T/C Hawken .50

[res308]

I’ll be picking this rifle up from a friend of mine shortly. This’ll be my first real foray into traditional muzzleloading. I have a learning curve ahead of me. 
I’m used to seeing the Hawkens with the patch box and brass furniture. What little info I’ve found, including a video by Fortunecookie45LC (I think) indicates this one as being one of the Thompson Center custom shop models, which should have a 1 in 48 twist. 
I think for this deer season I’ll just go ahead and stick with my friend’s recipe of 100 grains of Hodgedon Select Pyrodex and a 250 grain Powerbelt bullet, just to save a little time since this load is already accurate for that rifle. 
He’s also already converted it over to a musket cap nipple and has gotten much better firing reliability. 
He’s throwing in a couple hundred musket caps and some powder, along with most of the necessary kit, all for $300, which I thought was very reasonable. 
I do need to know where the best place is to find musket caps, and what the best brand is. 
Also, even though I’ll probably use his preferred load this year, I’d like to move over to something like the Hornady Great Plains bullet and start casting my own. I just don’t know where to find a bullet mould that matches that one. 
I know I’ll need to be schooled up along the way, so any words of wisdom would be appreciated. 

[res308]

As an important side note, now my youngest son wants to find him one, so any help with that would be appreciated too. 
I told him we’d find him a .50 so we can share the same components. He definitely wants to go with a traditional like this one. 
I’d like to find him a Thompson Center with the same twist rate so he’s not limited to round ball. 

[RED333]

Lee REAL 50 caliber mold will do a good job. As far as percussion caps, they are about like primers, few and big money.

[221 Fireball]

Still hunt with my T/C Renegade .50. Bought it new in the late 70's and killed a lot of deer with it. Been through all the new fangle in-lines, and sold them all a couple years back forcing my hand to use only the T/C. Glad I made that decision because I'm having fun going back "old school" in black powder. 

My go-to load is 90 grain GOEX FF behind a 385 grain Hornady Great Plains bullet. Get nothing but shoot throughs with that load and my, what an exit hole. 

BTW, my barrel is also a 1:48 twist. Works well for about any projectile, even round ball. 

 

[res308]

Good looking rifle

[James Caldwell]

res308, PM inbound,James C.