Thunderball .54 cal (It's the one I kept)

LilOsage

Well of all the muzzleloaders I've owned over the year, if I did it correctly, this is a photo of "Thunderball" it's my tricked-out early vintage .54cal Investarms SPA model 120B sidelock, 1:56ROT, equipped with an even older Wollensak brass scope. Needless to say, it has been a labor of love and is no longer an original off-the-shelf rifle, which has a highly polished bore.

Although not as accurate at long ranges compared to the .535 patched ball that I use for Missouri whitetail, loaded with a 425gr hollow based, very pointed solid lead bullet provides horrific knock down power for Mississippi swamp hogs.

Questions&Comments are welcome, but no it ain't for sale.

bambambam

Beautiful gun....How did you mount the scope?

MMOMEQ-55

Now this is sweet! How about some detail pics of the scope mounting?

LilOsage

Thanks for the inquiries, again I messed up on my typing "year" should have been "years" as this rifle alone took me a long time to complete. For instance, the lock and trigger set are from Lyman; the trigger guard is ThompsonCenter; the stock was from a very old Sile(Investarms) rifle; the .54 nickel steel barrel is a replacement Douglass, I think. And the open top hooded front sight is from a gun show of European design.

The see-through scope mounts were custom made from a section of 5/8" key stock, which was one of the most difficult challenges since I don't have a metal milling machine. As pictured, the prototype set were made of hardwood, followed by three sets of metal culls, finally the fourth set was near perfect, but then I'm a little picky.

Is that a Lyman GP-Hunter?, I sold my Lyman GP-H .54, 1:32ROT last fall, nice rifle.

MMOMEQ-55

I am in the process of having the rifle in my signature built from a small custom maker in Pennsylvania. The stock is curly maple and the barrel is a highly polished deep bluing Douglas with a faster than normal ROT to stabilize large fat hunks of lead in the 400 gn and up range[:D]. Double set gold plated triggers that he makes himself with a trigger pull you would not believe. All hardware will be highly polished brass. The sights won't be what you would call traditional. It will have a rear peep sight. This rifle is gonna be a thing of beauty but I plan to hunt bear and hogs with it. It takes him a year to make one. I still have a couple of months to go.