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I've never been happy with this gun...

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Great looking rifle.

As I remember, back in the 1970's both Lee and Lyman made molds in .526 Back then, there were only two regular commercial barrel makers: Numrich and Douglas, with Bill Large being the only "custom" maker. My .54 Douglas barrel measured right at .540 and used a .530 ball and thick patch. But Bill Large and Numrich barrels both were actually .535 Many shooters using a .530 ball would have to use a thin .010 patch for ease in loading. The .526 mold solved this problem.
Is .010 pillow ticking patches still offered today ? LOL
 
Great looking rifle.

As I remember, back in the 1970's both Lee and Lyman made molds in .526 Back then, there were only two regular commercial barrel makers: Numrich and Douglas, with Bill Large being the only "custom" maker. My .54 Douglas barrel measured right at .540 and used a .530 ball and thick patch. But Bill Large and Numrich barrels both were actually .535 Many shooters using a .530 ball would have to use a thin .010 patch for ease in loading. The .526 mold solved this problem.
Is .010 pillow ticking patches still offered today ? LOL
TOW offers .010" patches and I was able to find to .010" muslin at JoAnne's.

So my hunt for a .526 mold continues. I posted my want in the classifieds back when with no responses. There is still a reward available to a finder.
 
I built this .54 full stock Hawken in 2018. Ignition is nearly instantaneous and I am pleased with the wood, the finish and construction. However, its never shot as well as I thought it should.

View attachment 90118


My .54 percussion half stock rifle is capable of breaking clay pigeons at 100 yards with FF loads and that has greatly affected my accuracy expectations for the flinter. Over the past two years I have experimented considerably with patch thickness, various lubes and powder charges. Nothing seemed to make a significant difference. The Colerain barrel is bored a bit tighter than my half stock, forcing me to use thinner patches. Also, the twist rate is 1:56 where the halfstock is 1:66 and the rifling grooves are round bottomed. I had pretty much resolved myself to accept that "that's just how it is" and be content with mediocre performance.

Until now...

I have been using Swiss FF exclusively since that was working so well in the half stock. A couple of weeks ago I decided to try some FFF Swiss in the flintlock. I am surprised to report that with all other factors remaining the same, FFF powder is making a very significant improvement in accuracy. Now, after two years of experimenting we are back in the game with clay pigeons at 100 yards.

Here is my 100 yard target from this afternoon. Shot #3 was a high flier and I'll blame that on shooter error ( sun was in my eyes..etc. ). I have no complaints about the other three.

Moral of the story - Keep trying,

View attachment 90123
more info about the hawken rifle
 
Tom,

What a great story about this rifle. Happy to hear that you figured out what works best in it. This is a classic example to never give up and experiment with components. It’s interesting how finicky guns can be and when you do find the right combo it all comes together and it runs like a Swiss watch.

Thanks for sharing. It’s an inspiration to others who I’m sure I’ve had these same problems.
 
Tom,

What a great story about this rifle. Happy to hear that you figured out what works best in it. This is a classic example to never give up and experiment with components. It’s interesting how finicky guns can be and when you do find the right combo it all comes together and it runs like a Swiss watch.

Thanks for sharing. It’s an inspiration to others who I’m sure I’ve had these same problems.
Thanks for your support. When the weather clears and I can get to the range again, I'll see if I can make apple sauce or tomato paste with it at 100 yards.
 
Thinking about @Tom A Hawk and his rifle, I decided to run a small test of a known good load in my 1803 Harper's Ferry rifle which has a Colerain radius grooved barrel like Tom's Hawken. I also wanted to see about the accuracy of an easy to load round with 0.011" patches. The basic loads were using 65 grains of 3fg Old Eynsford. All patched were lubricated with my mix of one part water soluble oil and seven parts of water. The known good load was a 0.535 swaged round ball in one of the 0.018" Cotton drill cloth patches. This load is tight but once started loads easy. The other load was a loose load of a 0.520" swaged ball in a thin cloth patch of 0.011". The loose load was thumb started and no wiping between shots. I did pick the touch hole. This was needed on this hot and humid day.

The results of the known good load were consistent with previous target sessions. Five shots in a nice horizontal group at 25 yards. The patches look good with no cuts or tears and while well scorched look like they could be reused.

IMG_4522.JPG


The second group of shots were actually kind of surprising.
IMG_4521.JPG

Actually quite similar although I had vertical stringing instead of horizontal. But look at the patches. Shredded beyond any real integrity. But still a good group. That's two balls at the top and three to the right of the target.

Looks like my Harper's Ferry rifle wants to perform with pretty good accuracy even when the components are less than optimal.
 
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Thinking about @Tom A Hawk and his rifle, I decided to run a small test of a known good load in my 1803 Harper's Ferry rifle which has a Colerain radius grooved barrel like Tom's Hawken. I also wanted to see about the accuracy of an easy to load round with 0.011" patches. The basic loads were using 65 grains of 3fg Old Eynsford. All patched were lubricated with my mix of one part water soluble oil and seven parts of water. The known good load was a 0.535 swaged round ball in one of the 0.018" Cotton drill cloth patches. This load is tight but once started loads easy. The other load was a loose load of a 0.520" swaged ball in a thin cloth patch of 0.011". The loose load was thumb started and no wiping between shots. I did pick the touch hole. This was needed on this hot and humid day.

The results of the known good load were consistent with previous target sessions. Five shots in a nice horizontal group at 25 yards. The patches look good with no cuts or tears and while well scorched look like they could be reused.

View attachment 90392

The second group of shots were actually kind of surprising.View attachment 90393
Actually quite similar although I had vertical stringing instead of horizontal. But look at the patches. Shredded beyond any real integrity. But still a good group. That's two balls at the top and three to the right of the target.

Looks like my Harper's Ferry rifle wants to perform with pretty good accuracy even when the components are less than optimal.
Very curious. I've had shredded patches just like those, however in my case it was with tight patches that were stiff to ram down which is contrary to your results. My working theory was the tight patch fibers were being separated on the way down the bore due to excessive rammer force. My thin patches look great - and my .54 load is 125 grains of 3F. Yes, I know its a stiff load, but the trajectory is laser flat and with this heavy Hawken the recoil is minimal.
 
I think my thin patches didn't have a good weave integrity. The shredding was caused by blowby and the gases just burned that patch up. My thick patches did a good job of filling the grooves and the edges of the lands didn't cut the patches.

I did have a Hawken Rifle with sharp rifling in its 45 caliber 1 in 56 twist (Numrich? barrel) that shredded any cotton patch I loaded in it. It wasn't until I went to linen patches that the patches held together. After several hundred linen patches, I could use cotton drill patches without shredding. Accuracy was always pretty good even when it shredded the patches.
 
Actually that is not my advice.
My first advise would be to make sure the barrel is bedded snuggly from breech to the end of the fore end and make sure the lock plate and any internal part of the lock is not touching the barrel.
Doesn’t the lock plate have to touch the barrel so the pan is up tight against the barrel?? Just saying

Anthony
 
On some mass produced guns the lock inletting and the barrel channel can poke through and make a hole appear. Sometimes it happens to be where the mainspring of the lock is too.
I have seen evidence of a mainspring touching the underside of a barrel through the hole! That is going to NOT aid the accuracy potential of any barrel!
 
A bud loaned me his Ideal .526” mold for his Mississippi, they didn’t work in my new Colerain .54 but a little deburring and polishing did.
I may still have some .526” balls in my hoard of treasure- msg me if you want me to look and mail you some
 
Old post I know. But there is some good info in it and new shooters might benefit.

Some 20+ years ago I built this Isacc Haines from a TOW kit. It has a 38" Colrain .54 caliber barrel with round bottom rifling. A lefthand Large Siler from Jim Chambers, with the single trigger. The stock was a semi-fancy maple.
This rifle shot good from the start as it had no burrs or similar imperfections inside the barrel. I did do a few things I do I think enhances accuracy, and were planned to do during the building stage. Also I have done a lot of work tuning the trigger and the lock workings. I have a 2lb. smooth trigger pull, the entire lock is smooth and consistent. All factors which contribute to accuracy.
This group was shot during a test of these components. The barrel was swabbed and degreased prior to loading. There was no fouling shot taken. The lock was removed before loading and cleaned of any oil that might migrate to the touch hole.
First shot was with a clean bore, subsequent shots were fired with a dirty barrel.
Flint was knapped to sharp and not cleaned or touched up during shooting.
60 grains 3fg Goex. .530 round ball. .015 patch lubed with LeHigh valley patch lube.

CCI06272017-0002-657x1024.jpg


To shoot consistent tight groups the shooter must be capable of shooting these tiny groups to start with. After all we are trying to shoot all shots into the same hole. In reality most shooters simply can't do it. It is much easier to blame the rifle for the shooters faults.
The shooting platform must be stable and free of vibrations at the shot. Before loading the rifle get into shooting position and aim at the target, center your sights on the bull, as carefully as possible squeeze off a shot. Without moving the rifle or your body check your sights. If you are still sighted on the bull your good to go. If not, work on your set up to tighten up your rest. Now repeat the shooting sequence until those sights never moves off the target.
When I shoot off a bench for my own testing I use a simple portable bench proven to not shift when a shot is fired. I use real sandbags. I never move off the bags, never use tree branches, limbs or other type rests. Do the same thing every time consistently.
I don't use 60 grains 3fg for deer hunting, the lightest load I've killed deer with was .070 grains 3fg, that season I killed an 8 point buck and 2 does. The balls exited all 3 deer into the ground beyond. With this rifle I load .075 grains of 3fg. My first shot is with .075 grains 3fg and a .018 pillow ticking patch lubed with Wonder Lube. Follow up shots are loaded with .075 3fg, a .018 pillow ticking patch an
Canola oil for lube. This loads faster and easier and shoots to the same POI as does the Wonder Lube.
My process is long established. I started hunting with BP and shooting Tournaments in 1996, and testing new ideas constantly.
54-on-bench.jpg
 
Plastic sawhorses from Lowes. 1X4's are screwed into the legs to stabilize the plastic. Top is a piece of plywood with channels cut into the bottom that the sawhorses fit into to further stabilize it.
Be sure the ground is level and it doesn't rock.
Simple but effective. All my testing, sighting in of both ML and CF's are now done off this setup.
 
Old post I know. But there is some good info in it and new shooters might benefit.

Some 20+ years ago I built this Isacc Haines from a TOW kit. It has a 38" Colrain .54 caliber barrel with round bottom rifling. A lefthand Large Siler from Jim Chambers, with the single trigger. The stock was a semi-fancy maple.
This rifle shot good from the start as it had no burrs or similar imperfections inside the barrel. I did do a few things I do I think enhances accuracy, and were planned to do during the building stage. Also I have done a lot of work tuning the trigger and the lock workings. I have a 2lb. smooth trigger pull, the entire lock is smooth and consistent. All factors which contribute to accuracy.
This group was shot during a test of these components. The barrel was swabbed and degreased prior to loading. There was no fouling shot taken. The lock was removed before loading and cleaned of any oil that might migrate to the touch hole.
First shot was with a clean bore, subsequent shots were fired with a dirty barrel.
Flint was knapped to sharp and not cleaned or touched up during shooting.
60 grains 3fg Goex. .530 round ball. .015 patch lubed with LeHigh valley patch lube.

CCI06272017-0002-657x1024.jpg


To shoot consistent tight groups the shooter must be capable of shooting these tiny groups to start with. After all we are trying to shoot all shots into the same hole. In reality most shooters simply can't do it. It is much easier to blame the rifle for the shooters faults.
The shooting platform must be stable and free of vibrations at the shot. Before loading the rifle get into shooting position and aim at the target, center your sights on the bull, as carefully as possible squeeze off a shot. Without moving the rifle or your body check your sights. If you are still sighted on the bull your good to go. If not, work on your set up to tighten up your rest. Now repeat the shooting sequence until those sights never moves off the target.
When I shoot off a bench for my own testing I use a simple portable bench proven to not shift when a shot is fired. I use real sandbags. I never move off the bags, never use tree branches, limbs or other type rests. Do the same thing every time consistently.
I don't use 60 grains 3fg for deer hunting, the lightest load I've killed deer with was .070 grains 3fg, that season I killed an 8 point buck and 2 does. The balls exited all 3 deer into the ground beyond. With this rifle I load .075 grains of 3fg. My first shot is with .075 grains 3fg and a .018 pillow ticking patch lubed with Wonder Lube. Follow up shots are loaded with .075 3fg, a .018 pillow ticking patch an
Canola oil for lube. This loads faster and easier and shoots to the same POI as does the Wonder Lube.
My process is long established. I started hunting with BP and shooting Tournaments in 1996, and testing new ideas constantly.
54-on-bench.jpg
Stunning gun; I'm a lefty, it's georgeous!
 
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