MAbowhntr

My father in law just gave me a thunder hawk shadow to use for this season. Any info on this gun would be helpful. He gave me Hornady 50 cal xtp mag sabots at 240 grains. Does this gun shoot these well at aound 100g ffg pyrodex rs? The shot distance would not likely exceed 80 yds.

cayugad

According to the Buckskinner Barrel Chart the rifle has a 1:38 twist. Note.. that chart is not always 100% accurate. Since it appears that the rifle is a faster twist rifle, it would not surprise me that a 240 grain T/C XTP would not be an accurate load. Whether 100 grains or 80 grains is the sweet load, only a trip to the target range will answer that for you. You should be in the ball park with 80-100 grains, but you really need to shoot the rifle to learn it... Good luck.

Triple Se7en

Sounds like a great father you have there!!

Nothing like setting up son with gun, powder & bullet.

All you need to do is squeeze that trigger & maybe turn those open sight-screws a few threads right or left.

Hope you have good luck with it. Take care of it as best you can. He may be expecting you someday to pass it along to your son.

n8dawg6

mabow, what length barrel does that thunderhawk have? they made 'em in 21" and 24". i had one of the 21" carbines in stainless steel. the rifling twist was 1-38". i shot 210 g. .44 cal boolets in sabots out of it, with 90 g. of pyrodex RS. never really shot it past 50-75 yds, but with that load it was a TACKDRIVER at 50 yds. even using the open sights i had some groups where several shots would make one enlarged hole. i tried going up to 100 g. pyrodex RS, but with that little 21" barrel, the muzzle blast was getting a little onerous. also, i shot the rounds over a chronograph, and didnt see enough velocity increase to justify the increased recoil and muzzle blast. anyway, long story short, 90 g. of pyrodex rs and 210 g. .44 cal. boolets in sabots worked great in mine.

mine had kind of a spongy trigger . . . i adjusted it and it was real nice then . . . . but then it froze up during a shooting session and i ended up sending it back to the factory and they replaced it with a bold trigger (first one was a timney). sold the gun several years back, but i'm still not sure why

CAJUNBOWHNTR

My thunderhawk likes a 250 shockwave and 100 grains 0f 777(2 pellets).It is one of the most accurate rifles I have shot.I have a thumbhole stock and it just holds really well.It also shot 90 grains of pyrodex and a remmington 300 grain core locktbullet very good.


CB

MAbowhntr

It is a 24" barrel. I have some 320 gt/c maxi balls that were really accurate out of my white mountain carbine with 90 g pyrodex rs. How do you think they'd fly out of the thunderhawk? Has anyone shot Hornady 240 xtp's?

cayugad

The maxiball should do well out of that twist.. whether they want 90 or 80 or 100 grains, again ... a range trip will establish that fact. Good luck with your rifle.

MAbowhntr

I will try the maxi balls Sunday hopefully. I'll let you know how they fly. Any other combos to try??

cayugad

hundreds of different things to try. Whether they work or not is another question. Start with a few and move on from there. The main thing is find one load that works for you. After that you can experiment all you like since you always have a known fall back load..

lonewolf5348

I swap my 54 thunderhawk barrel action for a 50 cal.barrel action plastic stockset-up and used my wood stock for the 50 cal. set-up.The m/l has a millet scope on it 3x9x40MM this gun will clover leaf groups at the 100 yard target from the bench,my load is 85 grains of triple 777 and a buffalo SSB boattail 375 grain bullet sabot.I tried 240 grain .451 hp with the same powder charge and it shoot the same,seem anything that goes down the barrel shoots excellent.The problem with the gun it sits in the gun safe due to my love for black powder is shooting flinters.I thought on selling it but the gun owes me nothing,I pick it up at a fishing station were I purchase by baite as a use gun for $50.00 bucks.I did tag it along to the range and shot it with the factory iron sight and after getting on paper at the 100 yard was surprise how well it shot with iron sight,thought man how would this thing shoot with a scope on.I then swap set-up from the 54 cal. barrel action and could not believe the groups the gun was printing on paper.I hated to part with the 54 cal. but did drop into the plastic stock and said good bye to it ,it shot excellent but never like the 50 cal.