.54 projectiles

I know very little about black powder / muzzleloaders . . . and will be relying on you all for guidance! Will my .54 caliber T/C with a 1:48 twist barrel send a ball and a bullet equally well . . . or is one projectile preferable? I will be hunting mostly paper and rocks . . . but, want to be ready for elk season, too. Also, Hornaday makes a .530" diameter ball and a .535" diameter 'Target Ball'. What is the reasoning? Thanks for your advice!

 

[paulvallandigham]

That .530 Rounb Ball weighs in a 230 grains, which is a lot of lead. It will kill an Elk very dead all the way out to 100 yds, and beyond, with the proper powder charge. Stick with the round ball. The difference in diameters between the two offerings, and the reference to the " target ball" being .535 is that people shooting paper often want a very tight fitting ball and patch combination, one that has to be pounded into the barrel with a short starter. Fine for the range. Not exactly the best idea in the field, particularly if you are needing a second shot. Obviously you can take your time and load the tight fitting ball in the gun before you begin your hunt each day, but most would suggest at minimum carrying the smaller, .530 diameter balls in a ball block for reloading. If you can, try shooting both in your gun, and see which seems to shoot the most accurate for YOU. Then decide what you want on those occasional big game hunt. Most prefer using the smaller ball for hunting, but that means nothing. What you want to use is the most important. Some barrels prefer one ball size or the other, and that is why I am suggesting to you that the only way to really answer your question is for you to try them both out in YOUR gun.

In choosing patching material, it will help if you use an inside caliper to measure the groove diameter of your barrel. Then measure the bore diameter- the distance across the lands, to determine how deep the rifling is cut in your barrel. The patching is suppose to fill the groove on both sides, and be compressed by the lead ball. So, for example, if the groove diameter is .540, and bore is .530, using the .530 ball and .015 patching will fill the grooves, and also compress the cloth to hold the ball tightly to impart the spin of the rifling to the ball.

Get Dutch Schoultz's Accuracy system- see Member's Services above and go to the links to find his website. It will help you develope a load for your gun with a proper ball and patch combination. He also teaches you how to read your spend patches, so they tell you what is actually going on when your gun fires. A very well spent $15.00.

 

[BrownBear]

Each gun may be a little different, but in general terms that 1:48 twist should do okay with either. Based upon my experience with 54's it might do a little better with shorter conicals, and a slower twist might be a little better with RBs. It's a "compromise" twist rate between a 1:32 and a 1:66 in Lyman's two 54 cal barrels, for example. I suspect you can fine tune loads with either and have them work very well in a 1:48.

I can't speak for Lyman's reasoning behind the two 54 ball diameters, but I can say how it's translated for me. Some folks prefer thicker patches, while some like thinner. This lets you pick and choose for your own barrel. I've got one gun that loves the .535 with a .015 patch while hating the .530 and a .018. I've got another that shoots best with the .535 and a .010, but at target velocities. I don't know if it has any relevance in accepted fact, but I tend to like thicker patches with heavy hunting loads and tinner for target, so you can guess which gun I use for which.

 

[roundball]

I know very little about black powder / muzzleloaders . . . and will be relying on you all for guidance! Will my .54 caliber T/C with a 1:48 twist barrel send a ball and a bullet equally well . . . or is one projectile preferable? I will be hunting mostly paper and rocks . . . but, want to be ready for elk season, too. Also, Hornaday makes a .530" diameter ball and a .535" diameter 'Target Ball'. What is the reasoning? Thanks for your advice!

As one reference, my 1:48" twist TC Hawken 28" barrels shoot 100yd groups from the bench in the 1+7/8" - 2+3/4" with deer hunting loads...so call it shooting 3" groups at 100yds...easily accurate enough for deer & elk to 100yds.
My .54cal deer hunting load is:
90grns Goex 3F
Oxyoke prelubed wonderwad
.018" TC prelubed pillow ticking
Hornady .530 ball

IMO, the .530 ball is the "nominal size .54cal ball", and a .015" patch is the "nominal sized .54cal patch"...that combination should fit and work to produce "nominal results" in most any .54cal barrel manufactured, consistently convenient to load, etc.

Going to a larger ball and/or thicker patch for a tighter fitting combination that requires a short starter, if not a mallet to start, might begin to tweak accuracy for those interested in wringing the utmost accuracy out of a particular barrel, but that also usually means that every other aspect of loading and shooting a muzzleloader has to be very refined to consistently see noticeable differences in group size.

Or instead of going to a .535 ball, stay with a .530 ball and just using a thicker, stronger .018" pilow ticking patch, which is still OK to load for hunting and tightens group size as well, without going all the way to requiring a mallet and all that.

 

Thanks much for the info!