Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Muzzleloaders TC Seneca

I acquired a TC Seneca in 45 cal today. Was advertised as a Hawken but as soon as I saw the skinny barrel I knew it wasn't. Anybody have one or shoot one. I shoot both Hawkens and Renegade but no experience with the Seneca. It's in beautiful shape, fired only 20 times, cleaned and stood in the closet. Low serial # and no warning on the barrel. Wood is immaculate.

Congrats! A .45 Seneca was my first BP rifle. Shot the crap outa it. Favorite load was a 220 gr Maxiball over 70 grains FFg. That load combined with the light weight and crescent buttplate left my shoulder purple after a few rounds. Sure was nice to carry though.

You've scored big. Nice ones are worth a good bit and the Seneca is scaled much better for a .45 than the Hawken.

Good job. I scored one used a couple years ago. Metal is good but looks gray like the finish is a little thin and the finish on the wood is a little rough, but mechanically it's very good. I ran some loads through mine to see what it liked. Shootin' Goex FFg, 65 grains under a .440 PRB or 70 grains under a 245 grain (Lyman mold) cast pan-lubed with SPG works best. It's not brilliantly accurate but a fun little gun. The PRB load is easy on the shoulder. The conical leaves a bit of a bruise after a couple shots.

Tom

Congrats on a great score! Love my Seneca 45 cal. Accuracy was so so until I tried real black powder, then she started showing off. I used Hornady Great Plains conicals,which, unfortunately, are no longer made. No worries though. Buffalo Arms sells a soft cast bullet that is a close duplicate to the GP conical. I even use 45 Long Colt cast bullets (cast soft) that perform super...250+ grain weights.

One thing to remember: the twist for the barrel is intended to stabilize round ball loads...you have to experiment and tweak the load to get a conical shoot. Do not use the long, super heavyweight conicals....they will not stabilize, and will keyhole, guaranteed.

My magic formula is a 275-300 grain conical, 60 grains of bp and you’re good to go. T/C manual lists 60-80 grains of bp for the Seneca. 60 grains was best, by far. Your mileage may vary.

Enjoy your Seneca....and go kill some deer.

I'll probably be putting this up for sale as I much prefer the 50's and 54's of which I have several

Nice I have one and the Cherokee barrels fit they are both 13/16ths and in 32 cal and 36.The price is like gold on these higher and higher ,never to be made again,from a fire at the T/C plant that produced them in Rochester N.H.

I had never heard about the fire. I just thought they went all in-line. For the money, their guns are solid and good shooters.

I do have this listed for sale.

I picked up another Hawken 54 yesterday at the local fun show. Has he best looking TC stock I've seen yet.

The Senecas and the Cherokees were made in (relatively) small numbers, especially the .32s and .36s. Muzzleloading sales are driven by deer hunting. You don't get to shoot extra squirrels just because you're shooting a muzzleloader.

I have one in .36 and thought it would be a great target/squirrel gun (had a tang vernier sight when I got it) but still haven’t found a consistently accurate load with it - spent hours at the range trying all kinds of combination but to no avail.....she might just need another home - that would be a shame as I really like the little rifle!

PennDog