Trying to decide???

[Boerrancher]

I am ready to buy another Flintlock, but I am having trouble deciding between the Traditions Mountain Rifle in 50 cal, or the Traditions Trapper pistol in 50 cal. I have an older CVA Hawken that shoots well but before it was mine it was well used and abused. The bore is rough, it shreds patches, but shoots the first two shots in the same hole at 50 yds. After that you have to swab it because the 3rd shot is going to end up in the adjoining county. I am leaning heavily toward the Mountain Rifle and having the old CVA rebored to a 54 or a 58, what ever will clean it up, because it is so pitted it is a nightmare to clean.

As far as the trapper pistol, I think it would be a nice addition to the collection and a fun toy to play with but would serve no practical purpose, because for black powder season I can carry any of my 44 cal revolvers, and with a 210 gr conical and 50 grs of powder my walker is dang near a Rifle. Thoughts and suggestions? I would really like a 50 cal that I could shoot hogs all day and not have to swab after two shots, and didn’t make the ground in front of the bench look like someone was shooting a confetti cannon, but the trapper pistol just looks so fun.

[LAGS]

If you can ,
Take a look at the rifles in person to see that the shape of the stock fits like you want it to , to your arms and neck.
I had a Traditions St. Louis Hawken .50 cal that shot nice.
But the drop in the stock did not fit me well. So it took me longer to get the rifle lined up on the target or game.
I had bought the kit without looking at one first.
So I ended up selling that rifle to a guy that is an instructor that teaches kids to shoot muzzleloaders.
It fits the kids very well.

[triggerhappy243]

I am ready to buy another Flintlock, but I am having trouble deciding between the Traditions Mountain Rifle in 50 cal, or the Traditions Trapper pistol in 50 cal. I have an older CVA Hawken that shoots well but before it was mine it was well used and abused. The bore is rough, it shreds patches, but shoots the first two shots in the same hole at 50 yds. After that you have to swab it because the 3rd shot is going to end up in the adjoining county. I am leaning heavily toward the Mountain Rifle and having the old CVA rebored to a 54 or a 58, what ever will clean it up, because it is so pitted it is a nightmare to clean.

As far as the trapper pistol, I think it would be a nice addition to the collection and a fun toy to play with but would serve no practical purpose, because for black powder season I can carry any of my 44 cal revolvers, and with a 210 gr conical and 50 grs of powder my walker is dang near a Rifle. Thoughts and suggestions? I would really like a 50 cal that I could shoot hogs all day and not have to swab after two shots, and didn’t make the ground in front of the bench look like someone was shooting a confetti cannon, but the trapper pistol just looks so fun.

although boring the pitted barrel is an option, you can take it 1 step further and have it relined back to 50 cal....... and get the slow roundball twist at the same time.

[oconeedan]

Possibly get a Green Mountain replacement barrel?
I have a Lyman GPR that I made from a kit, and it is a shooter.

[LAGS]

I have had three barrels relined to their original bore.
But I had the twist changed on two of them to shoot round balls better.
I have had a half dozen re bored to larger calibers that I wanted , again with the twist to fit what I was going to shoot.
The barrel rework was cheaper than trying to find new barrels, or the time it would take just to find what I wanted.
In fact, I have two more barrels at Bobby Hoyt being re bored from . 50 to slow twist .54s
I already have lots of .50s so I wanted to take these to something different.

[6thtexas]

I have a .50 caplock Trapper and it shoots really well. I usually shoot a PRB (.490) and 30 gr. of FFG, but I have shot it with a 320 gr. conical and 40 gr. of FFG. The latter shot OK, but it is a handful.