I've been doing a good bit of range work with me new to me Pedersoli "Tryon Style" .50 caliber Hawken, testing powders and components for that perfect load. Tried Pyrodex and American Pioneer powders, it's rifled for patched round ball, so that is what I have been using. The best I had gotten so far with the Black Powder substitutes was 2" groups at 50 yards, OK but not what I was looking for.

Black Powder is hard to find here in Virginia, few stores carry it, finally found some at Clark's Brothers in Warrenton. Picked up a couple pounds, and tried it. "Bingo!", found the sweet load. 75 grains of Black Powder and patched round ball gave excellent accuracy at 50 yards. Fired seven rounds, of the seven, five round formed a cluster with all shots touching:

Seven rounds, five shots touching, two shooter induced flyers:



Pic of the rifle:



I also tried it with a 385 grain conical that comes with a Lee mould, the mold throws one round ball and one "R.E.A.L." (Rifling Engaged at Loading) conical. The rifle will goup those into 2" at 50 yards, 80 grains of black powder gives 1380 feet per second, this is 45/70 power. This rifle should be good for target shooting and taking Deer size game.

It's a great rifle, fun shooter and a real keeper!

That's great. You sure got a deal on that one. When you first said black powder was hard to find I immediatly thought "Virginia", "coal mines", "charcoal" and BP is hard to find? Not the same thing but it just popped into my head like that. Maybe because I watched Matewan recently about the West Virginia coal mine war. A fine rifle and some real good shooting.

I have a left handed 50 caliber flintlock I built in the 1970s using a Douglas barrel and Siler lock. The barrel is 36” long, 1” across the flats with a 1/48 twist. I started calling the rifle Thumper probably due more to my tendency to use 110gn powder charges while deer hunting.

The best all round bullet I found for that rifle is from a mold which used to be made by Dixie Gun Works. It is a modified round ball mold that is one caliber in diameter and 1.5 calibers long designed for a cloth patch. Picture a 45 ACP 230gn RN bullet that is .490 diameter. Over 85 gns of FFG it always shot very well at 100 yds.

Have you tried the Winchester Sutler for black powder up in...Winchester? They are very reasonable on it when bought by the case.
They are a good place to get holy black- and there are a few gun shops up there we hit when we went up there for a reenactment.

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Lost it all in a boat accident

I have heard of the Winchester Sutler, they are about three hours away from me, but if I find myself near there, I'll get some from them.

Canoe, are the guy who rung out that nice Win. NRA musket 30-30 a year or so ago? I just saw an NRA 30-30 posted locally here and it was the other one that looks like a Model 64. $600. ouch. But I thought of you, if it was you, when I saw that ad. You have great taste whether you were the Win. shooter or not.

Yes, that was me with the Winchester musket. That's a pretty good shooter, too.

My Winchester stable has grown quite a bit, I find myself gathering fewer Smith and Wessons and more Winchesters. Both fun to own and shoot....