I have a T/C Renegade In .54 caliber. My first wife gave me this Muzzleloading Rifle kit as gift on our 1st Christmas together in 1981. We were stationed at Camp LeJeune NC and I was finishing my first enlistment. My wife was just starting her first enlistment. I decided to do "one more" to be with her. From then until I retired from the Navy that Renegade went with us. Except for a 3 year tour in Spain.
My efforts building my Renegade were definitely apprentice quality. But it goes "BOOM" and it shoots well. I introduced smoke pole shooting, muzzleloader kit building and bullet molding to many shipmates and Marines I served with.
Helping my convert's build their muzzleloaders fine tuned my kit skills. By my 14 or 15th kit and my 4th Renegade a beautiful rifle was produced. The 4th Renegade was a kit my wife's friend bought as a Christmas gift for her husband and wanted me to do the build. He was so taken with the rifle he did not want to shoot it. Instead he displays it in a glass gun cabinet. He had fired my Renegade many times and liked the "used look" and said he wanted something that he didn't need to worry about. His choice was a T/C Mountain rifle kit. I got the joy of supervising his efforts and drinking his beer!
It also got me to tear down my Renegade and rebuild it. It wasn't nearly as beautiful as my friends rifle but it was helluva lot better looking than my the original build.
While in the Navy I hunted deer with rifle, shotgun with slug or buckshot and archery. I found that using a true muzzleloader was the most challenging. I found even archery took a back seat to using a true muzzleloader. With a bow built out of a Pawn Shop frame and adding all the attachments I could reliably group at 50yds. I had 2 Whitetails let me get a second shaft off after the first was deflected.
If you've missed with a muzzleloader you know you missed. After the smoke clears you find you are all alone.
A true "one shot, one kill" hunting experience.
I took Whitetails in 5 Southern states and a Razorback hog (probably a feral) in Arkansas with my .54 Renegade. When I retired from the Navy and moved back to my native Pacific Northwest I shot Blacktails and Muleys in Oregon and Washington.
My most challenging hunt was outside Illwaco/Long Beach Washington. Where I had a successful "keep your powder dry" Roosevelt elk hunt.
Shortly after this hunt I took a job with a rural hospital in Southeast Alaska. I've taken several Sitka Blacktails and one Black bear with my Renegade here in SE Alaska.
But mostly it's my "Fun Gun" when I go to the range. When I start making smoke I always get an audience. And I always offer them a chance to shoot. I thereby infect more people with the smoke pole itch.
I've had my Renegade for over forty years now. It's not the same rifle that came in the kit. I've been through a few ramrods and now have a space age rod. I changed the sights and installed a recoil pad. I added a tang mounted peep sight as my eyes got older.
The biggest change is hardly noticeable looking at my Renegade. It became a different rifle and it drove reliability right through the friggin roof!
I changed the No.11 percussion nipple to a Musket nipple and now use musket caps. I should have kept track but I figure I've run 3-400 rounds without a misfire. Now I keep up with the "inline weenies" and their shotgun primers.
I've got a urge to go burn some powder!
My efforts building my Renegade were definitely apprentice quality. But it goes "BOOM" and it shoots well. I introduced smoke pole shooting, muzzleloader kit building and bullet molding to many shipmates and Marines I served with.
Helping my convert's build their muzzleloaders fine tuned my kit skills. By my 14 or 15th kit and my 4th Renegade a beautiful rifle was produced. The 4th Renegade was a kit my wife's friend bought as a Christmas gift for her husband and wanted me to do the build. He was so taken with the rifle he did not want to shoot it. Instead he displays it in a glass gun cabinet. He had fired my Renegade many times and liked the "used look" and said he wanted something that he didn't need to worry about. His choice was a T/C Mountain rifle kit. I got the joy of supervising his efforts and drinking his beer!
It also got me to tear down my Renegade and rebuild it. It wasn't nearly as beautiful as my friends rifle but it was helluva lot better looking than my the original build.
While in the Navy I hunted deer with rifle, shotgun with slug or buckshot and archery. I found that using a true muzzleloader was the most challenging. I found even archery took a back seat to using a true muzzleloader. With a bow built out of a Pawn Shop frame and adding all the attachments I could reliably group at 50yds. I had 2 Whitetails let me get a second shaft off after the first was deflected.
If you've missed with a muzzleloader you know you missed. After the smoke clears you find you are all alone.
A true "one shot, one kill" hunting experience.
I took Whitetails in 5 Southern states and a Razorback hog (probably a feral) in Arkansas with my .54 Renegade. When I retired from the Navy and moved back to my native Pacific Northwest I shot Blacktails and Muleys in Oregon and Washington.
My most challenging hunt was outside Illwaco/Long Beach Washington. Where I had a successful "keep your powder dry" Roosevelt elk hunt.
Shortly after this hunt I took a job with a rural hospital in Southeast Alaska. I've taken several Sitka Blacktails and one Black bear with my Renegade here in SE Alaska.
But mostly it's my "Fun Gun" when I go to the range. When I start making smoke I always get an audience. And I always offer them a chance to shoot. I thereby infect more people with the smoke pole itch.
I've had my Renegade for over forty years now. It's not the same rifle that came in the kit. I've been through a few ramrods and now have a space age rod. I changed the sights and installed a recoil pad. I added a tang mounted peep sight as my eyes got older.
The biggest change is hardly noticeable looking at my Renegade. It became a different rifle and it drove reliability right through the friggin roof!
I changed the No.11 percussion nipple to a Musket nipple and now use musket caps. I should have kept track but I figure I've run 3-400 rounds without a misfire. Now I keep up with the "inline weenies" and their shotgun primers.
I've got a urge to go burn some powder!
