This thread could also be titled: “Burning up a bunch of old Pyrodex”. One thing leads to another it seems and I wanted to do some casting while the weather was still cool. I pulled out an odd assortment of muzzle loading molds I had not used in a while (if ever) and set to casting. One of the molds was for two 380 grain .54 Lee R.E.A.L. Slugs. A somewhat unrelated, but concurrent project for me was to make lubed wads out of a Durafelt scrap I bought a while back. I melted 50/50 beeswax and Crisco, lubed the felt, and after it cooled proceeded to punch out some 9/16” and .3/4” wads. The 3/4” are for my CVA SXS 12 Gauge, but I figured the 9/16” would work in both my .56 SB Renegade and a .54.
So having a bunch of .54 R.E.A.L. bullets on hand, I began to ponder a suitable launching platform. I remembered an old .54 Renegade I had stashed. I don’t remember where, when, or how I came to own it but it is here, and definitely needed some love. I had never shot it, and had not even looked at in years. I also have a .54 “Round Ball Twist” Renegade I like shooting a lot, preferring to shoot patched round balls so the standard Renegade has just gathered dust. I pulled the standard Renegade out for evaluation, ugh. Not terrible, but a few dings and scrapes, was missing the front ram rod pipe, had a fiberglass replacement ram rod just cut off to length, and the nipple looked like it had been filed off at an angle. But worst of all, the bore looked brown, rusty brown that is. As I said, ugh.
Launching into the Renegade I took the barrel off and proceeded to swab the bore with a few Scotchbrite pads. I was rewarded with a lot of rusty powder dropping out of the bore. I followed the Scotchbrite with some tight patches soaked in “Moose Milk” and then some dry patches. It seemed to clean up somewhat but I wasn’t sure it would be alright. Then, since the hammer seemed to line up pretty good on the nipple, I decided to replace the nipple with a T/C threaded Musket nipple I had on hand. I bought the nipple, and some Musket Caps a while back since regular percussion caps were/are hard to find. I was ordering some other stuff from T.O.W anyway, so added a threaded end for the rod. I cut the rod off, sanded down the rod diameter for the new tip, epoxied it on and cross-drilled and pined it. Ready to go.
Switching gears, a while back I got curious if some .562 balls I had would work out of my .56 Smooth Bore Renegade. Measuring the balls and the Renegade’s bore I decided they just might work. So today I gathered up both Renegades, the 9/16” lubed wads, .562 balls, .54 R.E.A.L.s, musket caps, #11s and some ancient Pyrodex that need burning anyway and headed for the range. Long story short, after a little sight adjustment the R.E.A.L.s are shooting great, even out of the suspect bore of the ran hard and put up wet Renegade. The load was 80 grains of Pyrodex, followed with a lubed patch, and a naked R.E.A.L. set off with a CCI Musket cap. I only had 25 meters to shoot at but they were shooting good enough to take it out father in the future, and to think about hunting with this combination at some point. The SB Renegade shoot pretty good with a lubed wad under a naked .562 ball shoved down over the same 80 grain Pyrodex load. Although I had few shots strangely go high. Dead on for windage, but high. Probably me but I will have to to do some further experimenting before trusting it. All in all this was a rewarding range trip. I think next I need to drag the old .54 Renegade to a Woods Walk and see what the naked R.E.A.L.s and lubed patch will do on steel.
So having a bunch of .54 R.E.A.L. bullets on hand, I began to ponder a suitable launching platform. I remembered an old .54 Renegade I had stashed. I don’t remember where, when, or how I came to own it but it is here, and definitely needed some love. I had never shot it, and had not even looked at in years. I also have a .54 “Round Ball Twist” Renegade I like shooting a lot, preferring to shoot patched round balls so the standard Renegade has just gathered dust. I pulled the standard Renegade out for evaluation, ugh. Not terrible, but a few dings and scrapes, was missing the front ram rod pipe, had a fiberglass replacement ram rod just cut off to length, and the nipple looked like it had been filed off at an angle. But worst of all, the bore looked brown, rusty brown that is. As I said, ugh.
Launching into the Renegade I took the barrel off and proceeded to swab the bore with a few Scotchbrite pads. I was rewarded with a lot of rusty powder dropping out of the bore. I followed the Scotchbrite with some tight patches soaked in “Moose Milk” and then some dry patches. It seemed to clean up somewhat but I wasn’t sure it would be alright. Then, since the hammer seemed to line up pretty good on the nipple, I decided to replace the nipple with a T/C threaded Musket nipple I had on hand. I bought the nipple, and some Musket Caps a while back since regular percussion caps were/are hard to find. I was ordering some other stuff from T.O.W anyway, so added a threaded end for the rod. I cut the rod off, sanded down the rod diameter for the new tip, epoxied it on and cross-drilled and pined it. Ready to go.
Switching gears, a while back I got curious if some .562 balls I had would work out of my .56 Smooth Bore Renegade. Measuring the balls and the Renegade’s bore I decided they just might work. So today I gathered up both Renegades, the 9/16” lubed wads, .562 balls, .54 R.E.A.L.s, musket caps, #11s and some ancient Pyrodex that need burning anyway and headed for the range. Long story short, after a little sight adjustment the R.E.A.L.s are shooting great, even out of the suspect bore of the ran hard and put up wet Renegade. The load was 80 grains of Pyrodex, followed with a lubed patch, and a naked R.E.A.L. set off with a CCI Musket cap. I only had 25 meters to shoot at but they were shooting good enough to take it out father in the future, and to think about hunting with this combination at some point. The SB Renegade shoot pretty good with a lubed wad under a naked .562 ball shoved down over the same 80 grain Pyrodex load. Although I had few shots strangely go high. Dead on for windage, but high. Probably me but I will have to to do some further experimenting before trusting it. All in all this was a rewarding range trip. I think next I need to drag the old .54 Renegade to a Woods Walk and see what the naked R.E.A.L.s and lubed patch will do on steel.