TC .56cal SB percussion

[Huntsman1]

Anyone familiar with a TC .56cal smooth bore Hawken?  I`m looking at buying one for a good price and basically because its different.

[Huntsman1]

So it looks like its a Renegade and not a HAwken. The owner never gave a model just pics and it looked like a Hawken. I was also offered a .54cal bbl from another guy for $50bucks, I could`nt resist.
So now I`ll have a near new .56 smooth bore for...birds/buckshot or whatever and a .54 bbl for everything else.

[necchi]

Good combination, I love those Renegades. And I like the .54.
Had a .56 smooth, sold it, it's and OK shotgun barrel, just keep in mind it's what it is, a .56. That's a 28 gauge. Not exactly made for long range work, or heavy loads.
Some guys like it because you can shoot smooth bore ball, but with the rifled .54 you got it made.

[Huntsman1]

What kind of accuracy with a prb and where does one get a mold for such?

[necchi]

Accuracy really depends how you load it. Heres a link for T/C's manual (pdf download). Scroll down through it for load data and recomendations. It even has pictures .

http://www.tcarms.com/assets/manuals/current/Shooting_TC_Side_Lock_Black_Powder_Guns.pdf


I presume your looking for a .550 mold for the smoothbore, I don't know. Dixie gun works makes custom bag molds for around 40. Lee, Lyman, RCBS and other mold makers have them, the 530-535 are common but you may find the 550 "out of stock" with most supply houses. Here is just one link to a supply house called Track of the Wolf, these are aluminum Lee molds, cruise the site, they have steel Lyman also and lot's of needfull things.

http://www.trackofthewolf.com/(S(ujjtrw55fqtclw555gzmeb55))/categories/tableList.aspx?catID=18&subID=126&styleID=410

[bluecow]

got 2 58 caplock smooth bores with just a front sight. 50 yrds paper plate easy.  100 yrds not so much.  a friend has the tc56  75-100 yrds do-able.  you may have trouble finding wads for shot so try wasp nest (minus the wasps)  this works well for me

[coyotejoe]

The .560" bore is oversize for a 28 gauge, which should run .550" so 28 gauge wads are rather loose. Most people who shoot ball from them use .535" balls with a thick patch. The recommended .550" ball with .010" patch is rather hard to load and that thin patch tends to tear and burn through. They have a reputation for being quite accurate as smoothbores go, probably the short, stiff barrel with rifle sights has a lot to do with that.

[badpenny]

I have one,and shoot Speer .535 balls with a thick patch.80 grains of Swiss 2f,grouping about 1 and a half inches at 40 yards.I recently bought .550 balls at TOTW,they are a pain to load.And the accuracy is no better than the .535s.Also tried it with shot,thats going to take some work to find a good load.But half the fun of it is finding a way to make do what you want it to.

[lefty41]

I too, have found the .550 balls very hard to load. Target load of 50 grains FFFg Goex, .1/4" fiber wad over powder, a .018 patch and .535 ball is working well at our 25yd range.