MUZZLELOADER Magazine    The Campfire: Main Forum List  Hop To Forum Categories  The Campfire Discussion Forums  Hop To Forums  Firearms    What is your load for a .54 rifle?
Page 1 2 3 
Go
New
Find
Notify
Tools
Reply
  
What is your load for a .54 rifle?
 Login/Join
 
Hivernant
posted
My 100 yd and hunting load is a .535 RB w .024" denim lubed w mink oil over 90gr Goex FFg.

Planning on doing some chrono work this spring.
TC
 
Posts: 138 | Location: Cedar Valley, Travis Co., TX | Registered: 24 December 2011Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Greenhorn
posted Hide Post
I usually shot a 530rb with a .020 patch with Wonder lube 1000 and 80gr of fff Go ex powder.
 
Posts: 29 | Location: Central Pa. | Registered: 02 October 2014Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Free Trapper
Picture of TurkeyCreek
posted Hide Post
My flinter has a 36" Green Mountain barrel. My hunting load is a .530 ball in a .015 patch over 110 gr. of 2fg Goex. Best lube I've ever used was bear grease. I settled on this load 30 years ago when I built the rifle because it would keep the group under an inch off a log at 90 yds.


"They do not live their lives 'by your leave'! They hack it out of the wilderness with their own two hands, bearing their children along the way!" - Cora Monroe - "Last Of The Mohicans"
 
Posts: 186 | Location: Turkey Creek on Cimarron Drainage | Registered: 10 September 2014Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Booshway
Picture of SCLoyalist
posted Hide Post
Most lately I've been using a .527 ball, 0.018 pillow ticking well lubed with Hoppes 9+, and 80 gr Goex 3Fg. That's the load for 75 or more yards at metal woodswalk gongs (and would be the hunting load if I hunted with that rifle). For 25/50 yards, 60 grains 3Fg works just as well, as far as I can tell.


Here's a health to the King and a lasting Peace. May Faction end and Wealth increase....Old Loyalist Ballad
 
Posts: 767 | Location: Panhandle Florida | Registered: 02 February 2008Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Booshway
Picture of wattlebuster
posted Hide Post
80 grns of FFG pushing a .527 self cast ball wrapped in a .018 pillow tick patch lubed with bear grease or deer tallow


Nothing beats the feel of a handmade southern iron mounted flintlock on a crisp frosty morning
 
Posts: 354 | Location: Heart of DIXIE | Registered: 18 November 2010Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Hivernant
posted Hide Post
my rifle has a 44''Rice barrel,I use 90 gr. FFFG and.526 ball.
 
Posts: 113 | Location: Alberta Canada | Registered: 25 March 2005Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Factor
posted Hide Post
I have a 38" swamped, Colerain barrel, and I use 70 grains of GOEX (standard - red can) 3Fg, and a patched .530 round ball. The farthest shot that I have taken on a deer is 110 yards, broadside, and it went through the doe.

LD


It's not what you know, it's what you can prove
 
Posts: 3843 | Location: People's Republic of Maryland | Registered: 10 November 2004Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Booshway
Picture of andy*
posted Hide Post
For all my shooting in my .54 Hawken copy, I use 80 grains of 2F a .15 patch with spit as a lube, unless hunting..then bear grease...and a .530 round ball.
My barrel is an Orion with a 1 in 72 twist.
Andy


Follow me I am the Infantry
 
Posts: 668 | Location: Everson, Washington | Registered: 27 June 2008Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Hivernant
posted Hide Post
Looks like there is a trend here. Thanks guys.
TC
 
Posts: 138 | Location: Cedar Valley, Travis Co., TX | Registered: 24 December 2011Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Factor
Picture of Hanshi
posted Hide Post
My .54 shoots 1" groups at 60 yards which is the farthest I've fired it. The load is 60 grains of Goex or JBP (3F) and a .015" patch lubed with Hoppes BP lube. I no longer hunt with that fine rifle but shoot it occasionally because I like it a lot.


*Young guys should hang out with old guys; old guys know stuff.*
 
Posts: 3559 | Location: Maine (by way of Georgia then Va.) | Registered: 26 January 2009Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Greenhorn
posted Hide Post
My T/C Hawken with a green mountain barrel shoots best with a 535 round ball and a .015 patch lubed with Hoppes #9 black powder solvent & lub. coupled with 90 gr. of FFG black powder
 
Posts: 28 | Registered: 03 October 2010Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Pilgrim
posted Hide Post
I have success shooting targets at 50 yds with my Lyman GPR 54 using 60 gr, 530 ball and 0.015 patch. One inch groups are typical. I tried 535 balls and there wasn't any difference at 50 yds that I could see.
I haven't yet used my GPR for hunting, but the recommendations from others have been 530 ball, 0.015 patch and 80 or 90 gr.
Ron
 
Posts: 62 | Location: Golden, CO | Registered: 10 October 2014Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Booshway
posted Hide Post
Sharon Gun Barrel half stock Hawken; either a .526 ball with a 0.020" patch or a .530 ball with a 0.015" patch over 90 gr of 2Fg, GOEX.

Lyman Great Plains rifle; a .530 ball with a 0.15" patch over 90 gr of 2Fg, GOEX.

Pedersoli, Blue Ridge flintlock; a .530 ball and a 0.015" patch for the first shot and all following shots, a .526 ball with a 0.015" patch, all over 90 gr of 2Fg, GOEX.

Two years back I was had my loading block full of .530 balls and after a first shot at a deer that missed due to a hang fire, I couldn't get the following .530 ball down the bore. I finally pushed it down without a patch because I was in a hurry and didn't wish to fight a tight ball & patch combination. That is when I devised my new system of having the rifle loaded with the .530 ball but my loading block loaded with .526 balls for follow up shots. That combination hasn't caused be any grief as yet.

I'm aware that Pedersoli recommends a .535 ball but I'd have to beat that ball down the bore if and when using a 0.015" patch. So that is out and so much for their recommendation.

In any case, those are the loads I hunt with.

Load fast and aim slow.
 
Posts: 1726 | Location: Pacific Northwest | Registered: 08 March 2006Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Booshway
posted Hide Post
Over the years I've used everything under the sun for lube but I like that Bore Butter stuff the best.

When not hunting, I use saliva. Hunting needs something that won't rust since it might stay in the bore for hours if not weeks.

Load fast and aim slow.
 
Posts: 1726 | Location: Pacific Northwest | Registered: 08 March 2006Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Factor
posted Hide Post
White Finger,is that Bore Butter at all flammable?It occurred to me that could be a problem out here in the dry PNW.


Beer is proof that God loves us,and wants us to be happy-B. Franklin
 
Posts: 2014 | Location: Oreegun Territory | Registered: 24 March 2013Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Booshway
posted Hide Post
Used to be a .526 ball 80 grains of Goex 3fg and a linen patch greased with bear grease. Now I use a .520 ball for easier loading and it shoots good, loads easy and will kill deer just fine. All balls cast from Callahan bag molds.
 
Posts: 507 | Registered: 14 August 2013Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Booshway
posted Hide Post
Boartooth: as far as I know it's not flammable. TC Arms makes the stuff and it smells like mint.


Load fast and aim slow.
 
Posts: 1726 | Location: Pacific Northwest | Registered: 08 March 2006Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Pilgrim
posted Hide Post
I am still searching for a good load myself. Currently 90 grains of 2F with a .535 ball and .018 patch lubed with mink oil shoots very well. At 50 yards this load puts the balls right next to each other. My down side is it is tight enough to require a ball starter and I want to be able to load without a ball starter. Going to try a .015 patch with everything else remaining the same and see what happens.
 
Posts: 90 | Location: WV | Registered: 04 October 2012Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Hivernant
posted Hide Post
Go to a .530 ball first.

A Deer's x-rings don't need balls touching at 50 yards
 
Posts: 109 | Location: NH | Registered: 05 July 2010Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Factor
posted Hide Post
Yeah he's right...try .530 first.

when you say a "ball starter" do you mean forcing the ball and patch into the muzzle OR do you also mean starting it a few inches down the barrel, then using a ramrod? I ask as I like to cut my patches at the muzzle, so I force the ball and patch with the butt of my patch knife, then cut the patch, then use the ramrod.

When you go to a thinner patch, you run a risk of not filling the grooves, and blow by will screw up accuracy. Most folks who "thumb" their round ball into the muzzle use a smaller ball, like a .520-.528 range in size, and a thick patch. Some have had success using chamois.

LD


It's not what you know, it's what you can prove
 
Posts: 3843 | Location: People's Republic of Maryland | Registered: 10 November 2004Reply With QuoteReport This Post
  Powered by Social Strata Page 1 2 3  
 

MUZZLELOADER Magazine    The Campfire: Main Forum List  Hop To Forum Categories  The Campfire Discussion Forums  Hop To Forums  Firearms    What is your load for a .54 rifle?

2014 Historical Enterprises, LLC