I came across a Sears model 292 muzzleloader this afternoon. It has a japanese name on the barrel and says made in Japan. Id have little interest in it except it is in fair shape and is only $150 plus tax. Does anyone have any experience or know anyone with this gun? If it shoots, it sure is a nice gun for the price. It's a percussion.

That's a new one on me.

Japanese leads.me to think, maybe, Miroku......... Dunno. $150 don't buy much these days. I'd give it a go.

Didn’t Miroku make those Browning Hawkens they sold back in the 70’s ???

According to the internet, at least some 292s were marked "made in Japan, miroku".
Leads me to think they just removed the name miroku at some later date.
If Ilford/finish looks good and the lockwork feels right, I would buy it assuming good quality.

I dont know if the clockwork feels good . I never used a percussion or a flintlock and it did say Miroku on it too. There was a 50 cal. TC Hawken there for $375 also. Neither seem to be in real good shape but like Kragman said, $150 does not buy much anymore. if it shoots good it is a deal. I also read that they did make Browning barrels. That makes sense cause Browning is made in Japan.

The Jonathon Browning mountain rifles used Green River Rifle barrels or another supplier in Utah. Miroku had nothing to do with them.

Save your $$$$$$!!

Ther was lots of difference muzzleloaders made in Japan in 70 to 85 maybe some junk mostly good one it up to you if 45 cal I say yes 50 maybe but thats me

Years of black powder and neglect can create the appearance of a dry river bed in the Rockies inside a muzzleloader barrell. Picked up a Lyman Great Plains one time without the benefit of shining the bore or better yet cleaning it. But I'd never had a BP gun before so I gave it a go. After all, it was a good price. After washing, scrubbing, soaking, scrubbing, drying, scrubbing..........for a very long time the rust finally stopped (mostly) coming out. After that, IF I DID MY PART snork, it'd easily stay on a 12" paper plate at 50 yards. Point being, I'd sure check it out if it's old enough to come from Miroku. But, $150 really isn't a lot....till you lose it. YMMV

I went and bought the TC Hawken with a 1/48 twist and 28" barrel. It seems like it is in good shape and payed 369 with tax. I am not sure if i payed too much or not but decided to go with the TC instead of the Sears 292 . I cleaned up the barrel first and it had rust in it. After a few seeps it was all gone though so I dont think it was too bad. I used some patched round balls . AT 25 yds I had it 3" high and 3/4" apart so I was a bit pleased. At 50 I had a 1 1/2 " 3 shot group . Then it opened up to about 5" group with the 4th and 5th shot so I cleaned it. It shot another 2" 3 shot group and then started shooting high again. If I clean it I will get groups in the 2-3" range. I tried those 340 gr. conicals I made with the Lee mould and one was 2' off and the other I did not know where it went. I used Hornady .490 round balls and 40gr. of GOEX. It might be too light . Does anyone think 40 gr. is too light and a heavier load may be better? How hard can I push a round ball? That balck powder does take several more swiped to get out of the barrel but it was not any smokier than any other powder.

Congratulations - youve bought yourself a good rifle!

I've never used GOEX but 40 grains of anything sounds too light to me. Someone more knowledgeable will have to weigh in.

A couple of thoughts:

- you should be able to get much better accuracy out of that rifle at 50 yards, so get ready to enjoy the process of finding what loads your rifle likes. 👍
- 1:48 is slow for long bullets. Your rifle should shoot ball and ballets very well though, and some of the smaller conicals. Or it may make a liar out of me... ha ha.
- spend the $10 or so to change the nipple from standard percussion caps to musket caps. Theyre easier to handle and provide much better flame/ignition. And if you buy the normal caps (not the winged ones known as "tophats") you can use a cap loader just like you would for #11's.
- I usually run a quick wet then 2 dry patches after every other shot when I'm at the range (shooting pyrodex). Doing so should help you too. Last muzzle loader trip I was shooting my old T/C Thunderhawk - its a blued .50 with a bore that has seen better days. I did not shoot any 3 or 5 shot groups that weren't cloverleaf or damn close at 50 yards. Walmart 230 grain XTPs I think. I was shooting over my shooting box topped with a rolled up towel.
- one thing that I can't stress enough.... be very mindful of HOW you seat your bullets. Be very consistent with your hand pressure at the end of your stroke! Bullet position in the barrel has a direct affect on accuracy. One more reason to swab - that crud changes the bullet seating location no matter how you try to overcome it.
- if you're new to muzzle loading, find one of your buddies who knows his stuff and shoot with them. There are lots of little things you can pick up from them that will be invaluable.

Enjoy your new smokepole. It may not be a true antique but it works just the same way and is just as much fun.

Seems like with a 50 cal the max load is around 80 grs or so if memory serves.

With my 54 TC Hawken and round balls max load is 120 grs. I like to load 90.

Bob / Kaywoodie would know for sure! He’s probably forgotten more about black powder rifles than most folks ever knew.

Thanks guys! I did notice I really had to push down on a ball and patch enough that it dented the round ball. I am sure it hurts accuracy too. I am also sure I can do bette than what I did cause I would have 2 shots almost touching and then .,, , one was 5" high. I am doing something inconsistent and will figure it out., and yes, I found that constent bullet seating is very important with my inlines along with a clean barrel. Now just for kicks, can I put a 54 cal. barrel on that gun and just swap it? I was surprised how small a 50 cal. round ball was. I will also get some light conicals of some sort and try them. Also, who has good prices and lots of supplies online? I bought from 2 small gun shops today and they are pricey, however, they are small town and know their stuff. There was little supplies where I bought the gun and went to another guns shop . I called the gunshot and they had all the supplies and was checking prices there just a few days ago. I told them I bought from another gun shop and they told me to bring the gun in to measure if I need a .490 or .495 ball. They were totally cool about me buying from another place. I lie that and its worth buying from them. They said they are the only black powder dealer in 200 miles. Just 9 miles up the road from me.

Yes. They are hook breech and wedge pin guns - and a .54 cal ball is about 30% heavier than a .50.
But, I would definitely try different loads (including patch thickness when shooting ball) first. Ball works but bullets work better.

Shot my first deer with a .50 round ball and 90 grains loose Pyrodex. Worked fine on a close broadside shot, but now that I know better I use bullets. Up to 300 grain bullets have shot well for me out of T/C hammer guns. Don't remember all the twists but one was a Renegade.probably the same twist as yours.

Keep an eye open for Hornady XTP sabots too - I've had good luck with the 230 grain version, and they aren't expensive. For a while I was buying them for $7 or 8 for a 30 pack. Should be fine for a 1:48 barrel.

I sure could try sabots . I got some sabots on sale for 2.50 for a 50 pack of green and 3 bucks for black sabots on Natchez. I think they are made by sold by Knight but who knows who makes them . Also, it seems that green Hornady sabots are the best fro my gun. In fact, I reuse them when I find them on the range if I know it is mine. They shoot very good the second time around.

I've got a couple of T/C Hawkens in 50 cal ,I've had good luck with 85 grs FFg and a .490" RB and a .010 patch, a bud who muzzleloads a lot said I need to patch tighter yet. Was down in Denver at the gunshow last weekend and found a super clean and nice 54 cal T/C Hawken for $300. Looking forward to using that also. MB

Get RWS musket caps. The CCI are loaded light for reenacters, and do not light off a hunting load reliably.

Get RWS musket caps...

Good advice Benchman!

I did good today at the range. if I kept the barrel clean and got about 1.5" 4 shot group. I did however forget to put powder in it. I took out the nipple and packed powder down the little hole. I imagine I got 20 gr Goex in there and it came out then. An 11 cap didn't do anything expect maybe pushed out the bullet an inch or so. There is a side screw than the gun shop told me to take out and pack it with powder but it didn't work. Oh well , I did good after that and still , just might go back and get that Sears 292. I bet I could get it from $150 down to $ 125. . Seems like a nice gun. Heck, why not? It's a muzzleloader !

TC used to have their manual for the muzzleloaders on line.
Don't know if s&w screwed that up also .

Get yourself a bullet puller - it's a small attachment for your ramrod. It has a self tapping screw at the end and a brass disc as a bore guide. Usually works fine especially if you have a good ramrod. And your bore isn't crudded up.
Also, if you need to load up the nipple pathway, use fine powder if possible.

Yup. If you're shooting sabots, you'll pull the bullet out of the sabot, then have to screw it into the sabot and pull that out, too. I know this, because. ....a 1:48 should shoot a 230-250 gr. XTP, very well. I have 1 that will shoot a 300, but found that most will not. Stick with the XTP, not the pointy bullets. Pointed bullets have not stabilized well, in my 1:48.

According to the March 1980 American Rifleman 'NRA Test', The Browning Mountain Rifle was made for Browning by Arms Technology, Inc. in Salt Lake City, Ut. The barrel was cut rifled but the maker was not identified.

The barrels were supplied by a guy named Cheney and guess who he was friends with?....Doc White of GRRW. Around that time 1975 Green River brought out the Plumb Center barrels which where cut rifled. Before that they used Douglas and some made on P&W machines bought from Bill Large.

Chances are very good they used barrels or blanks sourced through Green River. Toby Bridges makes the same claim but i got my info from calling ATI. https://www.namlhunt.com/ml-collecting.html

Sorry for the off topic but i got additional info from the owner of ATI back then...Actually his son got it from his father who is now 86.

The barrels came from a small company in Heber Utah. Sadly his father could not remember the name of the company. Bliss Titus had a shop in Heber much earlier but thats all i can find atm.

With a 50 cal. round ball and 60 gr. of Goex with a 28" barrel, what is the Muzzle velocity?

Just about everybody "dry balls" a smokepole eventually! I like the CO2 cylinder method of squirting the ball out of the barrel. Places like Dixie Gun Works in Union City Tennessee sell that little accessory with either flint or percussion adapters. My Traditions .50 caliber flintlock likes 75-80 grains of 3-F Goex black powder. Patch thickness is important also- - - -just going from a .015" thick "dry lubed" denim patch to .017" tightened up the group on my competition chunk gun from a 2" group at 60 yards to less than 1/2". We swab the barrel with alcohol and several dry patches between every shot, and weigh pre-measured powder charges down to 2/10 grain accuracy for those rifles. Another sneaky trick is to put a couple of 1/4" thick felt wads between the powder and the patched ball to prevent patch burn-through on the way down the barrel. A lot of the target tricks also work on a hunting smokepole, since one shot is all a deer is likely to give you time for! The first one better count!
Jerry