Thompson Center Northwest Explorer (beating the dead horse)

[bankwalker]

i have a great deal at my feet on a new TC northwest explorer. but i am quite confused on what bullets will shoot from this gun with the 1-48" twist......

to the owners of this muzzleloader what are you shooting?

thanks

[dawhunt]

They should shoot power belts really well or maxiballs,no proplem.
Bob

[bobcat]

I agree with the previous post and also I have a Lyman with a 1 in 48 twist and I shoot 330 grain hard cast bullets w/sabots. They are made by Harvester and the price is very reasonable. Not the exact same gun but I think they'd be worth a try. You can order them directly from Harvester (www.harvestermuzzleloading.com) or from Mid-South Shooters Supply (www.midsouthshooterssupply.com)

If hunting elk I would definitely take them over the Powerbelts. The Powerbelts just aren't the best bullet as far as penetration goes. OK for deer but I wouldn't trust them on elk.

[bankwalker]

thanks. i plan on hunting elk. at $200 new i dont think i can pass up this deal. but i dont want to jump into this thinking i can shoot the fancy new bullets that are out.

[kerrdog]

I'm new to muzzleloading and hunting, and I bought a NW Explorer.  I wasn't aware of the twist rate info; 1/28 for sabots and 1/48 for conicals...blah blah.  My first pack of bullets were TC's with black sabots; I don't recall the exact type.  They were at least as accurate as me.  I could nail the target close to the bullseye at 50 yards most of the time.  No I didn't measure the groups.  At 100 yards I was all over, but I blame me and not the equipment. But in my defense, the sights are pretty suckin'.  I realized this when I fired my buddy's TC hawkin.  He had open sights, but they seemed much sharper and usable.

I just ordered fiber optic sights from Williams.  The sights on the NW Explorer said, "Williams" so I called them.  For less than $40 bucks they're sending me just the parts I need; not the entire sight assemblies.

My friend turned me onto powerbelts, which were easier to load.  Accuracy seemed the same to me.  After alot of reading I was set on switching to maxi balls, or maxi hunters, since the 1/48 twist seemed to be designed for them, and I liked the idea of lube on the bullets, not having to swab the bore every shot, and the notion of 'seasoning' the barrel like a frying pan, blah, blah.

My wife was concerned about lead in the meat (that I've yet to shoot), and after more web reading, it seemed silly to me to shoot toxic metal into food.  I read that x ray's revealed tiny lead 'pepper' all over the carcass; not just the wound channel.  Imagine the lead splatter from a bullet flattening out like a pancake! And lead is just nasty anyway.

Naturally, I'm interested in the all copper Barnes bullets.  I chose the lighter 250 grain because of the twist rate. I bought a pack, and they're really hard to load.  So I ordered some new thinner Sabots, which have yet to arrive!  I ordered them from the same supplier that Barnes gets them from; I don't remember the name right now.  I'm super excited to see how they shoot. Barnes actually sells the bullets with the blue easy load sabots, but they didn't have them at store I went to.

Anyway, I'm really hoping the the fiber optic sights and the copper bullets will work well.  I'm only looking for accuracy out to 150 yards, so I'm feeling good about it.

[bobcat]

150 yards is a very long shot for a muzzleloader with open sights. I don't like to shoot further than 100 yards. But, maybe your eyes are better than mine. The sabots I like to use are made by Harvester. They're the "crush rib" sabots. Since I'm now using Harvester bullets, they come with that particular sabot. But even before when I was using bullets made by the Buffalo Bullet company, which are now out of business, I was swapping out the sabots for the Harvester crush rib sabots.

[kerrdog]

I used to nail the 300 meter target in the Army pretty regularly.  That's around 320 yards.  So I was surprised how far away that 100 yard target at the range was!  Maybe my eyes were better then.  When I said 150 yards, I meant 150 yards at the very most!  I'm guessing my shooting wouldn't be consistent at more than 100.

[SkookumHntr]

150 yards is a very makeable range with practice! I have targets set up at 50,100,150,200yds at my range and know what my gun does on those shots. Im confident out to 200. I killed my elk at 190 yds this year with a 300grn Hornady! With lots of practice you should be able to shoot out to 150yds.

[kerrdog]

I took my NW explorer to the range today to try out my 250 grain Barnes TMZ (all copper) with MMP hp-24 sabots; they tumbled badly.  I could actually see the profile of the bullet through the paper as it went through sideways.  I tried it at 50 yards, and the holes were not round.  So I moved to the 25 yard target.    I really didn't think it was possible for a bullet to tumble that badly at such a short distance.

[bobcat]

Wow, that's amazing to see! So what are the other five round holes in the target? Are those the ones you shot at 25 yards?

[kerrdog]

Actually, only the top center round is mine; a powerbelt at 25 yards.  The others are .308 from the original owner of the target.

[kerrdog]

I learned something else about the NW Explorer.  I've had many instances where the cap did not go off the first time.  At first I blamed the CCI caps and bought some Dynamit Nobles.  But I happened again several times today!  The cause?  After about three shots, the firing pin does not slide - at all!  In fact, I was not able to push it in with my finger and had to use a cleaning rod, and then it stuck in.  A drop of oil and a q-tip on both sides of the firing pin fixed that.

But I'm a little bit bummed about not being able to use the copper bullets.  Some youtube videos and web articles made me aware of lead fragmentation far from the wound channel, and my wife is freaky about that kind of stuff!  We have little ones.  So until I get another rifle, like an Elkhorn or Knight, I'm stuck using powerbelts.

[carpsniperg2]

I took my NW explorer to the range today to try out my 250 grain Barnes TMZ (all copper) with MMP hp-24 sabots; they tumbled badly.  I could actually see the profile of the bullet through the paper as it went through sideways.  I tried it at 50 yards, and the holes were not round.  So I moved to the 25 yard target.    I really didn't think it was possible for a bullet to tumble that badly at such a short distance.

Thats why i laugh when someone tells me they will shoot any bullet thats out there. They are a great gun for power belts and maxi hunters and etc. If thats the style you are wanting to shoot.

[bobcat]

Try Harvester hard cast lead saboted bullets. That's what I shoot in my Lyman which has a 1 in 48 twist and they shoot just fine. They also will not fragment like the Powerbelts so you won't have that to worry about. The other benefit is they cost a lot less than the Barnes and the Powerbelts.

www.harvestermuzzleloading.com

[509er]

Wow!  last time I saw a bullet tumble like that @ 25 yards it was out of a tec 9 I owned.

[jbeaumont21]

Wow Dan! That's crazy how those things tumbled.   Just tell the wife that lead helps tenderize and marinate the meat.  Besides, lead is a common mineral found in everything water, food etc.  

[Blsum]

Here's a question for you. What kind of powder where you using when the bullets where tumbling. We had the same issue with the Hornady sst bullets. Both me and my buddy where shooting the same gun's, bullet, and caps. The only difference is I was using the 777 pellets and he was using the 777 loose. My gun would tumble and his wouldn't. We figured out that because the pellets where designed to be used with 209 ignition, they where causing inconsistent pressures. To keep it short we stopped using the pellets and have never had a problem since. 

[Dirty Mike]

I have a knight ill trade ya

[kerrdog]

Hey Blsum,

I was shooting 100 grains of pyrodex with MMP hp24 sabots.  The sabots that came with the Barnes TMZs were hard to load, so I tried I ordered some that were slightly thinner.  I makes me wonder if they would have flown straighter with the tighter sabot.  I've read that the NW explorer does not shoot sabots well, and I'm now a believer.  Next I'm going to compare the powerbelts with some TC maxi balls.  And I'm seriously considering purchasing a CVA Elkhorn Pro sometime in the future. But there's many other things on the wish list before that.

[kerrdog]

Sup Beaumont,

I passed your info about lead along to my wife.  I'm not sure she's buying it!
Of course I have to kill something before it will be an issue.

[jbeaumont21]

Hey I got some musket caps today and for some reason they don't work well with the musket nipple I bought.  I got the caps from fishermans today, some German company makes them. They don't dont snug down tight like the CCI's and I had to fire the hammer off 3 times before the cap went off.  Either that nipple wont work with my Thompson Hawkins or I need different caps??

[SkookumHntr]

If its the caps in the red can its not the caps! Those are the good ones!

[kerrdog]

I thought I heard you "cappin" in your garage!

[Blsum]

definitely not the caps. My guess is its a bad hammer spring.    Like Masonctyhitman said. he has a Knight he will trade you if your interested. I've shot his guns and we have never had any problems with any of them. I've heard that the northwest doesn't shoot sabots good as well. I'd bet that it shoots conicals great. But if the wife isn't buying it. Then its a mute point.

Another question for you. Do you use bore butter on your gun between shots. I know guys who couldn't hardly load the barnes bullets. They where taking a couple of shots and then cleaning. I've found if you swab the bore with a patch with a little bore butter on it. Then flip and repeat. Then use a dry patch, flip and repeat. It cleans the barrel and leaves a little lube to make it easier to load.