75 or 85 Grains?

[MFP308]

Ok now I've been thinking way to much. I leave in the morning to set up camp for elk hunting. This will be my first BP hunt. I'm carrying a GPR .54 loading .530 with .15 patch and 75gr of pryrodex ffg. My plan is to take no shot longer than 75 yards. 75gr enough? I haven't sited for 85gr but at 75gr I had a good group at 75 yards. Am I thinking too much?

Thanks

Mike

 

[Bob Gular]

Changing the load without resighting is never a good idea. Stick with what you know is accurate.

 

[44-henry]

Just my two cents, I killed a small buck the night before last that was broadside to me at about 90 yards. My load in my Browning mountain rifle was 110 grains of 2f Pyrodex behind a patched round ball. The performance was perfect and the ball punched through the shoulder and got stuck under the skin on the opposite side and was pretty much flattened out. The deer received the total energy from the load and dropped instantly.

Now, something to consider, this was a deer and I was using 35 grains more powder than what your talking about for your minimum charge. I personally think at 75 yards the 110 grain charge I use would be marginal on Elk, judging by the performance I just witnessed on that deer, which by the way, was near perfect shot.

 

[Russianblood]

Unless you get a chance to "resight" in your rifle with a larger powder charge at elk camp, stick with your sighted load and keep the shots to 50yds (or less) and you should be fine. 75gr of 2f Pyrodex does seem like a rather light load for elk though.

 

[Stumpkiller]

What they said. At this point better to hit where you aim with 75 gr than hit off the mark with 85 gr. You'll be off vertically with a 10 gr swing in powder.

 

[MFP308]

I had a feeling this was the answer. I might have time today to sneek out to the desert to shoot a few. I'll move up to 95gr and see what happens.

Thanks.

Mike

 

[oldwolf]

I think that you would need to chronograph these loads before you would really know what benefit the extra powder was giving you. You might be getting a lot more smoke, recoil and flash, but not that much more energy.

Also, limiting you shots to 75 yards is a good idea, and you may find your MV at that range is similar to the heavier load mentioned above at 90 yards.

 

[BrownBear]

I'd be comfortable with your load on the right shot. On the wrong shot even doubling it isn't going to make any difference.

More shooting is always a good idea, no matter what you end up stuffing down the bore for your hunt.

Taking your elk will depend more on where you put the RB than what you put behind it. Let that be your top priority.

So go on out and shoot. Shoot lots. And make a good shot on your animal.

 

[roundball]

I've lived by TC's published load data since 1990 and their listing shows substantial increases in both velocity and enegry for the .54cal right up to their published max of 120grns Goex 2F.
Since switching to 3F I use 90grns Goex 3F for my hunting load to keep the pressure in the same range.

Personally I think 75grns is too light to be going Elk hunting in a general hunting environment where you could be faced with a longer shot than that little powder charge is dependable for.

70grns is basically a target load if you consider TC's data charts for the .54cal run from 60-120grns...and you're going after an even larger animal than a whitetail.

If you can get out and shoot it before the trip, my suggestion would be to get a bag of Oxyoke prelubed wonderwads and definitely rezero the rifle with a wad over the powder and an honest 120grn 2F big game hunting load (90grns if you use 3F)

Good luck

 

[Idaho Ron]

I am with hawkeye, elk are big and tough. Limit your shots to 50 yards with a RB. Ron

 

[Blizzard of '93]

75 grs 2F is what I use in my .50 with a REAL slug, seems light in the .54.

 

[Rat Trapper]

I think you are loading kind of light for the size of what you hope to be shooting. I shoot my TC Hawken 54 at 120 grains with a Hornady 390 grain great plains bullet. If I was going elk huntng with patched round balls, I'd try to load it as heavy as I could and still get acceptable groups.

 

[DVanVorous]

Ok now I've been thinking way to much. I leave in the morning to set up camp for elk hunting. This will be my first BP hunt. I'm carrying a GPR .54 loading .530 with .15 patch and 75gr of pryrodex ffg. My plan is to take no shot longer than 75 yards. 75gr enough? I haven't sited for 85gr but at 75gr I had a good group at 75 yards. Am I thinking too much?

Thanks

Mike

75 is way too light for a critter that can weigh up to 1000 lbs on the hoof and tough as nails. Better to be in the 90+ 2f range as its more probable that you'll see them at 100+ yds than 75 and the extra ommpf wont hurt iffen you get a chance at 75... :wink:

Keep yer powder dry and good luck,
D.

 

[Bountyhunter]

That load is too light for elk. You are looking to wound one and then have it go off and die an agonizing death.

If Pyrodex RS is all you have to shoot, so be it. If it were me, I'd stoke that tube with 120 grains of Goex FFg and target it before I went out, even if I got there late. On big game I use 120gr of FFg and a 338 gr Buffalo Ball-et. She's tight in my .53 Santa Fe, with 66" twist, but they group about 3" at 100. If you are going to shoot the animal, you have a responsibility to kill it with the first shot.

 

[Rat Trapper]

I agree with that! :wink: