It's been awhile since I've used Triple 7 but I dusted off my T/C Firehawk and was planning on going to the range next week. I found some load notes in my muzzy box for that gun shooting 120 Gr of Triple 7 FFG. Not sure how I got to that load since the Hogdon site says 100 gr of FFG is MAX. I'm guessing it was derived from the (3) 50 gr pellet loading. Any insight on this?

What bullet? 45 or 50 cal?

50 caliber. I was shooting 370 gr Maxi-Balls and 350 gr Maxi-Hunters

Follow the gunmaker's recommendation. 777 gives more velocity (and pressure) than black. I hope you're loading that by volume!

100gr may be all the fun you'll want in that light rifle with that heavy slug.

You might try 65-75 gr, alot of conicals shoot best with light loads and thats plenty for deer. My Firehawks like 240/300 gr XTPs with 80 to 85 gr of pyrodex rs or 777 2f. One of the best shooting feeling guns T/C ever made especially with walnut stocks.

I have a pdf of Hodgdon Pyrodex and Triple 7 load data. It shows 100 gr FFG max Triple 7 for .50 cal and 120 gr FFG max Triple 7 for .54 cal. Perhaps you mixed the two up?

Maybe, but it seems a little odd since the big thing back when Triple 7 came out was loading 3 50gr pellets for Magnum performance. Anyway I found more notes with my best load which was 110Gr of FFG under a 370 Gr Maxi-Ball.

This was for an elk hunt I did in 2006. Thinking about going again this year. I have an Omega also and may try some Thor bullets in that using BH 209 and see which gun shoots better. The MAX load for BH 209 is 120 grains. I think anyone who's used BH 209 and Triple 7 would agree BH 209 is a lot more powerful than Triple 7.

Absolutley agree 100%

When I was shooting 370 gr maxiballs in my 50cal, 90gr or 777 was more than enough to kill an elk. I use 80gr of BH 209 now in my inline and 348 gr Powerbelts. Kills elk too

You're right on the load, but I don't get to hunt elk every year. I shoot max loads to make sure I get good penetration at all ranges. IMO shooting 65-75 gr loads would be like using a 243.

So what your saying is your shooting 50 by 120 or 130 Where 50x100 would do all guns don't shoot the same

Nope, pushing a pure lead maxiball with that load , might get you a piece of lead about as flat and as big as a silver dollar when it hits.Different story with a tougher bullets, but pure lead and Powerbelts, which are pure lead with a copper flashing, don't hold up to those velocities..

I don't think T/C Maxi-Balls are pure lead. I've shot quite a few T/C Maxi-Balls and some that a friend cast. The T/C's will shoot through a deer without expanding IME but a lead Maxi-Ball will expand as you pointed out. I never liked them at first for that reason and I think that's why T/C came out with the Maxi-Hunter which has a hollow point and is probably pure lead. I've got about 10 boxes of each and as you can see the Maxi-Hunters are recommended for deer sized game.



Maxi-Balls are intended for bigger game like elk. I used them on my last muzzy hunt and took a 5x5. The first shot was quartering towards me, bullet went through the shoulder and lungs and ended up under the hide at the back of the offside ribcage. We found him up against a tree about 60 yards away on a steep slope. I shot him again when he got up to keep him from sliding downhill. That shot went in the back of the ribs through the lungs and offside shoulder and the bullet was found under the hide there. I don't think a pure lead bullet would do that. My load was 110 gr of 777 with a fiber wad under the Maxi-Ball.





My Firehawk is probably stronger than the current inlines since it doesn't have a breach plug.

I called Hodgdon yesterday to ask about this. The guy I spoke with said the max load used to be 120 Grains of loose powder for 50 and 54 caliber but there were problems when guys using 150 gr of loose powder blew up a gun and claimed it was due to the 3 50 gr pellet magnum loading that they publicized. So they backed it off and came out with 60 gr pellets. If you look on the box top label it states 1 pellet is equivalent to 60 gr volume. The max of 2 pellets would be a 120 gr load.

https://www.hodgdon.com/triple-seven-50-caliber-magnums-60-grain-pellets/

Why would anyone shoot that garbage powder? 777 is the worst stuff ever made. Dirty as hell just like 777 primers.

Triple 7 shoots great out of muzzleloaders that don’t use 209 primers. I have a T/C Firehawk with musketcap ignition. I get no crud rings and more power than any other powder in that gun.

I have one of the TC Black Diamonds the was between side locks and more modern in lines.Kind of a bolt affair,but the 209 primer was not cover when cocked. It is marked as magnum and could take 150 grs of loose powder, I never got enough courage to load it like that. I used Pyrodex and then777,but they both get funky if let set from one season to another so I went back to black powder when using it. I was swabbing between each shot with 777 and do the same with black powder

Shelf life, is the only problem I have with 777. Don't like Pyrodex. Black is just plain hard to get around here.

Hogdon website has listed loads for many calibers and combinations, but I don't recall or see where they stipulate a "max load". However, for 54 caliber the heavist load listed is with 2F at 120 grains.

My 54 caliber Hawken with 1 in 66 begins to loose accuracy at 110 grains of T7 2F and is best at 100 grains.

Same deal on both my 50 and 54 1:48's. Good accuracy with virtually any load, up to 100. That said, I find the 54 more forgiving. More consistent, load to load. When you hit the bad point, on the 50's, the result is worse, than when you do that with the 54's.

Boy, 120 777 with a 350-400 grain bullet is a hell of a load in that lightweight gun. I agree.

I use 80 gns 777 in my firehawk. Have used 100 pyrodex regularly, but with that gun I shoot mostly sabot loads with 240 gns bullets.

FWIW, the Firehawk in stainless and wood is, IME & O, one of TC's finest ever.

My load with the Maxi-Ball is 110gr of 777. It's a stout load but no where near the recoil of 110 gr of BH 209 in my Omega.
The Firehawk is a great gun very similar in design to the Black Diamond except the Firehawk is 1-38" twist and the Black Diamond is 1 in 28". The Firehawk came with a No 11 nipple but I put a Musket Cap nipple in it. It shoots lead conicals better than my Omega. But there are some new bullets out now like the Thor and Federal BOR-LOCK that I want to try so I may tinker with the charge.