Stainless Steel barrel for Traditional rifles

[cayuga]

Green Mountain barrel company was offering a good deal for people that own a Thompson Center Hawkins or Renegade. You could get a 28" Stainless Steel Barrel with a 1-28 twist. This IBO barrel would allow you to use a traditional rifle and shoot more modern projectiles. I decided I wanted a couple of them and sense there was such a great deal on them I bought two of them.

Well they came today. I cleaned one of the barrels. I thought I felt a ruff spot in the barrel but was not really concerned. I figured I would shoot the rifle but it was raining out today.

I sat looking at the rain and at that new rifle barrel sitting there and decided I would not melt. So I grabbed up my gear and went outside to the range in the rain. I was overall impressed with the way the rifle loaded the Hornady XTP. Not a tight fit at all. I shot a couple of them. The first shot out of the rifle, I could tell I had forgot how sensative the hair trigger on my Renegade was. I shot a little low.

Holding a true 6 o'clock hold it hit right where it was pointing at. So on the next couple I held a heavy modified hold and it slipped them in pretty good.

Since the bore felt a little ruff when I first cleaned the packing grease out of it, I decided to shoot some conicals. So I grabbed a box of the 460 grain No Excuse conical and a couple different kinds of powders and went at it. The rifle shoots pretty good actually considering the weather conditions.

80 Grains of Goex 3f or 80 grains of Pyrodex P and the rifle did a pretty good job with the iron sights at 50 yards off the bench...I have a lot more things to try out of this.

When I cleaned it the second time, I felt no ruff spots anymore in the bore. And the rifle cleaned up beautiful....

 

[Admin]

You killed a strawberry! :shock:

Seriously though, good shooting for a rainy and windy day.

 

[cayuga]

I thought for sure you would have told me I was a cereal killer.. :lol: So far I am pleased. I want to get it out and see just what it can do.

 

[big6x6]

Hey that looks like the starting of a great outfit there! You're all ready starting to shoot some good groups!

Really good report!

 

[Admin]

I thought for sure you would have told me I was a cereal killer.. :lol: So far I am pleased. I want to get it out and see just what it can do.

You only winged the cereal. :lol:

 

[Doohan]

Cereal Killer!!!! HA!

:lol: :mrgreen:

That is funny!!!!


Great shooting cayugad! Looks like you have a nice set of irons on that barrel!

 

[cayuga]

I've been shooting a lot of projectiles through this Stainless Steel barrel and am very impressed with it. Today I was shooting 80 grains of Swiss 3f, a homemade felt wad, homemade Castor Oil lube on the wad, and a 460 grain No Excuse Conical again. I ended up shooting off the rest of the box.

I then shot some maxiball and they also shot very good with the same charge. I tried a couple other conicals I had around the house and they did not shoot too well.

I then got out the orange .458 diameter Knight Sabots and some home casted 405 grain lead FP bullets. I loaded 100 grains of Goex 2f under them and they shot excellent. The down range thump was very impressive when they hit the steel back stop...

 

[BCS]

cayuga,

Get some heavy card stock [picture matting] and punch out some heavy wads. You can use the felt with them also. :idea:

What ever you use, find them and see how they survived. You might even have to use two depending on what you make them out of.

They helped on my 50 and 54.

No-BS

 

[cayuga]

the felt wads I shoot are not real thick that for sure. They do seem to help with accuracy. And they are lubed real good. I dipped them and then let them harden on wax paper. They seem to seal the bore real good before I put a conical on them. I will try a few shots with a double wad and see what happens..

thanks for the suggestion.

 

[cayuga]

The other day I bought some maxiball (bulk) and lubed them with the homemade castor oil lube. I stuck a wad between 85 grains of Goex and the maxiball. The accuracy was really very good. I was surprised that it would shoot such tight groups. I thought this Green Mountain Barrel would be more of a sabot barrel but I could be wrong.

I also shot some 300 grain .430 XTP's out of it with 100 grains of Goex and it sent them right into the bull at 50 yards, so this rifle might get a day of hunting in this season after all...

Actually I just like to shoot...

 

[tooldog]

So you're giving these barrels the thumbs up?

 

[cayuga]

tooldog.. I've only been playing with one of them. And so far it is a good shooter. I want to shoot it a little more today and then maybe take it for a walk this weekend during our modern rifle season...

 

[cayuga]

I was having fun with the Renegade and the Green Mountain Barrel. I think I will use the rifle during the muzzleloader season when scopes are not allowed. It should be a good load with 100 grains of Goex 2f and that .430 diameter Hornady XTP.

 

[BCS]

I could never get 300 or 240 XTPs to shoot out of my 1 in 30 twist 50 cal, but those 200 XTPs are real shooters.

 

[cayuga]

My Green Mountain Barrel is .50 caliber with a 1-28 twist. So far it is shooting most anything I pushed at it. After I shot the 300 grain XTP's I loaded some 250 grain Shockwaves, and was surprised it shot them well too...

 

[tooldog]

Well I finally got around to ordering one of the SS barrels for my TC hawken. Excellent price. They charged me tax, but no shipping. Go figure. I still have a couple of days for our anterless season here. If it shows up in time I might be able to get this new barrel out in the woods this weekend.

 

[n8dawg6]

alas, im dying to get a green mountain rifle for my renegade. however, i have the model with the left-handed lock (after all, i shoot left-handed!). green mountain says they don't make a drop in barrel for my rifle, and apparently never will. thompson center won't support it either. its a fine rifle, with an especially sweet set trigger, but i'm stuck with a 1-48" twist and average 3 inch groups at 50 yds.

anyone have any recommendations for really accurate loads for a 1-48" twist renegade? it's .54 caliber, btw. im thinking about trying some ball-ets.

 

[cayuga]

alas, im dying to get a green mountain rifle for my renegade. however, i have the model with the left-handed lock (after all, i shoot left-handed!). green mountain says they don't make a drop in barrel for my rifle, and apparently never will. thompson center won't support it either. its a fine rifle, with an especially sweet set trigger, but i'm stuck with a 1-48" twist and average 3 inch groups at 50 yds.

anyone have any recommendations for really accurate loads for a 1-48" twist renegade? it's .54 caliber, btw. im thinking about trying some ball-ets.

I have four .54 caliber Renegades. All of them will shoot roundball very well. One in particular is deadly with 90 grains of Goex 2f and a patched roundball.

Another thing the Renegades like to shoot are the 300 grain R.E.A.L. conicals. I shoot them with 80 grains of Goex 2f and they are real game takers.

These new Stainless Barrels are really good shooters. I am real impressed with them. I may scope the second one I have and then leave the original one with the open sights. They sure are fun to shoot.