Dave at Work

Hey guys. I have a 54 cal. Thompson Center Renegade Hunter. I recently had a 4X Burris Scope mounted on the gun. My current load is 100 grains of FFG Black Powder. I am shooting 435 grain maxi hunters. I haven't been overly impressed with the accuracy at 50 yards and was thinking about trying a different bullet. What do you guys recommend?

My other question is about sabots. Can I use them in this gun or should I stay with the maxi-hunters? The reason I ask is because my gun has a 26" barrel and the twist is 1 in 48". Is that twist enough to shoot with sabots? Thanks for all your help!

Dave

eldeguello

Dave, I think your twist is a little slow for sabotted bullets, unless you use real short ones. I would try the Power Belt type and perhaps some of the big Buffalo Bullets or Hornady Great Plains type also.

I have always found plastic sabots a real pain to load, particularly after firing a shot or two, but the Power Belts load easily. They can be very accurate, but some people have not been able to get them to shoot accurately in some guns.

Dave at Work

Would I be better off trying out patched round balls? Are they more accurate, generally speaking, than conical?

Underclocked

Dave, this will sound crazy to you but one thing you might try with your current load is to add about 20 grains by volume of fine ground corn meal over the powder before seating the bullet. You are pushing that bullet pretty hard and probably would get better accuracy by cutting about 20-30 grains off the charge.

If the idea of the corn meal is too much, try a bore-button.

Maxi-Hunters seem to do less well than plain ol' Maxi-balls by most reports.

cayugad

Dave, I have a .54 caliber T/C Renegade. I have great luck with the T/C Maxi Balls and Maxi Hunters but I never used that much charge under them. Mine shoots best with 80-85 grains of Pyrodex RS powder. I also use a wonder wad between the charge and the conical. The reason for the wonder wad is The Maxi is a flat based conical, and the wad produces better gas seal and pressure, hence a more even ignition of the projectile out of the barrel. If they were hollow based conicals the wad would not be as necessary. The cornmeal underclocked was telling you about would have the same effect. Some even claim the cornmeal cleans the barrel a little on the way out. Who knows.

The rifle will shoot sabots, but I never had a lot of luck with them at long distances. Besides the first deer I shot with one (when they first came out everyone had to try them) the devil took a direct hit and ran off. I almost did not find it. That's when I went back to round ball.

Round ball are very accurate out of the rifle. 70-80 grains usually produced excellent results. I shoot Hornady, Speer, and now my own cast .530's. I use a .015 patch with water soluable oil combination I mix, also called moose milk so I was just told. If I am shooting Triple Se7en I use a wonderwad with the round ball. T-7 will smoke the patches for some reason. Pyrodex on the other hand will not. I have taken LOTS of deer with round balls, all the way out to 80 yards. Three deer this year learned about round ball all over again...

I also cast LEE R.E.A.L. conicals. They are 300 and 380 grains. I lube with bore butter. The rifle shoots them fantastic. Again, with 80 grains on the LEE conicals.

I think if you lower your charge a little, and if possible throw a wonderwad in there you will be surprised at how much more accurate the rifle becomes. The max charge of that rifle is 120 grains. I never get close to the max. And not to worry, 80 grains and a big Maxi Hunter will do the trick on anything you might want to shoot....

Good Luck

charlie brown

I agree that you should try different powder charges with the same bullet. I have CVA Bobcat .50. I have tried 6 different bullets and a roundball, and powder charges ranging from 50 to 100 grs of pyrodex RS and have found that it LOVES 80 grains of powder behind a 245 gr. Buffalo Ball. I will try 80 grains behind other bullets here in the near future. This will print iside 2" at 50 yds. Max range about 70 yds for up to elk. If I change the powder charge at all, I can't hit the broadside of a barn. Try different charges, you might be surprised! Good luck!

Underclocked

Seems to me (after reading thousands of posts at BP related forums) that most all truly accurate loads use 70-90 grains of powder. And that's enough.

Dave at Work

Thank you all very much for the useful information. After reading a lot of posts, I nixed the idea of trying the sabots. I would like to stay with the Maxi-hunter, but I think the bullet is on the heavy side (435 grains) for deer. I see that Thompson Center makes a 360 grain Maxi-hunter. I think I might try that one also and experiment with lower powder charges.

Do you think the gun will be more accurate with the shorter lighter Maxi-hunter as opposed to the 435 grain M.H.? I would like to be able to shoot about 100 yards (if i can find an accurate enough load to to that) because the terrain I hunt is very open and longer shots are common. If I lower the powder charge, do you think my trajectory will be poor after about 75 yards (will the bullet drop too fast after that)?

Thanks, again,
Dave

cayugad

I find in mine it shoots both the long and short conical fine. I think the longer conical being the 435 grain Maxi Hunter would stabalize better and be more accurate at the longer range. The best way to find out is to try them.

Yes your trajectory will suffer with less powder and a heavy bullet. All you need do is adjust. As for blowing a big hole through the deer, that should not be the worry too much. Granted if they hit bone they will start to flatten out but not like a sabot. They plow their way through most of the time and leave at least a 9/16th size hole through the animal. If you put a hole that big through them, in a vital spot, the animal will go down sooner or later.

I have not shot a deer yet with my new 380 grain conicals. I just started making them. The 300 grain put them right on the ground, but then the first deer was a spine shot out of a tree, the second a neck shot at the base of the skull, etc. I have always put them in a hot spot and let the size of the bullet do the rest.

80 grains of powder is plenty of punch out to 100 yards and further. Shooting 80 grains I put a round ball through one deer at approximately 75-80 yards with enough force that it killed a second deer behind it. So have fun, and work up your load. You have a great shooting rifle there.

Dave at Work

cayugad,

Thanks a bunch for all your help. I really appreciate it. What I am going to do is get some 360 grain M/H and try them along side my 435 M/H and see which ones group the best. I will also try lowering my charge like you suggested.

How much of a drop do you think I would get with the 435 M/H with 80 grains at 100 yards if I sighted in dead on at 50? I totally intend on practicing, but I am just curious as to what I should expect.

By the way, I know first hand what a 435 grain M/H hunter does to a deer. To say they are devasting is an understatement.