deerstalker vs. great plains hunter

Let me rephrase. When I typed "Trade Rifle" I actually meant to type "Lyman Deer Stalker". I have trouble keeping these names straight though I know the rifles that are referred to. So the .50 Lyman Deer Stalker is my recommendation.

Why mot a Trade Rifle? The Trade Rifle also has a 1 in 48" twist barrel with deep grooves. It has a single trigger with a very nice pull. I know it wasn't on the list, but should be considered.

Wattsy said:

May I suggest the Lyman great plains RIFLE vs the Hunter...? The round ball it shoots is plenty (would recomend the .54) for your deer and accurate to 80 -100 yards easy enough...?

Otherwise of the three I would suggest Lyman GPH.

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Yea, what he said. :thumbsup:

I know you didn't list it but if money was not the issue my vote is for a GPR, in either 50 or 54 cal.
It is way better for RB than the ones you did list. And, one other point 100 yards should;d be the limit not the norm for you range. As I try to get across to some of these guys we are supposed to be “hunters” not “killers”. There is a difference.

hanshi said:

No ball size is going to be any more or any less accurate than the others. A .54 is fine and will kill deer. A .50 is fine and will kill deer. The best projectile to fire in either is a patched round ball. The prb is a proven slayer of deer and other big game. It is also the quickest killer of game. I suggest the Trade Rifle of the three you mention.

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True but not exactly "the rest of the story"... The .54 has varifiably superior trajectories and retained down range energy; Particularly in reguards to shooting RB's.
The retained energy may or may not be that big of a deal based on the size of the game persued but flatter shooting always wins out when in hunting situations and 10 - 15 yards can and does make a noted differance on impact.

You should not buy any of them for your safety. The reason is once you get hooked you will have to buy more and that means you have to explain to your better half how you got all those BP weapons. Believe me you cant stop at one. Good luck with your choice.

Again I beg to differ. According to your logic a .58 would be even MORE accurate and a .62 even more, etc, etc. There is no accuracy advantage with ball size. My .32 and .36 shoot sub inch groups at 50 yards even with my lousy marksmanship. My .50 and .54 does nearly as well but no any better. We're talking accuracy NOT downrange ballistics.

hanshi said:

Again I beg to differ. According to your logic a .58 would be even MORE accurate and a .62 even more, etc, etc. There is no accuracy advantage with ball size. My .32 and .36 shoot sub inch groups at 50 yards even with my lousy marksmanship. My .50 and .54 does nearly as well but no any better. We're talking accuracy NOT downrange ballistics.

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Contraire my friend, Math dosnt lie.. The .54 has superior balistics to the .58 and .62 as well as the .50 and when hunting is THE topic downrange balistics can NOT be ignored unless we in unison reduce the yardage of a maximum shot to the point that all included calibers are equal, say less then 70 yards, BUT if I wish to be maximum effective at 100 yards then original point is still valid. :wink:

I agree the .54 hits a bit harder but I think your wrong about the .54 shooting flatter than a .50. I would say buy a .54 Deerstalker (I bought one last week but didn't shoot it yet) in response to the original question

Walks.. Its not a "think" thing... Its a math thing. :wink:
I went to public skool so I am not supposing that I alone know the awnser, smarter minds then mine have done the math and the .54 is THE flatest RB shooting hand held BP caliber there is.
Would LOVE to see the math that proves that wrong. :grin:
(I will pony up and say, however, that the .50 is a doable caliber its just not a .54 :blah: )

Let's just say your ballistically challenged. The .50 is flatter to 100 yards by good margin. :blah:

You really need to reread my posts. The subject was accuracy and NOT downrange ballistics. A .54 will hit a little farther than a .45 but that isn't the point. How far a ball will travel has nothing to do with intrinsic accuracy. There's probably no such thing a "intrinsic accuracy". This has been a bone of contention among riflemen for decades. You know what the conclusion was? "good bullets going down good barrels", that's what. I know I'm bringing in moderns but it is still provable and extends to prb. A good prb going down a good barrel will be accurate regardless what the size of the ball is.

I know of many experienced shooters who will state unequivocally that the .40 is the most accurate ML caliber. I call that a false assumption, as well. The .54 is a fine "everything" bore size but that's because of the ball weight/dia/energy and not because it's magically super accurate. You're the only person I've ever heard make such a claim. The .54 is no less accurate nor is it any more accurate than any other ball size. What about .53 bore or .52 bore or maybe .55 bore, huh?

I think it's the barrel that makes the ball accurate not the size of the ball. The twist,charge,patch,lube,groove depths,number of grooves and on and on would all have a influence on accuracy and consistancy. There are barrels of all kinds and calibers.

Just for grins I ran some numbers thru my computer roundball trajectory calculator to see the difference between a .50 and a .54 caliber rifles trajectory.

In order to be fair about it, both rounds velocity was the same and it was a velocity that both calibers are easily capable of producing.

I chose an 'aim point distance' of 80 yards and a muzzle velocity of 1560 fps. .490 and .350 diameter balls were used.

The results show the inclination of the .50 caliber barrel was pointed slightly higher than the .54 to hit dead center on the target at 80 yards.

Because of this the .50 was 0.1 inches (1.5") above the .54 (1.4") at 30 yards.

At 50 yards the .50 was still 0.1 inches higher (1.9" vs 1.8").

At 70 yards the .50 was 0.1 inches higher than the .54 but it was starting to fall faster.
Both rounds were dead center at 80 yards.

The faster falling .50 started showing up beyond 80 yards with the .50 being 3.4" below the point of aim at 100 yards vs the .54 which was 3.1" below the point of aim.

At 120 yards the .50 had dropped to a -8.6 inches below the point of aim vs the -8.3" drop of the .54.

All this tells me that Wattsy is correct but out to 120 yards the difference is less than 3/8 of an inch.

Kinda like picking the fly skat out of the pepper. :grin:

I look at it differently; If you use 100 grains of powder in each then the .50 is flatter by about 1/2" at midrange with a 100 yard zero. Take a 32" barreled .50 and an identical .54. 100 grains of 3f gets about 2100 fps. in the .50 and 1800 fps. in the .54. Plug those #'s in with a BC of .070 for the 182 grian .495 ball and .075 for the 230 grain .530 ball. The .50 is flatter but the .54 is clearly the better in every way otherwise.

Zonie said:

All this tells me that Wattsy is correct

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Yah what he said!!!!
:grin: :grin: :grin: :grin: :grin: :grin:

I guess if ya add enough powder it's flatter. :dead:

Sure is a pain when the facts get in the way! :grin:

It also depends on how ya spin the facts :grin:

I would suggest a .50 cal. Lyman Great Plains Rifle. Lyman makes a wonderful rifle. In fact, I think it is about the best factory made rifle you can buy. If you can't find a Lyman GPR, my next choice would be a Thompson Center Hawken. They are an excellent rifle and have a lifetime warranty. Since T/C no longer makes them, you are most likely going to have to find a good used one. Even though T/C no longer makes them, they still honor their lifetime warranty. Some have suggested a .54 caliber but a .50 is more than enough for your hunting purposes and is a bit flatter shooting than a .54. Still, you should keep all of your shots under 100 yards. One advantage of the .50 over the .54 is that .50 cal (.490) balls are usually more easily found in your sporting goods stores than the .54 cal balls.