TC Renegade 56 SB?

Just picked one up today, first smoothbore. About opposite from what I usually see...some rust spots on the barrel, trigger guard is rusted pretty good...bore is pristine.
I guess I'm stuck with it..might as well shoot it.
In my brief scan through some posts here, I gather I need either a .535 or .550 ball depending on the patch used?
Guess I'll take it apart in the morning, clean the bore, lube the lock...seems a bit stiff. Might see if the nipple is easily removed..if not, I'll kroil it while I want on some ball to try out.
9

I had one, and I had it bored out to a .58 caliber. It worked just fine and shot a .570 round ball as well as I could have expected from a smoothbore.

My .56 smooth bore T/C Renegade will shoot 3" groups at 50 yards with a .550 cast ball, and .015 mink oil lubed patch over 80 grains of 2f. I use the barrel mostly for early season squirrels when the leaves are still thick on the trees. A 3/4 oz load of #5 shot does the trick out to about 30 yards.

Mine would take .535 and if you tried .550 you needed a sledge hammer to start the ball.

Accuracy at 25 and 50 yards was okay. Going to 100 yards required a wing and a prayer.

I sent you a PM.

I purchased one of these several years ago (old stock, but unfired) and find it is impressively accurate @ 25 yd. with the .550" RB (got the mould on eBay), an OP wad of some sort, and a .012" patch. A thicker patch would be extremely difficult to get load, though. In my gun, the .535" RB (Lee mould) isn't quite as accurate as the larger one. Btw, take the lock apart, polish its internal surfaces and Loctite the bridle screw. (Don't ask!). One day I'll have to try it @ 50 yd. with the 80gr. FFg load.

Thanks for the info..it's appreciated.

It occurred to me after I wrote the above that the .535" RB would be a perfect candidate for "bare ball" loads since it's easier to find [a mould of that diameter] than the .550".

I ordered a mold..should be here Tuesday.

My .56 barrels like a .550" ball with a .018 pillow ticking patch lubed with Bumblin' Bear Grease. Years ago I ran a few shots across a chronograph to see what velocities I was getting. At the time I was shooting Graf and Sons FF powder. Using the ball and patch combo listed above I averaged 1240fps with 90 grains and 1313fps with 100 grains. That's pretty close to the data listed in the TC manual.

I tried some #7-1/2 shot in one of my .56 barrels. I saw the best results using 80 grains of FF and 7/8oz of shot. I tried a few loads using less powder and more shot, but never saw a real improvement in the shot pattern.

Stony Broke said:

I had one, and I had it bored out to a .58 caliber. It worked just fine and shot a .570 round ball as well as I could have expected from a smoothbore.

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I've thought about doing this many times. I have three .56 barrels, one has a couple rough spots in the bore. I'm always thinking about having it bored up to .58 or .62 cal. If I did I'd be torn between keeping it a smoothie or adding rifling. Who did yours?

There is one thing I did find with mine.

I clean between shots and every time I did so, I would have to snap a cap to clear the nipple. If I did not, it would not fire and I would have to put a second cap on it to get it to fire after loading it.

Only thing I could figure out since it was a smooth bore, it was pushing the crud in the barrel into the patent breech. Never had that problem with rifled Renegades.

I had mine opened up to .58 by Bobby Hoyt....he did an excellent job. Mine had a little bit of a rough bore when I got it...but sure was better when he got done with it.

Anyone tried bare ball loads in the .56 Renegade?

nkbj said:

Anyone tried bare ball loads in the .56 Renegade?

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Yes, I tried the .550" RB with a .012" patch and 80gr. FFg v. the same load, but with hand rolled tow wads fore and aft @ 25 yd.: the tow wads were more accurate, but you have to watch for smoldering and swab the bore frequently.

Was thinking maybe bare ball with no patch, loaded as so many do with smooth bores. Occurred to me that I'd never heard of people doing that with the TC's, only shooting patched ball. Made me curious.

I have not shot my .56 SB T/C much but do like it and find it accurate out to the 25 meters I have shot it to so far. I have used .550 balls with .010 precut/lubed patches and also .535 balls with the same patch. Honestly, the little I have shot it (note short distance above) I find little difference in the accuracy between the two. We were just playing shooting at a 10” plate standing so a supported position and a paper target might tell a different tale. But for banging steel with an easy to load ball/patch combo the .535 works great. I am looking forward to some shot loads, but have not taken the time to do so yet.

nkbj said:

Anyone tried bare ball loads in the .56 Renegade?

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Yes, I shoot a .562 RB and it is very accurate. It is a bit tight to start but not impossible. Your basically swagging the ball in the barrel but once its started its not bad after that and like I said.....very accurate in my experience. The .56 is my favorite T/C mainly because of its versatility........I have 2 of them,Love em'

Stony Broke said:

I had mine opened up to .58 by Bobby Hoyt....he did an excellent job. Mine had a little bit of a rough bore when I got it...but sure was better when he got done with it.

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When he opens one up for you could he have installed rifling if you prefered and if so why didn,t you?

good ole boy said:

When he opens one up for you could he have installed rifling if you prefered and if so why didn,t you?

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Yes Bobby Hoyt can cut rifling as well. I had him punch out my 56 cal SB to 20 gauge (.615 bore) to turkey hunt with it.

Nodrama43 said:

Yes Bobby Hoyt can cut rifling as well. I had him punch out my 56 cal SB to 20 gauge (.615 bore) to turkey hunt with it.

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Did you have your barrel choked?