Question concerning 54 Cal.

My first post, I have just come across you folks and find these forums to be loaded with great info. I have been shooting and hunting BP, In-lines, for a couple years and now I want to move into traditional. I am pondering my first Trad rifle and have no model questions, will figure that out, but I do have a question about caliber.
On my new Trad rifle I want to go 54 cal. I am finding most online supplies (we do not have local shops which carry Trads) supply allot more 50 cal. bullets, round balls and accessories. My choice will be a rifle twist for round balls.
Now my most likely stupid question.. is the 54 cal. a dying breed. Will we not see 54 cal rifles in the near future or an I way off based? Also, out to 75 yrds, I hunt a pretty heavy wooded area, will the round ball do the job on deer size game?
In my in-lines I use the new fangled bullets with plastic...I want to get away from that.

Thanks from a Trad new guy. Joe

Lyman 54 cal deer stalker is a good one short and packs a punch 1 in 48 twist shoots either round ball or conicals.Any 54 cva or thompson ect, will do what you want.I buy lee molds and cast my own lead bullets.good luck you will find a rifle, 50 will kill them dead too.

The good ole round ball is my preferred projectile and is deadly on game.Lyman is the only factory mass produced m/loader that offers both [email protected] in their Rifles.T/C dropped the .54 cal option a long time before they discontinued their flinty,s all together.The .54 components are readily available in most shops that handle muzzleloaders and supplies.I wouldn,t let that stop you cause a bigger hole is nothing to sneeze at plus a .54 will have a higher resale value.If you don,t like to go out to purchase your supplies you can get all you,ll ever need from a click of a mouse.

Welcome to the Forum! :hatsoff:

Hardly a dying breed, .54 is one of the most popular calibers on this Forum. It will, and has, killed anything you are likely to hunt, and with roundball.

I am glad to see that you have repented the error of your old ways. :grin:

Richard/Grumpa

Welcome to the forum. I have both 50 and 54 cal rifles and preferred 54 for heavy brush when I hunted. I don't believe 54 cal rifles will disappear in our lifetime. There are fewer available since Thompson Center stopped production of traditional muzzleloaders, however as has been mentioned, Lyman makes very good rifles and lots of custom builders make most anything you could want.

Thanks Gents. Advice appreciated and 54 it is.

Now I just have to get used to not being able to take a breach plug out for cleaning.

Yes, I do like the old ways, especially as I get on in age, 60 next year, I am learning, life in the slow lane. A simpler life.

Joe

In fact it wasn't so popular years back or less so. It is much more popular than it used to be.

Welcome to the forum. Your gonna like it here.

I agree with the others. The .54 will be around for a long time.

It's .530 diameter 223 grain or .535 diameter 230 grain roundball will put the whammy on anything in the USA out to 100-120 yards.
Roundballs do tend to lose velocity pretty quickly but with a .54 cal, the size still has a lot of knockdown power.

If you like relatively light weight guns the Deer Stalker is fine and if you like your gun a bit heavier, the Lyman Great Plains Rifle is hard to beat.
As you say your getting out of the modern stuff, you probably do not want to get a Lyman Great Plains Hunter. It has a fast twist, shallow groove barrel that doesn't work well with patched lead roundballs.

As far as twist rates go, look for something in the 1:48 to 1:72 twist range.
Rifling groove depth should be at least .005. .010-.014 is even better at grabbing the cloth patch.

You'll want to use loose powder. Pellets work poorly in a sidelock gun.

If you use one of the modern synthetic black powders, look for Magnum #11 caps. Their hotter flame does a better job of igniting those powders than a standard #11 cap.
If you can get real black powder, the standard #11 caps work fine.

Have fun with your new/old rifle. Your going to love it.

The Deerstalker has always been unrerrated, mainly because of the historically incorrect rubber buttpad. I got one in .54 cal as a lefthanded flintlock. It's my grapefruit gun - used to get bags of grapefruit back when Dad had the grapefruity ranch near Tucson. I could only juice & freeze so many gallons of grapefruit before the rest started getting overripe.

At 100 yards a grapefruit presents a challenging target & when solidly hit, a .54 RB disintegrates it in spectacular fashion.

its why we cast I was told there was some ballistic equation where 54 cal edged out 50 and 45 on the range. Definitely in hunting. On whitetails the round ball knocks them down as well or better than conicals. I enjoy the PRB more than the conicals no real lead contact in the barrel.

If ya can just get one get the .54. You'll end up with a .50.45.36.32 12GA revolver etc etc. anyway :idunno: . A .54 is the place to start

good ole boy said:

.Lyman is the only factory mass produced m/loader that offers both [email protected] in their Rifles.

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Pedersoli offers all kinds of calibers including 50 and 54.

54 is my favorite caliber and a patched roundball out of one is very deadly.

Have been looking at the Great Plains, but the one with the 1 in 60 twist. I just want to shoot round balls.
Much appreciated to everyone.
Like I mentioned in first post, a heck of allot of helpful people here. Joe

Mountain Joe said:

Have been looking at the Great Plains, but the one with the 1 in 60 twist. I just want to shoot round balls.

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That's a real good one for a production gun. I have it in 54 cal and it is a real shooter. I like it so much that I bought another one in kit form in the same caliber. :thumbsup:

Lyman is the only factory mass produced m/loader that offers both [email protected] in their Rifles

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Actually you can get a Pedersoli made, Blue Ridge Hunter from Cabela's ON SALE in Percussion or in Flintlock and are available in .50, or they are in .54 with a nice, slow twist for roundballs.

LD

I see you live in NY. How far are you from Hamburg, Pa. Not too far from the big Cabelas, is the Dixon's muzzle loading shop. Probably find something you like over there.

Loyalist Dave said:

Lyman is the only factory mass produced m/loader that offers both [email protected] in their Rifles

Click to expand...

Actually you can get a Pedersoli made, Blue Ridge Hunter from Cabela's ON SALE in Percussion or in Flintlock and are available in .50, or they are in .54 with a nice, slow twist for roundballs.

LD

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Yep... I picked one up last year in flintlock and it shoots as well as my other rifles do. I think it makes 4 .54 caliber rifles in my possession to date and I wouldn't hesitate to get others as well.

BTW, I recently gifted a .54 caplock Hatfield to a young man who went to school with my boys and worked with me at the PD. He is ecstatic about it and I was happy to do it.

If your worried that you won't be able to get .54 ball then buy some extra boxes or get a mold and some lead. I don't think the .54 is going away soon. There may be less factory made rifles for it in the future but that's because they figure a .50 will do it all and it will.

My opinion is that the .54 is the best size for whitetail hunting and serves well for bigger game as well. The trajectory is good and recoil is modest with less than magnum charges. It hits deer harder than .45/.50's do. Hitting deer forwards a few inches of front leg will plain knock the stuffing out of a deer right quick.

Don't get me wrong a .50 is nice and you can get some pretty good velocity from it but the .54 is a better weight and diameter round ball for hunting in my opinion.

I think the .50 is a better choice for conical bullets and a faster twist .45 for paper patched is about as good as it gets. My flint .54 Deerstalker hits hard and handles much quicker with it's 24" barrel. Works great in a tree stand and stalking the heavy thickets I hunt. It's very accurate with most any load. The Trade rifle would be great as well. I have a spare Trade rifle barrel for my Deerstalker and it drops right in. I like the 24" barrel better though.

I've been there once with the wife, she was even impressed by that cabelas. Unfortunately it's a good 6 hrs from me. I'm in upstate ny, I just wish the local shops up here carried more than just the in lines but, I guess that's how they can make their money on bp.

Mountain Joe said:

I've been there once with the wife, she was even impressed by that cabelas. Unfortunately it's a good 6 hrs from me. I'm in upstate ny, I just wish the local shops up here carried more than just the in lines but, I guess that's how they can make their money on bp.

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As nice as it would be to have a specialized BP shop nearby, most folks don't have that luxury. Rather than spend time driving and $$ for fuel, I usually order stuff online from MBS, TOTW, or call Stonewall Creek Outfitters. There are other sources like Heritage Products, October Country, Crazy Crow and many others.

I don't know what NY's regulations on BP are, but I can have it shipped to my door by the case.