who shoots 54 Cal with 3F ?

I've always liked to keep things simple so use 3F for all my rifles from .45 to .54. Not that I don't like to vary the ball size, patch materials and load size it just makes the working up loads more fun. Just never heard a good argument to change to 2F or seen any one shooting better with it. The deer, elk, moose and bears that dropped to those loads never complained either.

tc hawken 54 68gr., goex 3f, wad, patched round ball, spit patch between shots

you have to actually get outside and burn some powder. every rifle i own likes a different load. when i change 1 thing it changes everything. a good place to start is 13 yards and 1 grain per cal. and work it up

GANGGREEN said:

I do. I've always shot a load of FFFg in my .54, although I have experimented some with FFg. I tried FFg again last week and was mostly satisfied with the groups, but thought my FFFg groups were better, so I shot again today with FFFg. My recollection was right, my .54 likes FFFg better.View attachment 36802

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(SHOWOFF)
Nice shootin'

olskool said:

i have always used 2F in 54 and above. but I see a lot of fellers who shoots 3F in 54? and how much? i know every rifle is different and you just have to try combos, but is it basically as accurate or more accurate as 2F? just curious, i might give it a try,,,,,,,,,,,

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Like most here, I use 70-75gr of 3f - in main charge and primer pan, with roundball - .535 ball with .010 patch (recommended by Pedersoli) and get great groups at the range and dead deer on the range.

I use 44 grains FFFg in my .58 calibre Enfield. I never tried it in my .69 calibre smoothie.

I use 3f for hunting loads in my CVA .58 in the rainy cold weather because of the better ignition success over 2f.

well I went outside to my range at home yesterday in 94 degree heat with 100% humidity and shot a 5 shot group with my 54 southern mountain rifle. I used plain old 3F goex, 75gr. of it. 50yds off the bench I shot one large hole group at 50 yds. off the bench. I like it, it is a little tighter than my groups with 2F ol eynsford. what surprised me was the clean up of the gun. it cleaned 5 times quicker than with 2F i am going to do more experiments with 3F ol eynsford and 3F swiss although I am not a swiss fan because after 6 or 8 shots a hard ring develops towards the chamber if you don't swab after each shot.

In my rifles calibers .36, .40, 50, .54 I use 3F -- in my civil war .58 caliber rifled muskets, 20, 12, & 10 gauge shotguns I use 2F seems to work just fine for me.

Not only a .54cal. with FFFg (currently Goes), but also a 20ga. smoothbore trade gun. However, I reduce charges by at least 10% compared to FFg in both guns. Also, recoil is more pronounced, but hardly painful. Accuracy is the same though in both the rifle and trade gun (using patched RB's).