T/C Hawkin

[Red Raider]

I've been drawn to go ML hunting in New Mexico. Haven't shot in awhile. I used to shoot round balls but was looking at the Maxi-Hunter. I'll be hunting deer and would appreciate any advice you might have.

To have a starting point, I'm looking at shooting Hodgdon Thriple 7 ffg powder, #11 primers and 275 gr Maxi-Hunter bullets. My rifle has a 1:48 twist.

 

[brushcreek]

I've been drawn to go ML hunting in New Mexico. Haven't shot in awhile. I used to shoot round balls but was looking at the Maxi-Hunter. I'll be hunting deer and would appreciate any advice you might have.

To have a starting point, I'm looking at shooting Hodgdon Thriple 7 ffg powder, #11 primers and 275 gr Maxi-Hunter bullets. My rifle has a 1:48 twist.

assuming you are not using this rifle for nostalgia / challenge I'd stay away from #11 primers and get a newer ML with 209 ignition.

 

[JimP]

Why purchase a new rifle when what he has will work perfectly well?

To the OP, go for it and see what those bullets do. I have a .54 caliber Renegade and it loves TC maxi-balls and 90 grains of plain old Pyrodex. There is nothing to get complicated with a black powder side lock. I shot my firs 6 or 7 deer with round balls and none of the deer went further than 50 yards.

 

[CoHiCntry]

That gun & load will do just fine on deer. Good luck!

 

[brushcreek]

Why purchase a new rifle when what he has will work perfectly well?

To the OP, go for it and see what those bullets do. I have a .54 caliber Renegade and it loves TC maxi-balls and 90 grains of plain old Pyrodex. There is nothing to get complicated with a black powder side lock. I shot my firs 6 or 7 deer with round balls and none of the deer went further than 50 yards.

personal preference. i've had too many misfires with #11 to ever mess with them again, especially on a high dollar hunt.

 

[Red Raider]

brushcreek, In NM you can't use an in-line, scope, sabots or pellets. I looked at the 209 system. However, I've never had a problem with standard primers. That being said, if I have a misfire I'm going to HUNT YOU DOWN BRUSHCREEK for putting the hoo doo on my primers.

 

[mallardsx2]

I have 2 of the Hawkens .50 Caliber flintlocks. I have killed many deer with them with patched round-balls.

70 Grains of FFF Black Powder.

Personally I would stick to the Black Powder instead of the tripple 7 since you are using caps but that's just me.

Its its going to be a dry climate why not use pure black powder? It ignites way better in my opinion.

This is coming from a guy who uses a flint and steel to get his gun to go off....

Good Luck!

 

[Red Raider]

mallard, I've tried just straight black powder and the cleanup wears me out. It will be dry. We're hunting the sand hills outside Artesia.

My old setup was 90 grains of Pyrodex behind a patched round ball. Shot 4 or 5 deer and none of them ran more than 20 yards. I may be talking myself out of the maxi- hunter.

 

[Umpqua Hunter]

brushcreek, In NM you can't use an in-line, scope, sabots or pellets.

Red Raider, do you have a tag for one of the "Restricted Muzzleloader" deer seasons (Unit 9, Unit 33 and Unit 52), or a normal muzzleloader season (all other muzzleloader deer hunts)? Inlines are allowed on most muzzleloader seasons in New Mexico but not on the "Restricted" seasons.

From the 2016 New Mexico "Rules and Info" (regulations):

Page 20: Scopes, sabots, in-line ignition and belted bullets may be used with muzzleloaders but not Restricted Muzzleloaders (page 136, 'Glossary of Terms').

Page 136: Restricted Muzzleloader (for specific deer hunts): Any muzzleloading rifle, including a smoothbore flintlock or musket, using open sights in which the charge and projectile are loaded via the muzzle. Only black powder, Pyrodex or an equivalent substitute may be used. Smokeless powder, inline ignition, pelleted powder, sabots, belted bullets, multiple projectiles and scopes are illegal.

 

[Red Raider]

Umpqua, It's unit 33 restricted.

 

[Manualman]

It's nice to know I'm not the only one here who shoots a "flinchlock"

 

[brushcreek]

brushcreek, In NM you can't use an in-line, scope, sabots or pellets. I looked at the 209 system. However, I've never had a problem with standard primers. That being said, if I have a misfire I'm going to HUNT YOU DOWN BRUSHCREEK for putting the hoo doo on my primers.

Gotcha. i've had my issues in Arkansas, much more humid / rainy climate. You'll be fine

 

[JimP]

For removing black powder residue from my TC Renegade all I have ever used is boiling hot water and a couple cups of Pinesol in a bucket.

Just remove the barrel and put the breach end into the bucket of very hot water. Then using a cleaning patch over a cleaning jag just pump the rod up and down the barrel drawing the water in through the nipple. You can either leave the nipple in or remove it. Pretty soon you will be pumping water completely through the barrel and the barrel will get very hot. Once the patch is clean when you pull it out dump the dirty water and refill the bucket with clean boiling hot water and repeat the process to rinse it out. Then once I am done doing that I run a patch through the bore with some TC Bore Butter on it. The barrel should be so hot by now that the bore butter will just melt and coat everything inside the barrel.

I have done it this way for over 40 years and there still isn't a speck of rust on or in the barrel.

I leave the patches and cleaning solvents for the inline cleaning jobs.

As for the Triple 7 and #11 caps, you may have a problem with ignition. I believe that Triple 7 requires a hot flame which you get from a 209 primer, but you can try it at the range.

 

[Red Raider]

I've been talking to the guys I'm going with and after reading you guys replies, I'm going back to my old recipe. Not sure on whether I'll use Pyrodex or just black powder. A patched round ball killed everything I hit with it.

I built the rifle while I was in college. I had access to a chrome machine so I had all of the metal parts chromed then bead blasted it to make it dull. It turned out pretty slick.

Y'all have been a great help. If it ain't broke don't fix it.

 

[luckynv]

For a little hotter ignition you can swap out your nipple for a musket cap nipple and use the musket caps versus the #11. Good luck and God bless