The journey begins!
Well...since I started this thread last August, I guess it continues, but I'm moving from the research and reading phase to the hands on phase. It arrived today:
Based on recommendations from this thread and a bunch of research, I decided to go with a Jeff Hankins .45 cal Encore barrel. I ordered it last Wednesday 3/31 and got an immediate order confirmation. I never received a shipping notification, but it arrived today. It was packed very well with plenty of protection. Everything came in one box. It includes the barrel, forearm, and stock. It should fit my existing TC Pro Hunter muzzleloader frame. I've already done a trigger job on it, so it should be ready to go for this. The accessories below the gun came with it. A funnel for loading powder through the muzzle-brake, and a pack of 25 primer holders. The items above the gun were ordered beyond the gun price. I ordered the collapsible ramrod with swivel jag for the Pittman Accumax bullets Jeff recommends and a palm handle for the rod. It quickly collapses down to 1/3 the size you see here. Since the forearm and barrel are not setup to hold a ramrod, I got this collapsible rod. I also got the smooth resizing die he sells. Since I don't reload, I didn't have a press, so I also ordered a RCBS Partner press from Cabelas. It has not yet arrived.
I must have been lucky. Last year I emailed Jeff about a .45 cal smokless barrel but he only had .40 left for the year. Since the minimum bullet size for a muzzleloader in Virginia is .45, I was out of luck. The said he hoped to have more .45 cal barrels in after the first of the year. Then COVID hit.... I emailed him a couple weeks ago to see if he had received any more .45 cal barrels not expecting much. He replied with a link to this build. I ordered it that day. A couple days later, I went back to the site to check out some of the specs in more detail. Sure enough it now says "Out of Stock". So, I feel very fortunate.
Over the next few days, I started looking into what else I'll need to shoot it. It looks like that because of the ammo shortage, reloading supplies are hard to come by. Pittman has the Accumax bullets in stock but not the 275 grain that Jeff is recommending. They should be available in mid-May according to Kyle Pittman. Next was large rifle primers. This system does not shot 209s (which I have plenty of ) but large rifle primers. I could find no place with any in stock. I finally ordered on Gunbroker and paid through the nose. I just got a notice they shipped. So, that leave powder.
Jeff is recommending IMR 4198. I talked to one reloading supply house that said they do get in powder from time to time but it goes quickly. They said to check the web site daily.
This barrel has an MGM picatinny rail on it. My current muzzleloader has Leupold QR rings with a Leupold base for them. So, I'm going to need new rings. I ordered them from Leupold yesterday.
The one thing I did not order was Jeff's depriming tool to remove the primers from his adaptors. I'm sure I can rig something up for that. If not, I can always order one from him.
I won't tear down my existing muzzleloader until I'm sure I've got everything needed to shoot this one. That way if I don't get stuff in time to get ready for the season, I can still hunt with my old muzzleloader.
I'll report back as items roll in.
Thanks,
Jack
