cayugad

That is the Hawkins with the 21 inch barrel.

rafsob

I have had a lot of success with the XTP sabots in my inline NEF .50 cal. I use Barnes sabots in my Hawkens Carbine percussion rifle. It has a 1 in 24" twist that handles these sabots perfectly. Nice Flintlock. I am still trying to decide if I will get on also. It seems like it should be fun to shoot.

Here in Va. it is in the midthirties and it is too cold for meto goshoot. Good thing I don't live by you guys!!!

Johnmorris

Dave you are just to tough shooting in that cold I will stay inside That below zero stuff is nuts to shoot in And I have lived with it for all my live like you.

Underclocked

I dunno know, Dave, it looks to me like those shots were crawling as ... ... the barrel heated up.

bronko22000

Dave - That looks pretty good. One question - How is the balance? Is there much of a difference in 'feel' between that barrel and the LRH barrel? I like the balance of the Hawken with the LRH GM barrel. I really don't like a butt heavy rifle.

cayugad

The balance of that little barrel is excellent. That was the first thing I noticed about it. Of course my 28" LRH 1-28 GMB is stainless steel and it really feels heavy when I do free hand shooting. This thing is almost like hauling around a toy. You would not think seven inches of barrel would weigh that much but it really does balance the rifle nice.

Underclocked.. I am sure that was happening. As cold as it was, had the barrel heated up... I'd of been glad.

cayugad

Today I was trying some 240 grain XTP's in .452 diameter with 90 grains of Graf's & Sons 2f powder. Shot one was on a clean barrel. Shots 1-5 was not as tight as I wanted at 50 yards. Also even though I had a new flint, I was having a lot of misfires. The 4f pan was burning off, but the spark was not setting off the main charge. It took three pan fulls for one load. Granted it was very lightly snowing, but it was 17 degrees above zero.

I then adjusted the sight to the right a little and loaded 90 grains of Goex 3f and the 300 grain XTP's in .430 diameter again. With the sight adjustment, shots 6-9 were much better. Whether it was the powder or the change in projectile weight, I do not know. I was swabbing between shots like I was yesterday.

I did manage to try a 460 bull shop conical with 90 grains of Goex 3f and it shot low.. yesterday. Yesterdays hits I marked in RED and todays were with a green marker.

Then company showed up and I had to end my shooting session. [:@][:@]

I think I will leave the sights alone and just do some more bullet testing with this little rifle now. Also changing to Goex 3f ended all the misfires. The rifle fired perfect. So maybe this little barrel does not like Graf's & Sons black powder. Time will tell. It is supposed to be nice tomorrow too...

HuntAway

It appears to my untrained eye that Goex 3F is the ticket w/ 300 xtp's.Mind you two or three misfires will certainly play havoc with the groupings..

I tried to call GM today. I like their hours, they close at 11 on Fridays. Will call them on Monday.

Mossie

Cayugad,


I have that same barrel but it's 24" long for a switch barrel on my RMC and it really likes the .452 Hornady 250 grainers and groups the 300 grain very well too. I am using the standard mmp short black sabot. 80 grains of Goex 3f gives the best groupings; with the 250 doing a bit better than the 300. If ya really want to knock the center out of that sticky then try the Barnes 245 Spit-fire with 80 grains 3f Goex. Just make sure to tape over the holes with some clear scotch tapebecause you will think you missed the target.

cayugad

Mossie.. thanks for the load tips. I have a lot more things I want to try shooting out of this barrel. So far, the 300 grain are my go to load, but I am sure there will be many more of them. I have some Gold Dot, 375 grain Buffalo Bullet SSB, and a few other loads I really want to try. I want to develope a medium range very hard hitting load. Then I will tree stand and stalk hunt with this rifle.