54 cal conicals

Question I have 54 cal trade rifle and deerstalker in 54 cal.Does antbody on here cast there own conicals for either one of these guns,such as maybe the real bullets? I used to shoot 390 gr hornadys but they quit making them .Im looking for an alternative conical I can make myself.Any help would be appreciated!!

Brown bear put me onto the Lyman great plains bullet (not hornady)and its a beauty. Easy to cast, easy to load and shoots as straight as any other bullet.

I don't know if you would have more success with a lighter bullet in your 1:48 twist barrel though as I am shooting them out of a 1:30 twist barrel.

Like anything the only way to know is to try it.
I have also had good results with the t/c maxi balls but they dont expand like the Lymans do. Have fun playing around with it. Oh and use an overpowder felt wad to improve your groups.

I have always shot the Hornady 390 grain great plains bullet too. I have not seen them in a while, but I have plenty on hand to keep me going for a few years. Hornady does offer a 425 grain bullet, have you tried that one? I have a shot the Lee "REAL" 300 grain bullet and it does good.

like Kapow, i too like the Lyman 548657 plains bullet.

I cast 380 grain reals for my hawken .54 with a 1:48 twist. my load is 90 grains of FFFg 777. and the real bullet shoots spot on at 100 yards.

I have collected a few .54 molds over the years. The 300 and 380 grain REAL bullets are good shooters. Lee also make a couple minnie molds in .54 but I haven't had much luck with accuracy with them. I have been lucky and acquired T/C Maxi-Ball and Maxi-Hunter molds in .54. The Lyman 450 grain Plains Bullet is a whomper. Lyman also makes a minnie mold that makes a good shooter.

There are a few options out there if you look in the right places.

Drop me a PM with your address and I'll be happy to send you a few samples to try then you can see which mold you would want to purchase.

HD

I have not tried the 425 gr hornadys yet. thanks fellas I have a lot of good ideas now,was looking at the real bullets but was told they go down the bore very tight.wondering if anybody else had this problem or not and how many shots you can take before cleaning? thanks for the ideas !!! wanting to make my own that way i can never run out ! lol thanks!!

what kind of powder charge do you put behind a 450gr greatplains bullet ?

This is both barrels of my Pedersoli Kodiak .54 with Hornady Great Plains bullets, 425 grns, with 150 grns of 2F and CCI Magnum #11 primers at 50 yds offhand. Shoots well....

kbeers said:

what kind of powder charge do you put behind a 450gr greatplains bullet ?

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100 grains of Goex 2F. It's pretty hard on the shoulder.

HD

chainshot09 said:

This is both barrels of my Pedersoli Kodiak .54 with Hornady Great Plains bullets, 425 grns, with 150 grns of 2F

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Dadgum! I'm not sure which would hurt more, being in front of our behind that gun!

Pedersoli recommends a 90 grain charge in the .54 with their conical, and a maximum load of 100 grains. Admittedly, the Pedersolis are probably overbuilt to hold up to an accidental double-charge, but I wouldn't use or advise a 150-grain charge as a working load.

Yes. The Pedersoli in .54 is not a light gun, but it is when you compare it to a 470 Express!

I worked up to that load, I didn't just start off with it. I use that for pigs and bear. My standard load for deer is 130 grns 2F with a .530 PRB. I have yet to see either load not enter and exit. I settled on those loads because they were the most accurate combinations for those projectiles. At 10.5 lbs weight for the .54 Kodiak the recoil is stout, but not painful. One thing I did notice when I got to 140 grns and over was that the sound of the recoil changed from a black powder whoomph... to more of a crack, like a centerfire rifle.

kbeers said:

I have not tried the 425 gr hornadys yet. thanks fellas I have a lot of good ideas now,was looking at the real bullets but was told they go down the bore very tight.wondering if anybody else had this problem or not and how many shots you can take before cleaning? thanks for the ideas !!! wanting to make my own that way i can never run out ! lol thanks!!

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I have found if the conicals are a bit hard to start into the barrel then they will shoot real well. If loose going in, I expect poor accuracy.
Always use a felt wad under the bullet. I don't have to wipe between shots when using bore butter/wonder lube. For me conicals are hunting bullets and I do not shoot a lot of them. If I want to do a bunch of shooting then I use PRB's. My 50 TC Hawken is only used for hunting so it is always sighted in and ready to go when using 385 grain Hornady great plains bullets and 90 grains of 2F triple seven.

found in my cva hawken it takes a little affort to get them to start. but like the name says rifling engraved at loading... then again my buddy has a t/c .54 and you can almost drop them down the bore.

I have found the same as Rat Trapper, if it goes down too easily then accuracy is poor. The REAL bullets start a little hard but once the rifling is pressed into them they go down fairly easily and stay there. I too have found that the addition of a lubed wad to improve accuracy when using conicals. My .50 fast twist barrel shoots the 250 grain REAL conicals the best and groups 2 inches or better at 50 yards from the bench. I haven't tried them in my 1:48 ROT .54 rifle yet but get acceptable accuracy using the 425 gr. Great Plains. However, they still aren't as accurate as a PRB.
bullets. However

Im not happy with a two inch group ,the hornady great plain bullets shot a lot tighter than that! Maybe Im expecting too much?I wanna tight group!

kbeers said:

Im not happy with a two inch group ,the hornady great plain bullets shot a lot tighter than that! Maybe Im expecting too much?I wanna tight group!

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Two inch group at what distance? When I get consistent 2 inch groups at 50 yards out of a conical I am as happy as a pig in slop.

For today's production rifles I don't think you can ask for more than that.

HD

I agree with Rat Trapper, conicals are hunting bullets. IMHO 2" groups at 50 yds is perfectly acceptable. What I call "minute of deer"!