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.50 cal Lyman Deerstalker?

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rodwha

58 Cal.
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I have a .50 cal Lyman's Deerstalker. It states that they come with a 15/16" barrel. Mine has a 90 grn 3F max load with a PRB. Had I have bought (And kinda wished I did now) .54 cal the max load is 100 grns of 3F with a PRB. If the walls are thinner, and the additional weight adds pressure why did the max load go up?

In my quite limited scope of understanding/logic I figure the larger bore reduces pressure with the same load, i.e. 100 grns of 3F would actually have less pressure in the .54 bore, but the walls are still thinner, and the weight of the ball ought to add to the pressure as I understand it. And so it goes back to wall thickness...
 
That makes some sense. I've seen what I figure to be comparable rifles with slightly higher max charges.
 
If it is about max effective charge it makes sense. The deerstalker has a short barrel and more powder at some point will result in more flash out the muzzle. A wast of powder.
 
You can put more than 90 grains of 3F in that gun. You really don't need more powder to be honest, but it can take more than that. That load limit that was listed in your loading manual was the load limit the lawyers in the back room were comfortable putting out there. I have run 100 grains of 3f and a 370 grain maxi in a similar barrel and know I could have loaded 120 grains of powder. Now granted I only loaded it like that one time due to crazy recoil, but I know that a 15/16 barrel on a .50 can handle it.
 
rodwha said:
Why was my title changed from "Why?"?

A while back, a topic was posted that requested the title give a hint as to the contents. It makes it easier to scan thru new topics to quicker, and to locate older ones in a more timely fashion:
http://www.muzzleloadingforum.com/fusionbb/showtopic.php?tid/241896/

It's just one of those little helpful courtesies that some of don't seem to think of on our own.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
The load was listed because the barrel has been proof tested in Italy's proof houses and this is a safe limit that the gun can handle over time without blowing up.
Exceeding the recommendations of the manufacturer is not a wise thing to do.
 
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