Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Muzzleloaders 58 cal

While they don't seem very popular these days the half stock Hawken style rifles have all ways appealed to me. When I was a young guy 50 year back my younger brother and I put together a CVA Kentucky kit gun in 45 cal. We shot it and hated it,the inside of the barrel was rough and it fouled out by 4 shots. We just didn't know that wasn't that bad. Was awhile before I bought another 50 cal T/C Hawken,shot ok but it just didn't grab me. Somewhere in there CVA STARTED PEDDLING THEIR Mtn rifle kits but I remembered how rough the inside of the barrel that Kentucky was and didn't bite. I remember the first CVA BIG BOAR 58 cal I saw . Damn near bought it, I was reaching for my cash and the guy laughed and said it was sold an hr ago ,he left it to pickup on his way out. Years later my brother brought out a new inline T/C Firehawk? In 58 cal with maxi's damn that spoke hard. On the hunt for a 58 since then. A drop in 58 barrel for one of my Hawkens if a guy could find one these days prolly north of $400 mute point I've never seen one. So the other day I wandered into the local lgs where I do business and notice a Hawken style ml so I got a hold of it and what the hell it's a 58. Bore looked good and nice walnut made in Italia for Cabelas long before the asspro connection. No ramrod but the rest is 95%+ shape $250 & tax otd. Had some 570 balls and patches, popped a cap on the nipple and cleared the vent.120 grs Fg and tight patched ball ,damn it's a bear rifle. So now we got another adventure for retirement. I'm 3 days into it and a dreaming like a damn kid again.MB

Now you will stumble on them every other day!😁
When you do Please pm me . Am lusting for a 58 my self.
I have 2 45's, 2 50's, and 2 54's . NEED a 58! Or 2😆

Actually you need the joy of a 36 they plumb ruin a fellows ideas about what fun is.MB

Find a T/C Renegade and have it cut for .58 cal. In doing so you can get a specific rifling twist. I had a .54 cap barrel cut from a rusted .50 by Bob Hoyt. He cut it 1-60" twist and it was a roundball shooter.

I’m trying to put together another .40 calibre. Just need to order a piece of wood.

My .58

Dimick Caplock Rifle by .com/photos/61286670N08/]Sharps Man, on [bleep]

Still a nice ol’ St. Louis rifle!

Kaywoodie couple of friends of mine have used 40's to get their deer ,while the 40 doesn't meet state minimum requirements for use , they rationalized doing so. Something about it worked 160 years a go so it will work now regardless of what bureaucrats think and don't know.
Sharpy good to see you on line, I am going to do some experimenting to see what it likes, but if your feeling generous today point me in the right load direction, I'll appreciate it. MB

I'm right there with you on the .58 Magnum Bob. I love all three of mine.

Pretty nice looking CVA Zuoave Carbine Hunter, in 58 cal, just sold in GB. 58 Minnie Balls sure do wreak havoc! Looked long and hard at it, but decided to just stick with my 54's. I too really like the half stocked Hawken/Plains type rifles.

Like Gunner says, "58, don't be late".

The first gun I ever bought when I was a kid was a KY in .45 cal. Bought it with my grass mowing money. A couple of years later, I sold it to a friend and bought my Zouave. I think I paid about $100.00 back in the 70's. I killed a lot of deer with this gun. The thing shoots great with 90 grains of FFG and a .577 Mini Ball. I had a guy take the Civil War era sights off and put on some Thompson Center fiber optic sights on it so that I could see them in low light. Here's a few for sale on Gun Broker. There's also a kit gun on here as well.

https://www.gunbroker.com/All/search?Keywords=Zouave

Yes, I’ve taken a number of deer and good size hogs with a .40. Had a Bedford School style rifle in 40 about 30 years ago and in a moment of weakness I sold it. I Built a Christian’s Spring style in .40 year before last. And then I inherited a 13/16 AF Douglas premium XX bbl in .40 and a large Siler Flint lock. So Infigure I’ll throw together a Schimmel/barn rifle with them. .40’s are a lot of fun! Old son shot a nice little buck with his last year. He has a Bean style Tennessee rifle in .40.

Here’s the one I built year before last.

Dang that's one sharp looking custom kaywoodie. Sure let's a guy savor some experiences the ordinary will never know. I suppose after shooting that only a high quality whiskey is enjoyed ? Wouldn't celebrate the occasion with ordinary beer ? MB

Was talking to a fella from Colorado F&W last week about bear hunting with a muzzleloader so he asked what kind of rifle I intended to use. I told him my Turvey ESR in .58. Of course I had to make it sound like a real cannon and he quietly said he knew all about.58’s and their recoil. Said he had a Navy Arms Hawken just like Val Forgett took to Africa and used to kill the Big Five. Said the load Val Forgett used was 180 grs of fffg (3fg!) under a 610 gr Minie ball! My new friend said he’d tried that but it was a bit sporty in a gun with a 26” barrel, so he’d settled on a load of 150 grs of 2fg under a mere 505 gr Minie ball. Said he’d shot a running cow elk with that load and while he couldn’t see the impact his hunting partner said the cow was pushed sideways. Said both front shoulders were ruined.

The .58 Minnie was designed for 60 grain of powder. I imagine that at such a heavy charge that soft lead blew apart upon contact with bone.

Ouch! Dats a lotta powder!!!

I got a 60 grain charger on my .54 horn and pouch. Amazing what 60 grns of FFFG and a .530 RB will do to many critters. However! If I use two of them measures (120 grns) that’s a pretty adequate load for large critters that are standing out there a ways! 😊

Don't forget about the old TC big Boars. Found one last year and put it in a renegade stock with set triggers. Very nice shooter.

Bobby Hoyt is the man. One of the few if not only left to re rifle or re bore barrels. He took a "tomato stake" TC .50 cal into a .54 real shooter. You can specify your twist too.

That would be pretty cool. My first NIB ML was a .58 Big Boar. It had issues. It would fire the first 3 shots reliably, 4th shot would hang fire but generally go off, and the 5th would not fire. I could make it 100% reliable if I gave it a squirt of CO2 from a silent ball discharger between shots. Pretty damned sure there was some kind of "barnacle" left behind from manufacturing that was collecting soot and clogging up the works. I sold the gun. After a few years of .58 withdrawals, I ordered a TC Renegade in .58. Unfortunately, it had the QLA system and it would not shoot anything accurately. Dinner plate groups at 50 yards. I tried conicals, I tried PRB, I tried sabots. I tried FFg and a couple grades of Pyrodex. Remington, CCI, and RWS caps. Didn't matter.

I've moved away from .58 but I'd love to go back if I could find the right gun. Reboring a Renegade or Renegade Hunter would be a good path.

Someone mentioned .40 .. in the mean time, I'm shooting a fairly worn out .45 Seneca. I have a old .40 from the 1840s but it is too heavy to lug around. A .40 cal replacement barrel for the Seneca would be fun. In my state, .40 is legal for deer, .50 for elk, so I wouldn't be giving up anything going from .45 to .40 'cept recoil.

I need to get back on the .40 I’m building. Not that I need it or anything. Just had the barrel laying around. And s bunch of spare parts. Won’t be a fancy one. More of a frontier trash arrangement.