Hard huntsman question

[walmpus]

I have a 1993 huntsman I bought new. And at the time I am 99% certain that they offered a muzzleloader barrel in .45 caliber as well, or am I mistaken? I love my .50 but I have always wanted a .45 but I am having trouble finding one. I cant find a good quality .45 or even a .45 barrel.

Has anyone been down this road? I finally broke down and bought a .45 CVA Kodiak but I had more problems with that gun than the Carolinas have dogwoods. CVA eventually just gave me a new gun but when I got it I just put it in the closet. I cant find a quaility .45 at an affordable price, so I was hoping to find a .45 gun or barrel if anyone knew where to look.

Or am I just dreaming they offered a .45 and I have confused it with a .54?

Any help is great.

WCB

[PHATINJUN]

They have not offered the .45 since the I believe mid 1980's at one time probly about the time you bought the .50 or around when the .50 was offered they were going to put out another .45 but it never came to fruitation. The time line on the ML production as a rule of thumb and what they have produced in the past is this. Early 1970's to mid 1980's they had the .45 Huntsman .58 Huntsman and a 12ga Huntsman ML Shotgun. Then in the 1990's NEF came out with a .50 cal Huntsman that they produced up til a couple of yrs ago along with another ML only .50 cal that was called the Sidekick as I said both of those were discontinued a few yrs ago with them stating at sometime they were going to produce  a better updated ML that is yet to be seen.They never made a .54. Kurt

[Busta]

I have a 1993 huntsman I bought new. And at the time I am 99% certain that they offered a muzzleloader barrel in .45 caliber as well, or am I mistaken? I love my .50 but I have always wanted a .45 but I am having trouble finding one. I cant find a good quality .45 or even a .45 barrel.

Has anyone been down this road? I finally broke down and bought a .45 CVA Kodiak but I had more problems with that gun than the Carolinas have dogwoods. CVA eventually just gave me a new gun but when I got it I just put it in the closet. I cant find a quaility .45 at an affordable price, so I was hoping to find a .45 gun or barrel if anyone knew where to look.

Or am I just dreaming they offered a .45 and I have confused it with a .54?

Any help is great.

WCB

First off, I think you mean you have a 2003? They didn't offer huntsman muzzleloaders in 1993. They had the old H&R Huntsmans back in 1973 - 1979, but they were .45 caliber, .58 caliber, and 12 ga. The .50 caliber NEF Huntsman came out in 2001, I have a 2003 .50 caliber. They were going to release a new fast twist (1:20) .45 caliber NEF Huntsman that year, but they never did.

Knight and T/C introduced the fast twist (1:20) barrels a few year earlier, but they were marketed for 150 grain loads with very light saboted bullets, and that didn't work very well. Knight and T/C ended up replacing all the 1:20 twist barrels with 1:30 and 1:28 twist barrels at a very big loss to them.

White has used the 1:20 twist in their .451 caliber rifles since 1991, they market them for heavy full bore conicals and heavy saboted bullets and they are tack drivers.

I wanted a 1:20 twist .45 caliber H&R/NEF so bad, I bought a 1:20 twist SS .45-70 barrel that just needs a breech plug installed. As soon as I get som of the other irons out of the fire, I plan to get this project going.

So they did make a .45 caliber barrel back in the 70's, but it had a 1:56 twist IIRC.


Here is a snip from the 2003 NEF Huntsman Owners Manual, this shows loads for a .45 cal, but it never made it past production. This was probably due to the fear of having to replace these barrels like Knight and T/C.

[bikerbeans]

Busta,

Since the 45/70 shoots slightly larger diameter bullets than a 45 cal MZ are you going to be casting your own conicals?   

BB

[walmpus]

Thanks for the info guys. I dont know where I got 1993? It was a long day.............I indeed mean 2003. I knew that I saw .45 inline info somewhere and it was in my owners manual, and I realized that after a picture of a manual was posted.

What a bummer. I would LOVE to have a .45 huntsman. Maybe someday they will bring one out......and if its half as good as my .50 I will be all over that like a fat hungry guy on a piece of chocolate cake!

Anyway guys, I appreciate the help in clearing that up for me. Back to the waiting game..............
wcb

[Busta]

Busta,

Since the 45/70 shoots slightly larger diameter bullets than a 45 cal MZ are you going to be casting your own conicals?   

BB

BB,

The bore diameter is the same as muzzleloaders, at .4515" cal. The groove diameter is .4575".

Just remember, centerfire rifle caliber measurements are measured at the groove, such as .458". Muzzleloader calibers are measured at the lands.

I have slugged the bore, so I have exact measurements of this barrel.

The .451"-.453" conicals will do just fine, and the saboted bullets fit the bore very well too. I also have a White M-98 Elite (1:20) that has a bore diameter of .4515", a Knight Disc Elite (1:30) that is .4505", and an old Knight D.I.S.C. (1:20) that has a .453" bore.

So I am all set with bullets, both saboted and full-bore conicals.

[bikerbeans]

Busta,

Thanks for the info, didn't know the difference in measurements.  All I tried was putting a 45 Cal LSWC in a 45/70 barrel and it went straight down with zero resistance.  Good to know the 45cal sabots will fit in case I decide to work on this later.

BB

[wreckhog]

I see .45 Huntsmans on GB often. They are old O ring breech plug guns and fetch far more than I would pay for a used BP gun.