.54 cal round ball larger game...

[JeffG]

As an extended discussion, how large a game can a .54 patched round ball effectively take? My flint smooth rifle likes a load of 100gr fffg with a circle fly fiber wad and a 530 prb. I get cloverleafs at 25 yards and 2" groups at 50.

If I limit my shots to 50 yards, can I reliably take bison,water buffalo(asiatic) nilgai, scrub bull, watusi?
Thanks for your input and real experience...

 

[wattlebuster]

No doubt it can but I would still want something bigger if possible for the big boys you are talking about. Big whole equals big blood loss

 

[Loyalist Dave]

Well .530 has been used to success on moose and Grizzly.

100 grains is pretty stout for a .530 RB, especially in 3Fg (have you tried the same load or perhaps 110 in 2Fg?). For the bigger guys you might try using a lead alloy instead of all lead, thus giving you extra penetration. You may have to go deep and retard bullet deformation to do that, especially with such a stout load.

Another thing to look into is shot placement on African and Asian big game. From what I've read, a lot of the big game animals from Asia or Africa have their vitals, especially the heart, a bit forward when compared to North American animals of the deer family. What that means is that when standing still, the forward legs tend to cover a portion of the heart (much more than North American cervids), and in some animals the whole heart. Which means you have to be more careful about your shot that you don't encounter that large, front, upper, leg bone with your bullet, especially with a soft lead projectile.

LD

 

[BrownBear]

A number of my friends and regular shooting pards are very well acquainted with the performance of 54 on larger game from their own shots, and in one case as a long-time guide. I pretty much skipped over the 54 in my infatuation with 58 caliber- not a reflection on the 54, rather the result of having a new 58.

Around here the 54 is probably the bore of choice for moose and certainly for elk. We have bison, and in fact the guide buddy sets 54 as the minimum caliber he will guide and is his own personal pick. No one I know has poked a brown bear with a muzzleloader in spite of opportunity, and they won't do it with any caliber. Thats more of a reflection of the frequent need for fast followup shots to avoid long tracking jobs in dense brush. The guide buddy is mostly a bear guide and even if you convinced him to allow it, you'd get the same thing as his occasional archery clients. With them it's TwangBOOM Nice shot sport as he lands a modern bullet in the bear a split second after arrow release. He'd land a 416 bullet or two on the bear before your smoke got in the way.

To a person though, guide and 54 loving friends, they use wheelweight balls on moose and bison. Just their reflection that even when shots look "broadside," they're often at a slight angle and they want max penetration even on non-perfect shots.

Rambling here, but my coffee is still soaking in.

 

[JeffG]

Thanks for the replies.
I'm not interested in lions, tigers or bears... :wink: More along the likes of hoofed critters. I haven't tested the penetration of my admittedly stout load. The point of shooting a soft lead slug hadn't occurred to me; that would be something to consider, thanks.
I also failed to mention that my back up-second shot would be my son-in-law with a 50 cal rifle flint; patched round ball.
The hunt I am considering soon is a watusi, The ranch has a few, they are ornery. I bumped into them hog hunting there. You want to stay clear!

It would be close to a safari, 150 acre open grasslands, surrounded by another 150 acres or so of woods. I already have tripod sticks made for the shot. Plenty of room for Murphy's law to raise its ugly head. But I am after a hunt, not a stunt; I want a good clean kill.


Watusi Group

 

[BrownBear]

The point of shooting a soft lead slug hadn't occurred to me; that would be something to consider, thanks.

Yeah. It's something I am still trying to reconcile. If there's a single reason to slow down a load for large game, it's soft lead balls disrupting at closer ranges and higher vels. My one and only recovered 54RB was launched into the neck of a good sized buck at 55 yards. Powder was 100 grains of 2f as I recall.

The recovered bullet is below. It took out about 3" vertebrae before coming to rest against the hide on the back of the neck. It's worth pointing out that since that event I've dropped back to 80 grains of 2f when using pure lead balls and never recovered another ball. Guys I know using wheelweight balls on larger game are all hitting or exceeding 100 grains for more penetration, but avoiding pure lead for the reasons seen in my photo.

 

[cynthialee]

Most interesting. As my targets are Bambi, coyote and the occasional chicken thieving bobcat such thoughts about penetration and lead purity never even crossed my mind.
So if I go shooting really big African beasts or Grizzly Bears harder bullets are in order....got it

 

[Patocazador]

If I limit my shots to 50 yards, can I reliably take bison,water buffalo(asiatic) nilgai, scrub bull, watusi?
Thanks for your input and real experience...

A few years back I contacted the King Ranch about hunting Nilgai with an XP-100 pistol in .358 Winchester. The fellow told me that they didn't allow pistols no matter what caliber they were due to the toughness and spookiness of Nilgai. He said they only accepted rifles that could reliably take one at 200 yards.

The conversation with him was for free-ranging animals. In a high-fenced game farm they would be more lax, I'm sure.
This doesn't answer your question about the power of a .54 PRB but I doubt the King Ranch would allow it.

 

[JeffG]

Thanks for the replies. I'm going to start with watusi. More controlled conditions. I'm setting up to cast wheel weight balls. I will range test them against the commercial soft balls I have, for penetration and such. I'm using a fiber wad between the powder and the patched ball, so a stout load isn't burning or blowing the patch. :hatsoff:

 

[BrownBear]

I'm setting up to cast wheel weight balls.

Just remember that they're going to come out of the mold slightly larger than lead balls, and might require a slightly thinner patch.

Sounds like you're on the path to lots of fun!

 

[coloradoclyde]

Questions like this amuse me.... :haha: ...Considering the measly .22 LR has killed every animal on the north American continent.

 

[cynthialee]

Questions like this amuse me.... :haha: ...Considering the measly .22 LR has killed every animal on the north American continent.

yeah but I wouldn't recommend it

 

[Black Hand]

Questions like this amuse me.... :haha: ...Considering the measly .22 LR has killed every animal on the north American continent.

Putting an animal down is more about shot placement and less about the size of your bullet...

 

[JeffG]

I'll remember, I'll post a range report.
:thumbsup:

"Putting an animal down is more about shot placement and less about the size of your bullet..."

Always! I am big on getting the range time in before the hunt...

 

[JeffG]

Ok, update: .54 caliber smooth rifle. Load was a .530 ball, a .010 or .005 patch on top of a 1/2 inch fiber wad and 100grs FFFG. 42 inch barrel.

I did some very unscientific tests at the range for comparative performance. Lined up on a bench, in a straight line from the shooter, was a 1 gallon water jug, a scrap of berber carpet, a 2x4 and 5 more jugs. The soft lead ball, as advised here, did not perform well. It went through the first water jug, through the carpet scrap and gouged, but did not penetrate the 2x4. Not at all what I would want to shoot at a 1000lb animal.

The wheel weight ball went through the jug, carpet scrap, and 2x4, and into but not out of, 1 jug. This was at 20 yards. Test after test show a bad habit of straying off course after the first jug.

Conclusion: Although the harder wheel weight ball showed some better performance, I am not satisfied with the performance with a 1000lb animal. I feel that a rifled gun would perform much better; some of the shallow penetration is due to the gun not being rifled. Deer, hogs and some larger game, sure, but not BIG game.

Thanks for reading. :hatsoff:

 

[Eric Krewson]

I shot about a 110lb deer in the upper shoulder with a 72cal pure lead round ball out of my fowler. The only deer I have shot with the gun. I was using 100 gr of 1F, the distance was about 25 yards.

I expected the ball to blow a daylight hole through the deer but I didn't get an exit wound. It took another shot to the neck on the downed deer to finish it off.

 

[BigBoreBLR]

I use 54 on deer. I'd be tempted to use a 62.

If you're going for game that big, I'd buy a hardness tester.

If it was me, I'd try a conical. I'm not sure if they seal well with harder lead. I don't use them.

 

[Sean Gadhar]

The wheel weight ball went through the jug, carpet scrap, and 2x4, and into but not out of, 1 jug. This was at 20 yards. Test after test show a bad habit of straying off course after the first jug.

Conclusion: Although the harder wheel weight ball showed some better performance, I am not satisfied with the performance with a 1000lb animal. I feel that a rifled gun would perform much better; some of the shallow penetration is due to the gun not being rifled. Deer, hogs and some larger game, sure, but not BIG game.

Thanks for reading. :hatsoff:

As I understand it you did water rug wood water. If the rug is to represent skin it seems a vary hard test to ask the ball to expand in water and THEN penetrate the rug.

 

[hanshi]

The last deer I shot was with a .62 flintlock smoothbore. And there was no awesome wound to show for it. What WAS awesome was how the large doe jumped straight up and CRASHED straight down and without moving another step.

But the vast majority of deer I've killed with .45s and .50s left awesome, and sometimes gruesome, wounds; the "daylight through a hole" type. I've even seen fist size gobs of tissue stuck to a bush where the ball exited.

A big ball, .62 & up, does kill well at low velocity and seldom expands that much. Rifle ball is generally faster and DOES expand; often incredibly.

 

[nhmoose]

I have had no problem killing moose with a 54 Round ball and have never recovered a ball from any big game.