The gent who sold it to me met at the range to show me how to use this beauty.

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He seems to be pretty good with both Hawken and his own Renegade.

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Ball starting was the hardest,  with .535 balls, which he said was slightly oversized,  but after a few WTF moments,  I had no issues.  I still need to raise the adjustable rear sight, but I was good at 50 yards. What I wasn't expecting was how much this rifle THUMPS with just 60 grains of Olde Eynsford 3F powder!
Cleanup was easy, and I am really happy with my new smokepole. You can see his small steel and my paper target at 50 yards - he had no difficulty ringing that little thing! Soon my precious,  soon again we make the smoke...

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Nice range you have there.

Sounds like you're hooked!

Shooting BP is good for the soul.  It also makes you a better shooter and marksman.

It WAS funny how the people around us got as much of a kick as we did. Until the smoke blew backwards, that is - we were both using pure black, Olde Eynsford 3F for me and homemade 3F for him.
That's the famous Casa Grande range, free, unmonitored and maintained by the city.
Yes, I think I am hooked, just need to break out my brand new molds, both Lee, .530 round ball and .533 Minie. I will have my casting setup in place by next weekend!

I built a .50 Renegade from a kit when I was 12 and still hunt with it some. 4 of my largest deer have been taken with it. a round ball and 60 gr of BP will zip from front shoulder and exit the ham on the opposite side on a whitetail at 75 yards.

I have a .54 Hawkin and a .50 Mountain Carbine.
Both are a good time.
Both make a nice satisfying boom.

II received a percussion .50 cal Renegade Hunter (single trigger) for Christmas from my dad 35 or so years ago.

Been an excellent rifle, extremely accurate.

I also inherited my dads percussion .50 cal Renegade with double (set) trigger (somewhere around 40 years old)

Haven't shot it as much but, after setting the trigger the resulting pull is an amazing experience.

Both fantastic rifles and the quality is evident.

The rebuilder showed me how to set the set trigger, after resetting it to factory setting, (I think that's a record for using the word "set" in one sentence), and I like it just the way it is. I will have to get out to shoot it more and I HAVE to make time to cast some of those Minie balls, too - I think this will make an excellent smokepole!