load for a .54

I need to work up a roundball load for a 28" barrel with 1:48" twist. I've shot a lot of .54 roundball, but never from a barrel with that fast a twist. Of course, I've seen a gazillion opinions as to whether a 1:48" barrel will shoot roundball accurately, yea and nay. I'd like to hear from the yeas. I want a heavy charge, and would appreciate hearing your good experiences with your heavy charges from a barrel like this.

Spence

What do you call a heavy charge? It's different for everybody.

Capper said:

What do you call a heavy charge? It's different for everybody.

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I would hope to be able to shoot at least 80 gr. 3F. I've been accustomed to shooting 110 gr 3F in my slow twist .54, but thought that might be a bit heavy for the faster twist.

Spence

George said:

Capper said:

What do you call a heavy charge? It's different for everybody.

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I would hope to be able to shoot at least 80 gr. 3F. I've been accustomed to shooting 110 gr 3F in my slow twist .54, but thought that might be a bit heavy for the faster twist.

Spence

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You know you'll get 25 different answers in this thread, and you know what the best answer is going to be.

Nobody has shot your gun, so nobody really knows.

I would load up your stuff and go shoot the hell out of it. The target will tell you what load the gun likes. :wink:

I have an old mountain rifle with a 28" Douglas barrel in 1 in 48 twist that loves 80gr of ffg and my late brother has killed many deer with 120 gr and .54 maxi's with it. jmho this load hurts :shocked2:

Bob, I had a TC Hawken .54 1/48 for many years. Gave it to a family member who has since been divorced out of the family. :haha:

I shot 80 grains of goex ff with a thick canvas patch and a .530 ball. It shot good enough to keep me in the top ten in many a match with over 100 shooters!

The patching was 10 oz artists canvas, bulk and unsized as sold off a roll at a local art supply shop. Washed and dried and lubed with TC 1000+. I don't use the 1000+much any more but surely it would do as well with just about any good lube.

Ive hunted with my .54 with PRB and I use 65gr of FFG and the deer is laying there where I it. Altho I prefer my .58 Springfield 65gr and Minie ball but PRB woorks well in her. I wanted to see what that rifle would do. Each persons shooting preferance is their own so you'll have to practice till you find that happy medium.
Good luck

like anyone may say if you have 3f start with 55 grains of goex increase by 5 grains and see what groups best. I use 60 to practice move it up to 70 when I hunt really no difference POI at 35 yards. A friend shoots 70 in a 50 cal hawken I think he is wasting powder. 60 or 70 grains kills deer dead at my 10-40 yard shots in the brush I also think you get better expansion with the so called lighter loads. You may also want to try 2f. Thank goodness we can buy powder and shoot what shoots best and accurate shots for the sparse range sessions and shots at deer I value experiences and recreation time more than a dollar worth of powder especially with the wife 3 kids, Goats, chickens and needy things like a house and older cars competing for shooting and casting sessions.

Capper said:

You know you'll get 25 different answers in this thread, and you know what the best answer is going to be.

Nobody has shot your gun, so nobody really knows.

I would load up your stuff and go shoot the hell out of it. The target will tell you what load the gun likes. :wink:

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Yeah, I know, Pete. But if I did that, what would we talk about?

The shooting comes later, and I'll be the final judge, but hearing that other guys have had good, accurate shooting with round ball from a 1:48" twist will give me strength to get up and do what has to be done.

Ever since I started shooting BP 100 years ago I've been hearing as gospel that 1:48" is a compromise, that you can't get accuracy with a RB using it, that you can't shoot heavy charges because it will skip out of the rifling, etc., etc. Is it true? I've never shot a RB from a 1:48" barrel, so I can't say from experience one way or another. I want to hear from guys who have done all that and had it work in spite of the gospel. If there are any of them out there. :grin:

Spence

George said:

Capper said:

You know you'll get 25 different answers in this thread, and you know what the best answer is going to be.

Nobody has shot your gun, so nobody really knows.

I would load up your stuff and go shoot the hell out of it. The target will tell you what load the gun likes. :wink:

Click to expand...

Yeah, I know, Pete. But if I did that, what would we talk about?

The shooting comes later, and I'll be the final judge, but hearing that other guys have had good, accurate shooting with round ball from a 1:48" twist will give me strength to get up and do what has to be done.

Ever since I started shooting BP 100 years ago I've been hearing as gospel that 1:48" is a compromise, that you can't get accuracy with a RB using it, that you can't shoot heavy charges because it will skip out of the rifling, etc., etc. Is it true? I've never shot a RB from a 1:48" barrel, so I can't say from experience one way or another. I want to hear from guys who have done all that and had it work in spite of the gospel. If there are any of them out there. :grin:

Spence

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I've settled on 85 grains of 2f Goex in my 1:48 Trade Rifle in .54, but I've gone up as high as 110 grains and gotten good accuracy. One thing I have discovered about this rifle is that it doesn't like 3f at all. Your mileage may vary.

I shoot 80 gr. 777, about equal to 90 gr ffg. Shoots good and hits with some authority.

George said:

Ever since I started shooting BP 100 years ago I've been hearing as gospel that 1:48" is a compromise....

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The original Hawkens were 1:48. And since so many were 53 caliber or so, the concept of compromise seems to happening at this end of the historical scale rather than in the origins of the Hawken.

I'm betting your rifle will be happy somewhere in the 80-90 grain range of either 2f or 3f, based on my own 54 cal rifles (5 of them). I've pushed them to 110 with no improvement in accuracy, so settled back to something more comfortable and less expensive. The deer surely haven't noticed the drop in charge.

Hi Bob,

I've had good luck with 80 grains of 3f under a .530 ball in a .015 cotton patch. Took the head right off a fox squirrel at about 30 yards with that load in a shallow-grooved T/C 1:48 barrel a few years back.

I never needed any stiffer a load than that for the whitetails I hunt, although I did have one of those T/C barrels that liked a big 425-grain Buffalo bullet over 100 grains of 2f. I'm not much of a conical shooter these days, but that was a pretty stiff load. :haha:

Spot

I has been my experience that 1:48 barrels in larger calibers shoot fine but are more picky on load than slower twist barrels. Being off by as little as 5 grains either way can turn a tack driver into a so-so shooter.

All barrels seem to have two sweet spots. One about caliber. For a .54 this would be around 50 to 60 grains. The other runs about 25 to 40 grains more. This would come out to about 75 to 90 grains for a .54. No matter where you wind up it is going to take some experimenting. Every barrel is different.

I usually work up the most accurate powder/patch/ball combination in the lower range then add powder until I reach the second sweet spot. It can be a long process but it is worth it.

I use 90gr 2F Goex, .530 ball and .015 prelubed oxyoke patch

Spence,

I can just tell you what works for me. I shoot a TC Renegade in .54 Cal. My load is 70 gr. FFF ,Pillow Ticking and .530" Round Ball. It is accurate with that load. I have killed deer out to 70 yds with it. Thats about as good as my old eyes can do anyway.
I put a Lyman GPR togather this summer and it is in .54 cal but has a 1:60 twist I think. It seems to like the same load on paper.
Thats just my two cents worth.

Wayne/Al

I got the same lanth barrel and twist in a cva st. luis hawken rifle. my plinking load is 50 grains of p or 777 FFFg. a .530 cast ball and a .012 cut cotten patch lubed with olive oil. I have shot balls up to 100 grains of rs. they did ok. my hunting load is 90 grains of rs. a cast real bullet 380 grains. load kicks like a .308 and drops elk in there tracks...

Thanks to all for the info, it sounds like good stuff. All my experience with larger caliber rifles has been a .54 caliber Green Mountain barrel with 1:70 twist. I've found that one to be very accurate over a wide range of charges, from 40 grains 3F to 110 grains 3F. All my rifle barrels have been slow twist and tolerance for a wide range of charges seems to be characteristic of the type. That's what I was taught decades ago, and it has seemed to be true. It seems obvious, contrary to what I was taught, that many guns with 1:48" twist will also handle heavier charges with good accuracy.

In 1989 I was invited to go with a friend and his friend, both smokeless hunters, on a moose hunt in Alaska. Pretty heady stuff for an eastern country boy used to shooting squirrels. In high anticipation of the trip I bought a Kodiak Mark III double rifle in .54. It is sort of designed for heavy conicals, so I worked up a load for the left barrel of a 425 grain Buffalo Bullet over 110 grains of 3F. Moose medicine. Before I finished working up a load for the right barrel I got word that my friend's friend didn't want a black powder shooter on the trip. Hecky durn. I put the rifle and the 2/3 box of Buffalo Bullets away and haven't fired it since. It's a fine rifle, and I've decided I'd like to use it in some of my deer hunts, but with round ball and more moderate loads. That's why I'm looking for info on loads for the 1:48" twist.



Our deer season opened today, will be in effect for 15 days. I hunt on my own small farm, in scattered woods lots. It wouldn't be good to be out there working up loads right now, might make Bambi nervous, so I'm hoping to get it done after this season but before the late muzzleloader season Dec. 11. So, talking is better than shooting, right now.

Spence

The loads you talk about will kill Elk easily. It doesn't take that much to kill a deer.

70 gr will knock them the manure out of them.

Capper said:

70 gr will knock them the manure out of them.

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Yes, I know, but if a little more is within safety and comfort limits, why not? It flattens the trajectory, extends the range and increases retained energy, what's not to like?

Spence