58 cal Hawken

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.45-70TC

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Sep 17, 2005
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Sierras, West slope
It's been a long time since I shot mine, I can't remember what the heck I was loading it with. What charge do you all like for patched round ball and minnies? Perhaps some note taking would help!
 
I cast my own .575 round balls with pure lead and use a .015-.018 ticking patch. Usually load 110 grains of BP or Pyrodex.
My 58 has a patch and ball barrel, very slow 1-70 twist and deep grooves.
 
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My hunting load is for my percussion rifle is 120 grains of 2f goex with a .015 mink oil lubed patch on a ,575 cast ball. the rifle has a 1:66" twist. For my Flinter with the same barrel twist, I use 110 grains of 2f with the same ball and patch.
 
My percussion gun is a John Browning Mountain rifle I had re-bored by Bobby Hoyt to .58 with the 1:66" twist. My flinter is a T/C Renegade also re-bored by Mr. Hoyt to .58 with a 1:66" twist. My back-up percussion gun is a T/C Renegade "Big Bore" .58. It has a 28" barrel with the factory 1:48" twist. This gun shoots a .570 swaged ball in a .015 Mink oil lubed pocket drill patch with 95 grains of 2f for 3" groups at 50 yards off-hand. I can't load up this gun with more powder as accuracy really goes ou the window with higher charges. the 95 grain charge is the max I can use for reasonable hunting accuracy. This gun will put the balls into 3/4" at 50 yds, from the bench, with 80 grains of 2f with the same ball and patch combo, but the trajectory is rainbow like much beyond 50 yards.
 
Rifle is from Cabela's, an Italian made, investarm, fabrica d'armi. No mention of twist in the paperwork.
I have a Cabela’s 58 that was my dad’s. Probably the same rifle. I don’t recall what the rate of twist is but it is not hard to determine. Use a cleaning rod with a tight fitting patch or brush. When drawing it from the bore measure the distance to make a quarter or half revolution and multiply.
No matter what the twist is you’ll have to do some experimenting. Get some round balls and patches. Start with 70 or 80 grains of 2f black powder and work up for accuracy. The patch and ball should fit snugly but not to the point where it is difficult to load.You should be able to retrieve your patches 15 to 20 yards downrange. They should be intact without holes torn or burned through. If they are you either need better patching material or the bore is rough.
Could be from rust or from the cutting of the rifling. I have had new barrels to cut patches at first then after 100 rounds or so they were fine.
A patch over the powder can help to prevent burning.
 
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Those Cabela's guns, made by Invest Arms, are great guns for hunting with. The 15/16" barrel with that big .58 hole makes for a light weight woods gun. I believe they were 1:48", and most of them had chrome lined barrels which made for very easy clean up. It is not a good idea to load these guns up too much. They have a tendency to crack the stock in the tang area with heavy loads. I had one once, but in a fit of dumbness (see my quote) I let it go for a Hatfield flint long rifle in .45 with a beautiful birdseye maple stock.
 
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