60grs of Pyrodex RS and was able to get a 3 shot group of 1 3/8" at 25 yards. I was using TC Maxi Lube No 7305 it went on easy but was real messy to work with. I need to find something I can dip the REAL bullets in that gets a lot firmer and a bit cleaner to work with.

I have some round balls I plan to try when I get a chance to go out again, they shoot extremely well in my Lyman Great Plains 54cal. It would be great if I could use the same projectile and only have to vary the powder charge when deer hunting.

While testing the TC Scout I had no misfires but I did learn many years ago to be sure the #11 percussion caps are set all of the way down on or they may not go off the first time if the hammer has to push them down to fire.

I will let you know how it works the next time I get a chance to go back out to the shooting range.

I went to the TC web sight and was able to download a Manual in PDF.

Apparently nobody out there has a TC Scout or any information they wish to share.

I'd love to buy a T/C Scout, especially in 54, but I waited until after the fire and now they're scarce as unicorns. Fadala wrote them up in great detail in his various black powder digests. Depending on how you measure a pistol's power a 54 Scout loaded with conicals runs with the big dogs. It would make a fine primary deer gun, let alone a back up. Please keep us posted.

Apparently nobody out there has a TC Scout or any information they wish to share.[/QUOTE]
I have both rifles and pistols in various calibers. I have not shot them a lot, but have shot a 50 cal pistol quite a bit. I got excellent accuracy with both round ball and conical (maxi hunter) bullets using 80 gr of swiss #1 1/2 powder. The round ball made cloverleafs at point of aim at 25 yd, and the conicals were about as accurate, but printed 3 inches higher. This would be an excellent hunting load. Recoil is stiff, but not excessive, though it is a good idea to hold tightly on to the forend so you don't end up wearing the gun on your head! If I were going to hunt with a 54 pistol (or rifle) I would use the lyman 542622 hollow base minie bullet, which loads easy (forget sabots!) and has shot very accurately in every rifle i've tried. It has a extra thick skirt which allows you to use heavy hunting loads without blowing the skirt and ruining accuracy. I have not actually tried it in a pistol, however. Really, a round ball or a mini-maxi ball would be a very effective hunting load for most any game.
Tim