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There have been many threads asking such questions as what are the ballistics of my .54, or what load should I use for deer, or how does my load compare to the good ol' .30-30, what loads did the old timers use, etc. Let me address the last first--old time loads. We have already seen the reports that lead/powder was shipped in a 2:1 ratio; allowing for priming, spillage and extra cushion, the max load for the old timers had to be less than half the ball weight (e.g., 178 gr .490 ball, load under 89gr max load--say 85 gr allowing for priming). Another old rule of thumb was to cup the hand and cover the ball with powder. Muzzleblasts Mag had a study in it in the July 2004 issue about this: it seems this load size is dependent on hand size--for an average man (today)the load derived this way fro a .54 ball is 70.5 gr ffg. The average man's hand was smaller in the old days. [for a .45 the load was 42.6 gr fffg.] Another old estimate was that the best load is typically 1.5 times the bore diameter (ignoring the decimel)--for example--for a .50 rifle, the load would be 75 grs. From everything I have read the old timers thought little about ballistics compared to us who are bombarded with it in modern days, but they probably had crude ideas about it and "loaded for bear" meant they charged up over their typical loads. The .30-30 literally means a .30 bullet powered by 30 grs powder. This little pill was the death knell for the older BP cartridges because of its 'flat' trajectory and killing power--yet today we think of it as obsolete and gunwriters tout all kinds of magnums. It has killed thousands (millions) of deer and is often the standard we use today as the 'minimum' 100 yd cartridge for ballistic comparisons--so it is fair to bring it up. It shoots rings around our roundball ML loads, folks, but other factors step in to save us. First, the .30-30 spits out a 170 gr bullet (cf to .49 ball)at 2200 fps MV. At 100 yds the .30 bullet is travelling 1895 fps and retains 1355 ft-lbs of energy. These 100 yd numbers are equivalent or higher than the muzzle numbers for even stout .50 ML rifles. For example, out of a 32" barrel, a .50 rifle (Lyman data)loaded with 90 grs fffg Goex has 1891 MV and 1427 ft-lbs ME, but at 100 yds the .50's roundball drops off to 464 ft-lbs energy, a third of that of a .30-30. Ballistics: for what it is worth category. Lets look at the popular .54 rifle. Lets say you can start the roundball off at about 1600 fps [for a 30" barrel that is about 100 gr fffg, for a 43" barrel it is about 80 gr fffg). For a .535 roundball (Lyman data) at 1600 fps MV, ME = 1307 ft-lbs; at 50 yds, V =1216 fps, E = 756 ft-lbs; at 75 yds, V =1074 fps, E = 590 ft-lbs; at 100 yds, V =980 fps, E = 490 ft-lbs. Drop from zero at the muzzle is 2" at 50 yds, 5" at 75 yds and 10" at 100 yds. zeroed at 50 yds, the ball drops 5" at 100 yds. A 10 mph wind will blow the ball off 10" at 100 yds. I could go on (get your own Lyman book 
). The .30-30 by the way, zeroed at 100 drops only 3" at 150 yds. Clearly the BP ML does not favorably compare to even the least of the modern deer cartridges when raw ballistics are used. So what? Our forefathers slew uncounted deer and larger game with reduced loads in their MLers. Millions of hides were shipped from the woods to the coast and to Europe. Clearly the ML roundball kills plenty good enough AT CLOSE RANGE with well-placed shots. Roundball has said part of it--the frontal area of a .50+ ball makes a big wound channel. In modern rounds, velocity is counted on to make a big wound channel with hydrostatic shock waves--but slower moving big caliber bullets can do the job (as the FBI pistol round tests proved) In fact we should compare most of out BP rifle loads to modern high power pistol rounds like the .44 mag to get similar ballistic results.
). The .30-30 by the way, zeroed at 100 drops only 3" at 150 yds. Clearly the BP ML does not favorably compare to even the least of the modern deer cartridges when raw ballistics are used. So what? Our forefathers slew uncounted deer and larger game with reduced loads in their MLers. Millions of hides were shipped from the woods to the coast and to Europe. Clearly the ML roundball kills plenty good enough AT CLOSE RANGE with well-placed shots. Roundball has said part of it--the frontal area of a .50+ ball makes a big wound channel. In modern rounds, velocity is counted on to make a big wound channel with hydrostatic shock waves--but slower moving big caliber bullets can do the job (as the FBI pistol round tests proved) In fact we should compare most of out BP rifle loads to modern high power pistol rounds like the .44 mag to get similar ballistic results.
