I cannot wait to get a new encore with t/c arms Rochester NH engraved in the barrel!!! I'm so so glad that T/C is back baby... Thank you from the bottom of my heart Greg Ritz
I haven't seen that yet are back. I keep seeing all these videos.. and they are cool. But let's focus on getting back the TC'S on the market then make the videos
I get it a new video. I can see that. However that's all I'm seeing is videos. All in saying is focus on getting TC back on the market. People already know the name is a popular band. Do all the videos later
Years ago, we were out hunting antelope with our Hawkens. My buddy had needed to pull a load as he couldn't remember what his load was. He put th screw jig on the ramrod and somehow he broke the the ramrod. With about 12 inches of ramrod showing, we were stuck. We fashioned a rope to pull the trigger remotely much like you've done in ths experiment. Once fired the ramrod could be heard whirling across the desert. We tested it by reloading it with my ramrod. It worked perfectly. It was a testament to the durability of our old T/C Hawkens. I still have 3 of these. Thanks for the video.
That was a mighty sacrifice Gregg!! Priceless information for new and experienced hunters. That blown up Encore would display nice on a plaque in the TC office as a warning against smokeless powder!!
@@shythawks9549 the first-time you dry ball a muzzle loader you will be humbled, it's a case of when, not if. Thats why you should carry a ball-puller attachment for your ramrod.
@@ditzydoo4378 don't mind the safety reminder but technically this model doesn't count as a true muzzle/pipe-loader ( one of my favourite is the uk 1750~ wheel lock brown-bess in a repop 4ft~barrelled as the originals by now are probably to fragile to use daily/hunt's and for reliable self defence ) and is closer relations to my brake actions Winchester21 1890's~ and the breaching ( don't own or plans for owning and same for oil polymer&stamp'd-types ) sharps1840-70~/civil war era legally speaking my USA-state's DWS/game-warden probably wouldn't let it/you use it on bisons,ram's,Turkey hunt-black-powder-only for better or worse and im not the typical types of snobby owners/collectible/bureaucrat
I’ve been an ml hunter for 20 years and never once did I forget if I had left it loaded. But double loading!?! If you do forget and double load, your friends and family should never, ever let you live that down for the rest of your life. Muzzle loader safety, firearm safety should never be failed. If it is you shouldn’t be able to live it down. that one mistake could be your, or someone else’s life. Hearing him say “mistakes happen” when talking about this shocked me haha.
At the Battle of Gettysburg, the Union Army salvaged 24,000 rifles which were still loaded and found 18,000 of them had been loaded twice or more without being fired. en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rifles_in_the_American_Civil_War#:~:text=At%20the%20Battle%20of%20Gettysburg,or%20more%20without%20being%20fired.
I have to admit, not solicited, that I once left the ramrod in a savage smokeless powder rig. Gun wasn't hurt at all but I was below the eye when the scope bit me. Physics are very real, that "equal and opposite reaction" thing holds true. I wasn't sure what happened initially but I put two and two together and found my ramrod maybe 25 yards away, fiberglass splintered and frayed. I don't recommend trying it.
You have to be specially rarted to do that. There are so many ways to avoid double loading, you can put a cap on & see if it fires at a range, you can mark the depth of the ramrod before or after loading and see if the mark lines up, you can just write on a piece of masking tape "loaded" & peel it off when youre gonna use it with no glue residue left, the list goes on. Im sure theres gonna be a lot of copium in these replies.
I always fired my black powder muzzle loader into a bank of dirt when leaving the hunting area. I can’t imagine leaving any hunting rifle loaded for transport. The hunts over for the day, discharge, clean, and store Pretty simple
I always wanted a TC years ago, and was unaware that they went under in recent years, but I feel like the company is in good hands now and am in a position to purchase a TC as soon as you start selling again. Thank you for all that you all are doing.
I've been muzzle Loader hunting for the past 25 years. I have a Thompson center New Englander. 100 grains of pyrodex select behind a 180 gr bullet is more than adequate for white tail.
I remember testing a Hawken to see what it would take. Ken French and i took it to a Farmington NH range and I won't say here what we used but that Hawken took way more than I would have thought.
Saw a video on the tube of them filling it with powder till you could just fit a bullet in. Shot fine other than it broke the stock from all the kick lol
Interesting, the stock on mine has a hairline crack on left side, it's my wall hanger. A friend gave it to me some years back. Along with a bunch of other shooting stuff, he took a job overseas and didn't have anywhere to store it.
Very good information. I am not familiar with muzzle loaders, but, I learned something that may save my life if I ever decide to go into muzzle loading firearms. loved the information. Thank you for taking your time to do this episode.
BINGO! I have never shot any of my firearms or muzzle loaders and just went home and put them back into the safe without cleaning them. It’s just one of the steps to ml and firearm safety in my opinion. Even being a newbie that shouldn’t be an excuse.
Three 50gr. Pyrodex pellets, 150gr. - no worries. Accurate every time. Love the vid, the breech plug held - gives me confidence in the newer system, but I loved the strength of the old one. I’m glad to see the newer breech plug held up, it is easier. I’m sold on it. Love Thompson Encore, the best gun ever made.
If you get a pound of loose black powder, you’ll get approximately 70 shots per pound of powder. 100 grains by volume is equal to 150 grains of the pellets. Also, you have a very consistent burn too, and there’s less residue. It’s not hard to measure the powder as long as you can read.
I use 100gn with my inlines. I've thought about using the regular types of powder but figured I'd stay consistent systems. Especially being a reloader of a few other calibers already.
Very impressive to see the Big Boss taking the time to make a great educational video! Thank you for bringing back a Great, American Muzzleloading Company! I recently sold my Omega, to a good friend, it served me well for many years. Now I want a new production Encore!
Huge fan of the TC Encores! So I used to have a FFL and a brick and mortar. A customer once came in to buy a Encore ramrod. He looked like he just got beat up by Mike Tyson. Long story short- he shot his ramrod, got KO'd, woke up feeling dead. 150 grains of pellets, 300gr sabot and rod.... that rod is solid aluminum. The gun and barrel survived both times he did it! Both times? A few weeks later he did it again!!!!😂
@@kenofken9458 LOL. I think you might be right as nothing happened when my neighbour shot his ramrod except he had to get another one. He said it kicked really hard though.
@@davemeise2192 It just makes no sense for a ramrod firing to ever happen outside of the context of a mid or early 19th Century battle environment. Unless someone is severely drunk or high, there's just no excuse. There's no deer hunt worth your life.
@@kenofken9458 My neighbour got pretty excited when he saw a moose and was hunting with his muzzleloader. In his excitement, after the first shot, he didn't remove the ramrod from reloading. I've never understood getting that excited as the first shot is what really counts. Place it well and you can take whatever time you need to make a follow up shot.
When I saw the video image, I about wanted to cry. Thinking about my Encore in my gun safe, when I got it as a 300 W.M. and 30.06 barrel combination a few years later I bought a 50 cal muzzle loading barrel for it. Because my Black Diamond 209 holder had corroded in breach plug and I could not get a replacement. It was almost a year to get one. FYI, Thanks for bringing T/C back. I've got 2 other muzzle loaders from T/C beside my Encore. I can't wait to see more optional barrels for it. I don't really recommend the 300 W.M. for shooting in warm weather without a muzzle break. I find it slightly abusive to the shoulder.
Man that is a sad ending to a fine rifle. I have owned a few firearms from TC, my favorite was a Contender in .41 magnum, it was one of the most accurate hand guns I ever owned, had a nice 3x scope atop the barrel, man it is near the top of the list of guns I wish I had never let go, just below the Luger that was pristine in it' holster with all accessories. The only black powder rifle I ever had was someone's attempt to make a kit gun, it was in bad shape but I rebuilt it to make it look like it just came out of the trading post in Silver City Nevada in 1858. The fellow I got it from came to the gun show and paid triple what I gave him for it in his attempt, he was so very happy to see it done the way it was meant to be done, but I never did take it out and fire it because I had no fixings for it. I was just learning gunsmithing back then taking a correspondence course and working part time in a shop run by a graduate of Yavapai out of Prescott Az. I did gunsmithing for several years till I ended up on the disabled list but that is another story. Thanks for the video, we need more of these, I have seen some real damage done to fine firearms because of mistakes on the part of the owner, in fact at one time I considered pulling the pin on my badge and moving from law enforcement to full timing smithing, sadly the accident that took me out of work happened while I was still "thinking" about doing it,
Pretty impressive that it survived double charged and double loaded. My encore MZ is over 20 years old and good to know that it could survive operator error like that.
Awesome video. It helps to visualize what happens when you make mistakes. I have developed a habit of using my ramrod before loading to verify an empty barrel. Thanks
My uncle borrowed my dads Omega once. Dad loaded it for him, told him it was loaded, let him go hunt with it, but he didn’t get anything. It’s a good thing too, because he loaded it again. The next week, my dad got it back and went out himself. Had a huge buck walk out about 75 yards from him so he took his shot and got scoped bad. That said, he did kill the buck AND he still hunts with the same rifle years later.
Based on the MSD sheet for the product, BlackHorn209 is 83% smokeless powder (nitrocellulose). The Guanidine Nitrate and the Potassium Perchlorate in the product are corrosive. We can also blow up the barrel of any centerfire rifle by using the wrong type and amount of smokeless propellant. The same is true for all shotgun barrels.
Guanidine Nitrate is a smokeless powder component (but more commonly found in artillery ammunition). It slows the burn rate when mixed with the more usual cellulose nitrate and nitroglycerin. Potassium Perchlorate is definitely a corrosive oxidiser. Chlorine tetraoxide is just plain nasty when released, to everything in the neighbourhood.
While I whole heartedly agree to never use smokeless in a muzzle loader. 120 gr by volume of Accurate 2015 would blow up most modern rifles that were intended for smokeless powder. In fact most rifle cases couldn’t even hold that much. With that being said, I understand how easy that mistake would be to make and Thank you for making the video to highlight the very real danger. Especially if you figure the powder used here was in the middle of the burn rate chart. Great video that I will be sharing with the hunter education class my grandson is attending this weekend.
It was almost like they blew up the gun on purpose, in the same way they could have blown up any shotgun or centerfire barrel by using the wrong amount of the wrong powder. Have they ever heard of the Savage 10ML muzzleloader? What would the loads for the Savage 10ML do in this rifle?
I my safety cours on muscle loader gun, i encourage students to identify the ram rod. First chamber empty, insert ram rod and mark , next load the powder, insert rod and mark rod, third insert bullet and seat, insert ram rod and mark.This third mark will indicate a loaded misled loader. Now if during the loading you are distracted and not sure of which step you are at during loading procedure, incert ram rod and check which mark shows up, the one that is level with the barrel will indicate which step or fully loaded you are at.
I remember reading about some horrific cases during the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars from French doctors when I was doing my masters about both untrained soldiers and revolutionaries new to combat causing themselves great injuries because of double, or even triple loading, their muskets. That situation is obviously different - they were terrified in combat and were scared to pull the trigger and would often reload on top of their already loaded powder and shot. Some of those who came back to camp after a battle would tip out two or three balls and whatever powder was left because they just never fired.
I enjoyed that, so thank you for sharing it with us. I have a couple of comments about it though. I saw your powder measure was plastic or acrylic! I was under the impression those materials can carry a static electrical charge and therefore could spark and ignite! But I also know there are some plastics which don't. I would have preferred to see the two main guys walk down without the camera man ahead of you, as it gives the wrong impression of safety. Good video thanks.
I have been shooting blackpowder myself for over 40 some years. Never shot anything, but blackpowder. In my firearms. You can keep your in-lines. I will stay with my flintlock. Enjoy , everyone has their own liking.
And people complained that that there Damascus guns blew up when they loaded Schulz powder with a powder measure instead of weight, Shults is close to Unque in burn speed, it is amazing how strong those barrels were that people were not injured more severely than they were.
another way is to load the gun and put the ramrod in it after it is loaded with the charge you are going to shoot all the time and then take a knife and cut a light grove around ramrod buy twisting the ramrod and mark it.. You can just put the ramrod in the barrel and see if the mark is at the top of the barrel and you will know right away if the gun is loaded if it is at the mark.. i do this to all my muzzleloaders after i work up a good load that i shoot all the time.. the clank of the ramrod hitting and empty barrel works well too if the gun is not loaded.. good shooting and stay safe.. Great video and thank you for do this demo
I hope TC stands behind their stuff better than they used too had nothing but headaches trying to get an encore taken care of. The thing would average 7 inch groups at 100 yds but according to TC that is perfectly acceptable
As a gunsmith I see this all the time. I often pull the breech plug and try to drive the rounds out through the breech. They usually have to use a long drill bit and drill out the balls. I have had guys try to fire double loads but since the load has been in the gun for most of a year and the gun will not fire due to the powder going bad. I school the owner to fire the round out in the field before they go home. Then pull the plug and clean the barrel. Even synthetic black power is somewhat corrosive. I have seen gun that were set aside loaded and plug is so corroded it needs replacement and sometimes the barrel is so pitted it needs to be replaced. So, never take your gun home loaded and clean it even if you didn’t take a shot.
I appreciate the generalization concerning smokeless powder to make the point to NOT use it in a muzzleloader. Being a handloader though made me wonder what the burn rate of that powder was and if someone wants to donate guns and powder to test different powders! Lets use Bullseye for one and 50BMG powder for another to see how different they react. That would be interesting.
These are all possible mistakes. Knowing how to safely handle and use muzzle loading firearms takes attention to detail. Be safe and it's a fun and rewarding sport. However, I have always wondered why not just build the muzzleloader to smokeless specifications? It would be a win / win type of product. A- it would be over designed for black powder and this very safe and B- it would be able to handle smokeless powder too. There would have to be the warning that the two powders are measured differently. One by weight and one by volume but again that would come under attention to detail. Something most gun owners practice as a matter of course. Great video!!
It has always been my understanding that modern powder is not faster burning, in fact very slow in comparison but because of its makeup and materials it creates massive pressures in comparison. Am I incorrect? Slo motion testing we have done shows bp instant poof while modern is a long burn?
120 grains? That will turn your muzzle loader into a flame thrower. I've been using a Muzzle loading rifle to hunt deer since the late 70's, of the Hawken style. With round ball I use 60 grains of FF, all the powder burns in the barrel, very little smoke comes out. With a conical bullet I up the charge to 80 grains of FF powder. Again, just a puff of smoke comes out the muzzle when fired. So your using a lot of powder.
I use about 90 to 100 grains of triple F and the same thing with mine and also I found something weird that beyond 100 grains the velocity doesn’t improve much so anything beyond that is just a waste of powder. I typically run about a 300 grain chronicle projectile I make my own rounds using Lee precision mold.
A friends son just had his muzzle loader explode in his hands 2 weeks ago. He’s had 7 surgeries so far, lost an eye and part of his thumb and pinky. He’s lucky to be alive and to only have those injuries.
here in north carolina a in line muzzle loader builder was selling a in line using no sabots .the 45 caliber jacketed bullets fit perfectly to rifling and lands he used smokeless powder .I don't remember the powder or charge but it cronygraphed 3600fps , 6400 ft/lb energy power. I do know he operated in yadkin count
It would be pretty sweet if you made a muzzle loader capable of handling a NORMAL load of smokeless. Some states require muzzle loaders for certain hunting and I’m sure people used to reloading other cartridges would prefer just working up a load with powder they already have rather than diving into the black powder world
we do NOT need more of that in our muzzleloader woods... the idiots running around with cheap inlines are bad enough. Smokeless muzzleloaders should remain in the custom realm.
Actually diving into the black powder world as far easier than dealing with smokeless powder. I reload smokeless cartridges and everything has to be absolutely precise from the type of powder you use even the type of primer and cartridges. Black powder is far more easier to deal with because everything is measured by volume and not weight. Only thing you have to worry about is if your primer are 209 MZ. There are over 100 different types of smokeless powder each one has a different burn rate. I’m sure you do not want to have to carry a weighing scale out to the field with you.
@@BeetleBuns I absolutely agree because muzzleloading season is for muzzleloaders. Even though I’m a big gun fan, I still believe in just having a season dedicated to enjoying the experience of black powder hunting. I honestly believe people are wanting to use smokeless powder during muzzleloading season. They suggest stick to modern firearms and leave muzzleloaders alone because it’s obvious that muzzleloading isn’t for them.
Smokeless loads are impossible to 'work up' for the average shooter, unlike a bolt action center fire rifle where there is reams of loading data. Smokeless pressures can spike from just an over charge of a couple grains or less, and there is very little load data out there currently. The average hunter/shooter is for sure out of his league with this. There is load data on DVD's being sold online on Ebay and elsewhere of supposedly low pressure smokeless loading data good for any inline modern gun. Blackhorn average load pressure runs around 25,000 PSI while many centerfire bolt rifle rounds are double that. I get it if a smokeless load runs under 25,000 PSI it is likely safe, but how many folks are gonna get hurt playing that game ?
@@jeffreyburney6161 A couple states are screwing the thing up with allowing straight wall centerfire in the muzzle loader season. 100% I am against that.
When I was quite a bit younger I intentionally loaded a double charge of 2f (100 grains per charge) in my 58 caliber and then loaded two 58 caliber patched round balls on top of it. It kicked pretty hard but, thankfully, nothing bad happened. BTW, one round ball completely missed the paper at 50 yards. :-(
I watched a buddy use IMR (2134 or 3031) powder in a sidelock that only melted the sabot. He killed many deer with that load. Not recommending, but burn rate is a factor to consider. The condition most commonly reported in muzzleloader fatalities was improperly seating the projectile and leaving a void.
It's very simple to avoid double charge: you just need to put a high visibility mark on the ramrod when the weapon is loaded = if you do a double charge you cannot then not notice it
When you compare the thickness of the barrel at the breech and that of a smokeless rifle in the same location, you can see why the TC let go. The pressure was probably in the 50,00lbs/sq inch region, or maybe more, in a gun designed to operate at 15 and be proved at 25 or less. I only use BP rather than the subs, which produce higher pressures in any case. Real BP will never hurt such a sturdy arm....
My brother had a CVA blow up in his hands. Split the barrel 10 inches apart up an down. The bottom part was a sharp point that put a hole in his shirt right outside his heart. The projectile went in front of me by a foot in front of my face. I think he only needed 10 stitches to keep his thumb. He remembers that was the hardest kick he felt from any rifle. Investigation found there was a small blister inside the barrel. (Edit to fix auto correct mistake)
Thanks for showing us how not to use safety glasses, no hearing protection either. Camera man down range on left, 14:15 during filming. Thanks for showing us all these common mistakes, while making more yourself.
The worst thing I've ever done to my old T/C Omega is I had my loading jag threads break off when I was loading a bullet in. I did not catch it. I had 115gr of Blackhorn under a 300gr Harvester PT Gold bullet. I'm not sure what a 6" brass jag weighs, but that damn thing kicked the hell out of me. The gun survived perfectly fine.
My buddys muzzy we were sighting in was double loaded a few years ago! Once i touched it off it took the hat right off my head, kicked like a damn horse, both projectiles hit the target but man did it ever scare the bejeebers out of me!
Using plain old black powder, there really isn't a way to blow up the gun with any amount of black powder unless you do something stoopid like plug the barrel. The physics of how black powder burns just won't allow it with modern metallurgy. Any extra black powder simply gets pushed unburnt out the end of the barrel. That's reason enough to NEVER use anything but plain old black powder - NEVER USE A SUBSTITUTE; NEVER USE SMOKELESS. That double charged load, if using black powder, will only generate about 21,000 psi. That's not much considering that most modern rifle barrels regularly see pressures almost three times that. And for whatever it's worth, all powder, including black powder are measured by weight. Black powder measures do not measure by volume. To see this, simply measure out some black powder with your powder measure, pour it into a scale, and if you measured out 60 grains in your powder measure, it will also weigh 60 grains. Grains, after all, is a measure of weight, not volume.
Actually, black powder measures do measure by volume. The volume marks are just placed to correspond to an equivalent weight of black powder in grains. If you were to use it to measure #9 lead shot for example, when you poured that shot in a pan on a scale it would weigh much more than what the marks indicated.
Or……..unless the barrel has a defect and goes off like a pipe bomb like my nephews TC did, exploding his left hand which was sitting on top of the scope. He’s still never received a dollar from TC and the investigation is ongoing and will likely end up just like a Hillary Clinton or Hunter Biden investigation. The gun was cleaned and put away for the winter and the following summer both brothers witnessed him load it once and the first shot off the bench it exploded. His TC wasn’t the only one to do it. As soon as it happened my brother did a google search and found that many of the same gun had done it and some were even shown exploding on video while people were practicing.
beginning of the season I cleaned my rifle taking out the breach plug and pushing the cleaning rod all the way through the barrel and breach. marking the ram rod with 3 different colors 1 mark is unloaded i like that to be green 2 mark is powder only my mark is blue 3 is fully loaded and that mark i use is red. i prefer Pyradex pellets 50gr each by 3 pellets for 150gr and a 243gr hollow point
I actually have one of the first models out of the custom shop. It's a nice muzzleloader, pistol, rifle, shotgun. I have to break mine down completely just to clean the thing. I bought a Smith and Wesson barrel and it's gone out of round in the chamber and I'm going to purchase an original TC Encore pistol barrel and scope up and sight in and hunt.
Had a wee tear in the eye at the demise of that TC Encore😪 But nevertheless, it was a worthwhile price for a Valid and Important Lesson, I Love shooting Black Powder but don't get to indulge in here in the UK anymore, but when I did, I always made it best Practice verging on Ritual to Rod the Rifle Regularly, I always took a Painted Gauge rod with me that showed Green when properly loaded, but if you could see RED showing the the Rifle was Deemed Unsafe until Dealt with but it was better to lose a Ball and powder Charge, than your life or that of a bystander. Best wishes from across the Pond & Stay Safe Y'all ❤ 👍
When I went hunting with dad as a kid he always told me to pick a tree before we left for the day. Wish you guys still replaced the barrels on the old TC center Pennsylvania match though.
You could load that barrel to the top with black powder or a black powder substitute and you wouldn't damage your barrel. Black powder with a big enough bore obstruction and a normal powder charger = damaged barrel at the least.
The government might should pay all muzzleloaders to convert their weapons to shoot little pre measured thingys in a little brass thimble thingy, with the cap pressed right there on the end of it. You could have different sizes just like the gun barrels and such. You could even label them. It would cut way down on double loading and be way safer. I’m gonna run with this idea if no one else does.
I recently purchased a encore with a very bad trigger pull. After taking it apart, someone had filed on the hammer and sear. I was wondering when parts will become available to buy? I can't find a hammer and sear anywhere.
Recommend anyone new to black powder should read a book. If you can’t read then a bow and arrow might be dangerous to you. Dr. Sam Fadala has a good book on black powder firearms. I am old school and I think some of the modern muzzleloaders resemble modern firearms so much that people make the false assumption that they can handle smokeless powder.
Smokeless is just so much more powerful. Loading 45-70 cartridges with 60 grains has more power than 45-120 cartridges with the original black powder it was designed for. Faster burning powder just develops significantly higher peak pressures.
As a teenager I was concerned with my limited experience about double charges or if the projectile moved down the barrel prior to discharge so I marked my ramrod with a normal charge and projectile was flush with the end of the barrel so I could do a quick check. ps would have been good to have a moist paper plate in front of the barrel to see if the second charge burned or was just pushed out unburnt.
Buckhorn Magnum still going after 15 years. Last load in from the year before go to the range shoot 50 yards (all I have for a shot where I am) hit within 1 inch of bull and I'm all set. I know that I didn't get a deer the year before because I AM HUNGRY for more deer. No mishaps so far.
A few grains of fast burn smokeless can be put on top of the BP. It doesn't really change anything other than a far cleaner burn. The gun wont foul at all really. I don't remember the exact ratio off hand though.
I cannot wait to get a new encore with t/c arms Rochester NH engraved in the barrel!!! I'm so so glad that T/C is back baby... Thank you from the bottom of my heart Greg Ritz
I have the pro hunter series,best decision I ever made
So Happy to hear TC is back !!!
I haven't seen that there back yet? I'm still waiting
I'll never buy a Smith again because of that
I haven't seen that yet are back. I keep seeing all these videos.. and they are cool. But let's focus on getting back the TC'S on the market then make the videos
@@richardburch6424 *they're, and yeah, they are coming back. This is a new video on the company channel after all.
I get it a new video. I can see that. However that's all I'm seeing is videos. All in saying is focus on getting TC back on the market. People already know the name is a popular band. Do all the videos later
Years ago, we were out hunting antelope with our Hawkens. My buddy had needed to pull a load as he couldn't remember what his load was. He put th screw jig on the ramrod and somehow he broke the the ramrod. With about 12 inches of ramrod showing, we were stuck. We fashioned a rope to pull the trigger remotely much like you've done in ths experiment. Once fired the ramrod could be heard whirling across the desert. We tested it by reloading it with my ramrod. It worked perfectly. It was a testament to the durability of our old T/C Hawkens. I still have 3 of these. Thanks for the video.
Thank you for this demonstration. You very possibly saved some newbie’s life. Hate to see the Encore destroyed but very informative.
That was a mighty sacrifice Gregg!! Priceless information for new and experienced hunters. That blown up Encore would display nice on a plaque in the TC office as a warning against smokeless powder!!
The flex in the barrell on that 2nd shot was crazy
Inoticed that too!!!
This very thing is why I preach to always mark your ramrod where your load charge depth is.
I love how he said “mistakes happen”. I was always thigh mistakes cannot happen when it comes to muzzle loaders and firearms…ever
@@shythawks9549 the first-time you dry ball a muzzle loader you will be humbled, it's a case of when, not if. Thats why you should carry a ball-puller attachment for your ramrod.
First thing I thought of, Mark the ram rod
@@wzhaicthtaarkyer ^~^
@@ditzydoo4378 don't mind the safety reminder but technically this model doesn't count as a true muzzle/pipe-loader ( one of my favourite is the uk 1750~ wheel lock brown-bess in a repop 4ft~barrelled as the originals by now are probably to fragile to use daily/hunt's and for reliable self defence ) and is closer relations to my brake actions Winchester21 1890's~ and the breaching ( don't own or plans for owning and same for oil polymer&stamp'd-types ) sharps1840-70~/civil war era
legally speaking my USA-state's DWS/game-warden probably wouldn't let it/you use it on bisons,ram's,Turkey hunt-black-powder-only for better or worse and im not the typical types of snobby owners/collectible/bureaucrat
You should get ahold of the guys at Ballistic High Speed and have them film these tests. Would be super cool!
Yep
I’ve been an ml hunter for 20 years and never once did I forget if I had left it loaded. But double loading!?! If you do forget and double load, your friends and family should never, ever let you live that down for the rest of your life. Muzzle loader safety, firearm safety should never be failed. If it is you shouldn’t be able to live it down. that one mistake could be your, or someone else’s life. Hearing him say “mistakes happen” when talking about this shocked me haha.
At the Battle of Gettysburg, the Union Army salvaged 24,000 rifles which were still loaded and found 18,000 of them had been loaded twice or more without being fired. en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rifles_in_the_American_Civil_War#:~:text=At%20the%20Battle%20of%20Gettysburg,or%20more%20without%20being%20fired.
Never happened to me but it does happen.
I have to admit, not solicited, that I once left the ramrod in a savage smokeless powder rig. Gun wasn't hurt at all but I was below the eye when the scope bit me. Physics are very real, that "equal and opposite reaction" thing holds true. I wasn't sure what happened initially but I put two and two together and found my ramrod maybe 25 yards away, fiberglass splintered and frayed. I don't recommend trying it.
They shouldn’t happen but unfortunately they do.
You have to be specially rarted to do that. There are so many ways to avoid double loading, you can put a cap on & see if it fires at a range, you can mark the depth of the ramrod before or after loading and see if the mark lines up, you can just write on a piece of masking tape "loaded" & peel it off when youre gonna use it with no glue residue left, the list goes on.
Im sure theres gonna be a lot of copium in these replies.
Been Muzzle Loading for 40 years , got 2 guns , NEVER been that careless , never will .
Reap what you sow.
That's what I say,
I was thinking natural selection... Everybody goofs up but my God.. That's why you double check yourself
I always fired my black powder muzzle loader into a bank of dirt when leaving the hunting area. I can’t imagine leaving any hunting rifle loaded for transport. The hunts over for the day, discharge, clean, and store
Pretty simple
Glad you’re back working with TC, it will have better direction because of it!!!
I always wanted a TC years ago, and was unaware that they went under in recent years, but I feel like the company is in good hands now and am in a position to purchase a TC as soon as you start selling again. Thank you for all that you all are doing.
I can't tell you how glad I am to see TC back up and running. Anxiously awaiting new Contenders and Encores.
Bruce here; great video everyone who shoots blackpowder only guns should watch it.
I just hope that they bring them all back
I've been muzzle Loader hunting for the past 25 years. I have a Thompson center New Englander. 100 grains of pyrodex select behind a 180 gr bullet is more than adequate for white tail.
I remember testing a Hawken to see what it would take. Ken French and i took it to a Farmington NH range and I won't say here what we used but that Hawken took way more than I would have thought.
Saw a video on the tube of them filling it with powder till you could just fit a bullet in. Shot fine other than it broke the stock from all the kick lol
Interesting, the stock on mine has a hairline crack on left side, it's my wall hanger. A friend gave it to me some years back. Along with a bunch of other shooting stuff, he took a job overseas and didn't have anywhere to store it.
Very good information. I am not familiar with muzzle loaders, but, I learned something that may save my life if I ever decide to go into muzzle loading firearms. loved the information. Thank you for taking your time to do this episode.
I actually clean mine after season anyways. It helps keep the buildup down and keeps the corrosion at a minimum
BINGO! I have never shot any of my firearms or muzzle loaders and just went home and put them back into the safe without cleaning them. It’s just one of the steps to ml and firearm safety in my opinion. Even being a newbie that shouldn’t be an excuse.
Three 50gr. Pyrodex pellets, 150gr. - no worries. Accurate every time. Love the vid, the breech plug held - gives me confidence in the newer system, but I loved the strength of the old one. I’m glad to see the newer breech plug held up, it is easier. I’m sold on it. Love Thompson Encore, the best gun ever made.
If you get a pound of loose black powder, you’ll get approximately 70 shots per pound of powder. 100 grains by volume is equal to 150 grains of the pellets. Also, you have a very consistent burn too, and there’s less residue. It’s not hard to measure the powder as long as you can read.
I use 100gn with my inlines. I've thought about using the regular types of powder but figured I'd stay consistent systems. Especially being a reloader of a few other calibers already.
Very impressive to see the Big Boss taking the time to make a great educational video! Thank you for bringing back a Great, American Muzzleloading Company! I recently sold my Omega, to a good friend, it served me well for many years. Now I want a new production Encore!
The way that barrel flexes when it’s fired is unreal! Crazy to see it’s held up so far. 10:40
I applaud you gentlemen for this demonstration, may it save lives.
As a die hard flintlock shooter, I don't believe caplocks will ever catch on. But it is a really great video! Thanks for putting it out.
Huge fan of the TC Encores!
So I used to have a FFL and a brick and mortar. A customer once came in to buy a Encore ramrod.
He looked like he just got beat up by Mike Tyson. Long story short- he shot his ramrod, got KO'd, woke up feeling dead. 150 grains of pellets, 300gr sabot and rod.... that rod is solid aluminum.
The gun and barrel survived both times he did it!
Both times?
A few weeks later he did it again!!!!😂
LOL I used to hunt with a neighbour who shot his ramrod. Two times as well. His were three years apart though.
I think he might have made that up as a cover story because he had a habit of getting mouthy at the bar after a 12 pack!🤣
@@kenofken9458 LOL. I think you might be right as nothing happened when my neighbour shot his ramrod except he had to get another one. He said it kicked really hard though.
@@davemeise2192 It just makes no sense for a ramrod firing to ever happen outside of the context of a mid or early 19th Century battle environment. Unless someone is severely drunk or high, there's just no excuse. There's no deer hunt worth your life.
@@kenofken9458 My neighbour got pretty excited when he saw a moose and was hunting with his muzzleloader. In his excitement, after the first shot, he didn't remove the ramrod from reloading. I've never understood getting that excited as the first shot is what really counts. Place it well and you can take whatever time you need to make a follow up shot.
shooting and reloaded pistol (.38, .357, 9mm), 8mm Mauser, 243 Win., 20 ga. 'rifled' slug, and .50 cal TC Renegade with 325 gr Maxiball. Great video.
I sure hope you’re planning on making some more of those! 😊
Thanks for sacrificing a personal gun to this test. It was fascinating to see the strength of the design in action.
When I saw the video image, I about wanted to cry. Thinking about my Encore in my gun safe, when I got it as a 300 W.M. and 30.06 barrel combination a few years later I bought a 50 cal muzzle loading barrel for it. Because my Black Diamond 209 holder had corroded in breach plug and I could not get a replacement. It was almost a year to get one. FYI, Thanks for bringing T/C back. I've got 2 other muzzle loaders from T/C beside my Encore. I can't wait to see more optional barrels for it. I don't really recommend the 300 W.M. for shooting in warm weather without a muzzle break. I find it slightly abusive to the shoulder.
Man that is a sad ending to a fine rifle. I have owned a few firearms from TC, my favorite was a Contender in .41 magnum, it was one of the most accurate hand guns I ever owned, had a nice 3x scope atop the barrel, man it is near the top of the list of guns I wish I had never let go, just below the Luger that was pristine in it' holster with all accessories. The only black powder rifle I ever had was someone's attempt to make a kit gun, it was in bad shape but I rebuilt it to make it look like it just came out of the trading post in Silver City Nevada in 1858. The fellow I got it from came to the gun show and paid triple what I gave him for it in his attempt, he was so very happy to see it done the way it was meant to be done, but I never did take it out and fire it because I had no fixings for it. I was just learning gunsmithing back then taking a correspondence course and working part time in a shop run by a graduate of Yavapai out of Prescott Az. I did gunsmithing for several years till I ended up on the disabled list but that is another story. Thanks for the video, we need more of these, I have seen some real damage done to fine firearms because of mistakes on the part of the owner, in fact at one time I considered pulling the pin on my badge and moving from law enforcement to full timing smithing, sadly the accident that took me out of work happened while I was still "thinking" about doing it,
Pretty impressive that it survived double charged and double loaded. My encore MZ is over 20 years old and good to know that it could survive operator error like that.
Awesome video. It helps to visualize what happens when you make mistakes. I have developed a habit of using my ramrod before loading to verify an empty barrel. Thanks
Who has ever stored a blackpowder firearm, after shooting, for a year and not come back to a rusty mess?
I’ve heard of it before
That’s a myth I have kept a black powder pistol loaded for over a year and it fired fine with no rust
@@MarksgunsandgearI’m just going to go ahead and be the one to point out that, that is sad lol
Even if I only fire one round, I will clean my rifle completely. Yes I've left pistols loaded for a few months, but never more then 6 months.
@@shythawks9549 how is that sad?
Best safety advice I've heard all year. Well done
My uncle borrowed my dads Omega once. Dad loaded it for him, told him it was loaded, let him go hunt with it, but he didn’t get anything. It’s a good thing too, because he loaded it again.
The next week, my dad got it back and went out himself. Had a huge buck walk out about 75 yards from him so he took his shot and got scoped bad. That said, he did kill the buck AND he still hunts with the same rifle years later.
Thank you.
Only remember firing a black powder rifle once.
Your video was educating. Thanks again.
Based on the MSD sheet for the product, BlackHorn209 is 83% smokeless powder (nitrocellulose). The Guanidine Nitrate and the Potassium Perchlorate in the product are corrosive. We can also blow up the barrel of any centerfire rifle by using the wrong type and amount of smokeless propellant. The same is true for all shotgun barrels.
Guanidine Nitrate is a smokeless powder component (but more commonly found in artillery ammunition). It slows the burn rate when mixed with the more usual cellulose nitrate and nitroglycerin.
Potassium Perchlorate is definitely a corrosive oxidiser. Chlorine tetraoxide is just plain nasty when released, to everything in the neighbourhood.
While I whole heartedly agree to never use smokeless in a muzzle loader. 120 gr by volume of Accurate 2015 would blow up most modern rifles that were intended for smokeless powder. In fact most rifle cases couldn’t even hold that much. With that being said, I understand how easy that mistake would be to make and Thank you for making the video to highlight the very real danger. Especially if you figure the powder used here was in the middle of the burn rate chart. Great video that I will be sharing with the hunter education class my grandson is attending this weekend.
It was almost like they blew up the gun on purpose, in the same way they could have blown up any shotgun or centerfire barrel by using the wrong amount of the wrong powder. Have they ever heard of the Savage 10ML muzzleloader? What would the loads for the Savage 10ML do in this rifle?
Yeah, that was a LOT of 2015. Most stuff that holds a LOT of powder uses a much slower powder than 2015...
I my safety cours on muscle loader gun, i encourage students to identify the ram rod. First chamber empty, insert ram rod and mark , next load the powder, insert rod and mark rod, third insert bullet and seat, insert ram rod and mark.This third mark will indicate a loaded misled loader.
Now if during the loading you are distracted and not sure of which step you are at during loading procedure, incert ram rod and check which mark shows up, the one that is level with the barrel will indicate which step or fully loaded you are at.
Those safety glasses did a great job of protecting his forehead the entire time! 😂
I remember reading about some horrific cases during the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars from French doctors when I was doing my masters about both untrained soldiers and revolutionaries new to combat causing themselves great injuries because of double, or even triple loading, their muskets. That situation is obviously different - they were terrified in combat and were scared to pull the trigger and would often reload on top of their already loaded powder and shot. Some of those who came back to camp after a battle would tip out two or three balls and whatever powder was left because they just never fired.
I enjoyed that, so thank you for sharing it with us.
I have a couple of comments about it though.
I saw your powder measure was plastic or acrylic!
I was under the impression those materials can carry a
static electrical charge and therefore could spark and ignite!
But I also know there are some plastics which don't.
I would have preferred to see the two main guys walk down
without the camera man ahead of you, as it gives the wrong
impression of safety.
Good video thanks.
It’s a good idea to color code the ramrod.. if you see green.. good to go.. red.. Stop!! Do not shoot!!
It's a better idea to just dont be a dumbass
Or just mark it with a line for simplicity
LOL! You murdered it! You murdered YOUR gun! I expect you are getting yourself a new one.
I'm willing to bet he's "got a guy for that"!
First new one off the line goes in his safe...
I have been shooting blackpowder myself for over 40 some years. Never shot anything, but blackpowder. In my firearms. You can keep your in-lines. I will stay with my flintlock. Enjoy , everyone has their own liking.
Breaks my heart seeing that 209 being spilled that shat ain’t cheap anymore
And people complained that that there Damascus guns blew up when they loaded Schulz powder with a powder measure instead of weight, Shults is close to Unque in burn speed,
it is amazing how strong those barrels were that people were not injured more severely than they were.
Best firearm bar none. I max 250 gr sabot at 120 gr powder. Anything over 120gr causes tumble. Great video. Thank You
another way is to load the gun and put the ramrod in it after it is loaded with the charge you are going to shoot all the time and then take a knife and cut a light grove around ramrod buy twisting the ramrod and mark it.. You can just put the ramrod in the barrel and see if the mark is at the top of the barrel and you will know right away if the gun is loaded if it is at the mark.. i do this to all my muzzleloaders after i work up a good load that i shoot all the time.. the clank of the ramrod hitting and empty barrel works well too if the gun is not loaded.. good shooting and stay safe.. Great video and thank you for do this demo
I hope TC stands behind their stuff better than they used too had nothing but headaches trying to get an encore taken care of. The thing would average 7 inch groups at 100 yds but according to TC that is perfectly acceptable
As a gunsmith I see this all the time. I often pull the breech plug and try to drive the rounds out through the breech. They usually have to use a long drill bit and drill out the balls. I have had guys try to fire double loads but since the load has been in the gun for most of a year and the gun will not fire due to the powder going bad. I school the owner to fire the round out in the field before they go home. Then pull the plug and clean the barrel. Even synthetic black power is somewhat corrosive. I have seen gun that were set aside loaded and plug is so corroded it needs replacement and sometimes the barrel is so pitted it needs to be replaced. So, never take your gun home loaded and clean it even if you didn’t take a shot.
I appreciate the generalization concerning smokeless powder to make the point to NOT use it in a muzzleloader. Being a handloader though made me wonder what the burn rate of that powder was and if someone wants to donate guns and powder to test different powders! Lets use Bullseye for one and 50BMG powder for another to see how different they react. That would be interesting.
These are all possible mistakes. Knowing how to safely handle and use muzzle loading firearms takes attention to detail. Be safe and it's a fun and rewarding sport.
However, I have always wondered why not just build the muzzleloader to smokeless specifications? It would be a win / win type of product. A- it would be over designed for black powder and this very safe and B- it would be able to handle smokeless powder too. There would have to be the warning that the two powders are measured differently. One by weight and one by volume but again that would come under attention to detail. Something most gun owners practice as a matter of course.
Great video!!
It will be great to have T/C as an active company again!
It has always been my understanding that modern powder is not faster burning, in fact very slow in comparison but because of its makeup and materials it creates massive pressures in comparison. Am I incorrect? Slo motion testing we have done shows bp instant poof while modern is a long burn?
Nice to see you do these videos for us,keep it up you are on the right path!
thank you so much Mr. Ritz I and gonna get a brand new encore once you start selling!
120 grains? That will turn your muzzle loader into a flame thrower. I've been using a Muzzle loading rifle to hunt deer since the late 70's, of the Hawken style. With round ball I use 60 grains of FF, all the powder burns in the barrel, very little smoke comes out. With a conical bullet I up the charge to 80 grains of FF powder. Again, just a puff of smoke comes out the muzzle when fired. So your using a lot of powder.
I use about 90 to 100 grains of triple F and the same thing with mine and also I found something weird that beyond 100 grains the velocity doesn’t improve much so anything beyond that is just a waste of powder. I typically run about a 300 grain chronicle projectile I make my own rounds using Lee precision mold.
A friends son just had his muzzle loader explode in his hands 2 weeks ago. He’s had 7 surgeries so far, lost an eye and part of his thumb and pinky. He’s lucky to be alive and to only have those injuries.
here in north carolina a in line muzzle loader builder was selling a in line using no sabots .the 45 caliber jacketed bullets fit perfectly to rifling and lands
he used smokeless powder .I don't remember the powder or charge but it cronygraphed 3600fps , 6400 ft/lb energy power. I do know he operated in yadkin count
Impressed with the breach plug.
Good Luck replacing that stock, rare. Hopefully you'll be selling them again.
TCing since 1981
When are the new ones coming available?
I've got my Renegade ready to go this year. I really want an Encore Pro Hunter, please build them again.
It would be pretty sweet if you made a muzzle loader capable of handling a NORMAL load of smokeless. Some states require muzzle loaders for certain hunting and I’m sure people used to reloading other cartridges would prefer just working up a load with powder they already have rather than diving into the black powder world
we do NOT need more of that in our muzzleloader woods... the idiots running around with cheap inlines are bad enough. Smokeless muzzleloaders should remain in the custom realm.
Actually diving into the black powder world as far easier than dealing with smokeless powder. I reload smokeless cartridges and everything has to be absolutely precise from the type of powder you use even the type of primer and cartridges. Black powder is far more easier to deal with because everything is measured by volume and not weight. Only thing you have to worry about is if your primer are 209 MZ. There are over 100 different types of smokeless powder each one has a different burn rate. I’m sure you do not want to have to carry a weighing scale out to the field with you.
@@BeetleBuns I absolutely agree because muzzleloading season is for muzzleloaders. Even though I’m a big gun fan, I still believe in just having a season dedicated to enjoying the experience of black powder hunting. I honestly believe people are wanting to use smokeless powder during muzzleloading season. They suggest stick to modern firearms and leave muzzleloaders alone because it’s obvious that muzzleloading isn’t for them.
Smokeless loads are impossible to 'work up' for the average shooter, unlike a bolt action center fire rifle where there is reams of loading data. Smokeless pressures can spike from just an over charge of a couple grains or less, and there is very little load data out there currently. The average hunter/shooter is for sure out of his league with this. There is load data on DVD's being sold online on Ebay and elsewhere of supposedly low pressure smokeless loading data good for any inline modern gun. Blackhorn average load pressure runs around 25,000 PSI while many centerfire bolt rifle rounds are double that. I get it if a smokeless load runs under 25,000 PSI it is likely safe, but how many folks are gonna get hurt playing that game ?
@@jeffreyburney6161 A couple states are screwing the thing up with allowing straight wall centerfire in the muzzle loader season. 100% I am against that.
I too am happy TC is back. Are you making any of the old Contender barrels?
When I was quite a bit younger I intentionally loaded a double charge of 2f (100 grains per charge) in my 58 caliber and then loaded two 58 caliber patched round balls on top of it. It kicked pretty hard but, thankfully, nothing bad happened. BTW, one round ball completely missed the paper at 50 yards. :-(
The key word is "younger," LOL.
Still love my ProHunter Fx! Hope you guys can restart production for existing and new MZ products
Private range, everything closed down and you hear shots in the background while he's loading. LOL
During the Civil War when they would clean up the battlefield it wasn't uncommon to find the rifles loaded more then once.
I watched a buddy use IMR (2134 or 3031) powder in a sidelock that only melted the sabot. He killed many deer with that load. Not recommending, but burn rate is a factor to consider.
The condition most commonly reported in muzzleloader fatalities was improperly seating the projectile and leaving a void.
It's very simple to avoid double charge: you just need to put a high visibility mark on the ramrod when the weapon is loaded = if you do a double charge you cannot then not notice it
Quite a testament to the strength of that Encore barrel!
When you compare the thickness of the barrel at the breech and that of a smokeless rifle in the same location, you can see why the TC let go. The pressure was probably in the 50,00lbs/sq inch region, or maybe more, in a gun designed to operate at 15 and be proved at 25 or less.
I only use BP rather than the subs, which produce higher pressures in any case. Real BP will never hurt such a sturdy arm....
My brother had a CVA blow up in his hands. Split the barrel 10 inches apart up an down. The bottom part was a sharp point that put a hole in his shirt right outside his heart. The projectile went in front of me by a foot in front of my face. I think he only needed 10 stitches to keep his thumb. He remembers that was the hardest kick he felt from any rifle.
Investigation found there was a small blister inside the barrel.
(Edit to fix auto correct mistake)
I love how he insists on it’s a private range that is closed and then at 16:09 you can clearly hear shooting.
There are also other people in the same section of the range.
@@davidschow6142 but he was down range when the shooting occurred.
Private doesn't mean completely abandoned. It just means it's not open to the general public
Thanks for showing us how not to use safety glasses, no hearing protection either. Camera man down range on left, 14:15 during filming. Thanks for showing us all these common mistakes, while making more yourself.
Are you guys going to make some fast twist barrels for the higher bc bullets that are out? Love my TCs
The worst thing I've ever done to my old T/C Omega is I had my loading jag threads break off when I was loading a bullet in. I did not catch it. I had 115gr of Blackhorn under a 300gr Harvester PT Gold bullet. I'm not sure what a 6" brass jag weighs, but that damn thing kicked the hell out of me. The gun survived perfectly fine.
Same thing happened to me!
My buddys muzzy we were sighting in was double loaded a few years ago! Once i touched it off it took the hat right off my head, kicked like a damn horse, both projectiles hit the target but man did it ever scare the bejeebers out of me!
Thanks for taking care of this one, definitely better for Scott in KY to stay away 😂 Better for everyone to stay away, to be sure.
Using plain old black powder, there really isn't a way to blow up the gun with any amount of black powder unless you do something stoopid like plug the barrel. The physics of how black powder burns just won't allow it with modern metallurgy. Any extra black powder simply gets pushed unburnt out the end of the barrel. That's reason enough to NEVER use anything but plain old black powder - NEVER USE A SUBSTITUTE; NEVER USE SMOKELESS.
That double charged load, if using black powder, will only generate about 21,000 psi. That's not much considering that most modern rifle barrels regularly see pressures almost three times that.
And for whatever it's worth, all powder, including black powder are measured by weight. Black powder measures do not measure by volume. To see this, simply measure out some black powder with your powder measure, pour it into a scale, and if you measured out 60 grains in your powder measure, it will also weigh 60 grains. Grains, after all, is a measure of weight, not volume.
And you get that great smoke and aroma with Holy Black.
@@tomcurran8470 ABSOLUTELY!!!
Actually, black powder measures do measure by volume. The volume marks are just placed to correspond to an equivalent weight of black powder in grains. If you were to use it to measure #9 lead shot for example, when you poured that shot in a pan on a scale it would weigh much more than what the marks indicated.
Or……..unless the barrel has a defect and goes off like a pipe bomb like my nephews TC did, exploding his left hand which was sitting on top of the scope. He’s still never received a dollar from TC and the investigation is ongoing and will likely end up just like a Hillary Clinton or Hunter Biden investigation.
The gun was cleaned and put away for the winter and the following summer both brothers witnessed him load it once and the first shot off the bench it exploded.
His TC wasn’t the only one to do it. As soon as it happened my brother did a google search and found that many of the same gun had done it and some were even shown exploding on video while people were practicing.
Now Scott will always load his guns double ....😂
He loves recoil 😂
beginning of the season I cleaned my rifle taking out the breach plug and pushing the cleaning rod all the way through the barrel and breach. marking the ram rod with 3 different colors 1 mark is unloaded i like that to be green 2 mark is powder only my mark is blue 3 is fully loaded and that mark i use is red. i prefer Pyradex pellets 50gr each by 3 pellets for 150gr and a 243gr hollow point
sorry I forgot to include my projectile would be Powerbelt .243gr hollow piont with the green tip
I actually have one of the first models out of the custom shop. It's a nice muzzleloader, pistol, rifle, shotgun. I have to break mine down completely just to clean the thing. I bought a Smith and Wesson barrel and it's gone out of round in the chamber and I'm going to purchase an original TC Encore pistol barrel and scope up and sight in and hunt.
Had a wee tear in the eye at the demise of that TC Encore😪 But nevertheless, it was a worthwhile price for a Valid and Important Lesson, I Love shooting Black Powder but don't get to indulge in here in the UK anymore, but when I did, I always made it best Practice verging on Ritual to Rod the Rifle Regularly, I always took a Painted Gauge rod with me that showed Green when properly loaded, but if you could see RED showing the the Rifle was Deemed Unsafe until Dealt with but it was better to lose a Ball and powder Charge, than your life or that of a bystander.
Best wishes from across the Pond & Stay Safe Y'all ❤ 👍
I always run a 209 through my rifle before my first load each year and mark my ram rod for my load for the year
When I went hunting with dad as a kid he always told me to pick a tree before we left for the day.
Wish you guys still replaced the barrels on the old TC center Pennsylvania match though.
No one I know has ever put a charged muzzle loader away for the season.
Ask a gunsmith how often they get loaded muzzle loaders brought in…
You could load that barrel to the top with black powder or a black powder substitute and you wouldn't damage your barrel. Black powder with a big enough bore obstruction and a normal powder charger = damaged barrel at the least.
The government might should pay all muzzleloaders to convert their weapons to shoot little pre measured thingys in a little brass thimble thingy, with the cap pressed right there on the end of it. You could have different sizes just like the gun barrels and such. You could even label them. It would cut way down on double loading and be way safer. I’m gonna run with this idea if no one else does.
A primer ejector is something I wish my CVA had.
I recently purchased a encore with a very bad trigger pull. After taking it apart, someone had filed on the hammer and sear. I was wondering when parts will become available to buy? I can't find a hammer and sear anywhere.
Poor thing deserved better, lol gotta get them onto store shelves now!
Recommend anyone new to black powder should read a book. If you can’t read then a bow and arrow might be dangerous to you. Dr. Sam Fadala has a good book on black powder firearms. I am old school and I think some of the modern muzzleloaders resemble modern firearms so much that people make the false assumption that they can handle smokeless powder.
Smokeless is just so much more powerful. Loading 45-70 cartridges with 60 grains has more power than 45-120 cartridges with the original black powder it was designed for. Faster burning powder just develops significantly higher peak pressures.
As a teenager I was concerned with my limited experience about double charges or if the projectile moved down the barrel prior to discharge so I marked my ramrod with a normal charge and projectile was flush with the end of the barrel so I could do a quick check. ps would have been good to have a moist paper plate in front of the barrel to see if the second charge burned or was just pushed out unburnt.
Buckhorn Magnum still going after 15 years. Last load in from the year before go to the range shoot 50 yards (all I have for a shot where I am) hit within 1 inch of bull and I'm all set. I know that I didn't get a deer the year before because I AM HUNGRY for more deer. No mishaps so far.
A few grains of fast burn smokeless can be put on top of the BP. It doesn't really change anything other than a far cleaner burn. The gun wont foul at all really. I don't remember the exact ratio off hand though.
Is interesting to see the flex of the barrel with the double charge.