.45 vs .50 vs .54

[Sidney Smith]

Both of my flint deer guns are in .54 caliber. I simply prefer it over a .50. No other reason than I just like it. And I like the fact that with even lighter loads the .54 still packs a wallop. I use 80 grains of 2fg on the range and in the woods. Hit right with this load and it's lights out for Mr. Buck.

 

[AZbpBurner]

Throughout the decades, I've accumulated several .50 & .54 cal rifles. Overall, the .54 is quicker & easier to work up an accurate load for, whether PRB or minie, and is more forgiving within a range pf powder weights.

 

[LuVerne Schumann]

I think you are looking at it wrong. You are having an early Lancaster built, which is a design that is pretty much idealized for .54 caliber. If you want a .50, I'd recommend a York County, and in .45 I'd like a Southern Mountain rifle or one of the other lighter stocked rifles. It's all about weight and proportion, in my eyes. So I vote .54 in a Lancaster for hunting. It would be well balanced and look right.

 

[oldwood]

Have a new rifle on order and cant decide on a caliber for the life of me. I will be chasing mostly whitetail with the (very) rare odd black bear or hog. Could you all pick which caliber youd choose and your reason(s) for doing so? Help a brain-stumped fella out. -Larry

Magungo.....One of the bear hunters regularly attending our camp had the distinguishing notation of killing the first black bear in modern Pa. history w/ a traditional flintlock rifle about 15 yr's. ago. He built his own Pa. rifle I think in .50 cal. for round ball. The bear he shot was around 400 lbs.. Perhaps the hit was questionable , because he tracked the bear all day and just before dark the bear limped onto patrolled posted property. Wanting to do things right , my friend went to the gated driveway , rang the bell and the voice on the speaker told him "no access". Since it was dark , he went home and called in reinforcements for the next morning. They decided to walk the posted property boundary as it went quickly over a steep mountain side into open huntable property.
They got lucky , the bear did what injured critters do , it went down hill and expired. Our hunter found the bear , a wrecker truck was called and the bear was winched out of the creek bottom , the rest is history.
To me , this story gives me pause to not want to use less than a .54 cal for bear as a minimum cal.. Maybe even a .58 . I once shot a five point buck w/ a .50 round ball , 80gr. fffg .. The 170 gr. ball entered the buck on the point of his left front shoulder breaking the bone. The ball passed diagonally through the buck and was found under the hide on the left rear ham. The ball was well flattened close to a quarter of a dollar size. The buck still ran 75+ yards.
Experiences like this tend to make me appreciate the next bigger caliber. I personally still use a .50 w/ 80 grs. FFFg. on Pa.deer. Low recoil , excellent accuracy are good reasons to use a .50..
Enough....we could discuss this for ever. Best of luck... oldwood

 

[user 43911]

There is that old story about hunting a bear with a partner, so I would suggest two weapons. One a 54 as the T/C slug carries 1000 ft. lbs. at 100 yds. with 90 grs. 2F. Sure it kicks, but better a little thump that chasing down a wounded bear. The second weapon a small 32 for your partner in case you miss and piss off the bear.

I thought you meant shooting partner as in a buddy to go shoot with that you can run faster than, when you tick off the bear.

 

[Sidney Smith]

One of the deer I killed with my .54 caliber Lancaster, still managed to run about 150 yards before it died. The shot was a complete pass through at about 40 yards. Even using the larger calibers doesn't always guarantee the game will drop in its tracks.

 

[SDSmlf]

Have more 54 caliber guns than any other, and have killed deer with everything from 45 caliber up to 62 caliber. Advantage of the larger calibers is that you can put a ball through the vitals from most any angle, plus have the option of busting up shoulder bones if you need to anchor an animal quickly.

Two holes more blood than one. Larger caliber more blood and shorter trail. I usually use the 58 and take at least one shoulder when hunting in Western NC mountains. A deer than runs even 10 yards may take all day to retrieve

 

[Crow-Feather]

I thought you meant shooting partner as in a buddy to go shoot with that you can run faster than, when you tick off the bear.

Naw, I meant a small caliber to slow him down, but not big enough to hurt him bad.

 

[tenngun]

One of the deer I killed with my .54 caliber Lancaster, still managed to run about 150 yards before it died. The shot was a complete pass through at about 40 yards. Even using the larger calibers doesn't always guarantee the game will drop in its tracks.

Nothing wants to die, and will fight it. Any animal can be the unusually strong one. It can run adrenaline when an other will lay down quickly

 

[Tinhorn]

I have 2 barrels for 1 rifle! My J. Browning Mountain Rifle.
Big one shoots .562RB= 270g. and 100g FFG, does 1500fps, Very accurate and balanced for easy sighting. Maybe 1/2 lb lighter than the .50. Not the heaviest load, but the most consistently accurate.
Small one is a .50, half the powder, 100g less lead, about 1200fps, nice target load, heavier barrel, holds OK. Heavy original .50 barrel it came with.
The big bore balances much better, I made it that way, tapered the barrel to the muzzle about 1/8" or more, 7 flats, left the bottom flat as is for the rib to silver-solder onto. Blended the flats for good looks. Taper starts after the nose cap on the stock. Looks OK, taper doesn't show, actually.

 

[Stumpkiller]

I've taken many deer with a .50 roundball, but my long-saved-up-for pretty nice flintlock rifle for whitetail is a .54

More than necessary is more often sufficient when things don't quite go to plan.

 

[Jäger]

I've lived most of my life on the Continental Divide where, depending on which direction I went after leaving home, I could be hunting Bighorn sheep, Shiras moose, grumbly and black bears, elk, mulies and whitetails within about an hour at the most. I am a casual muzzlestuffer hunter compared to most; my time gets equally consumed with long bows, my grandfather's 1895 Winchester in 30 U.S. fed a diet of cast bullets, and somewhat arcane centerfire rifles like 30 Newtons and 358 Norma Magnums. So I've shot a lot of stuff, but not a lot of it with muzzlestuffers. All my BP hunting is with conicals.

I got my .45 as a gift. I shot a big muley with it; good bullet placement, but my future suppers didn't expire as quickly as I expected and wanted. A guy I knew had a .50 that he felt kicked to hard, so we swapped. I shot a couple of deer with it and an elk; terminal performance was what I was looking for. And then I shot a moose and a black bear within a few weeks of each other. Performance on both did not leave me happy.

Bought a .58 because... well because. As most of my big game hunting at the time was with the .358 Norma Magnum, seemed to be logical. That rifle and I never got along; I think it hated me. And tune up shooting at gophers through the summer taught me I could probably throw rocks with a flatter trajectory.

So one last gun swap... a guy in town was determined to go to the Yukon and shoot a massive grumbly bear with a muzzlestuffer. He'd bought one of T/C's kit Hawken rifles in .54 that he hadn't laid a finger on yet; traded it to me including a combination mould that threw a round ball out of one cavity, a flat bottomed conical out of the other. Along with a simple T/C rear aperture sight; I put that on before I even fired it the first time... haven't taken it off since.

Been whacking gophers all the way up to moose with it ever since. Stupid accurate, and that flat bottomed conical has left everything I hit with it DRT. I am finding the recoil of the big conicals with maximum charges to be getting towards uncomfortable now that I'm getting into my senior citizen years. But there's no law that says I have to shoot maximum charges with heavy conicals either. And I only need to fire it once to get the desired results.

Anyways, as a casual enthusiast that has drifted back and forth between calibers, living where big game hunting is available, I've concluded that the .54 is it. You may not need all that thump; if so you can download.

However, the .54 fits the mantra I learned in the military: better to have and not need, than need and not have. In my casual experience and opinion, if you're going to choose just one for all hunting, .54 is it.

 

[hanshi]

I've never had a deer run out of sight or hearing when shot with a .45 or a .50. And that also goes for the .54 and .62 smoothbore. A good percentage of them were DRT. Robert Ruark said "always use enough gun". I'll just add that there's no such thing as "too much gun".

 

[oldwood]

All u guys are on the money. My hunting buddy and i have shot deer w/ most everything we could drag into the Pennsylvania woods. Both of us were competitive black powder shooters for many years , and could handle just about any caliber flint gun. In the 50 years we hunted together , and of all the many deer we shot , which was many , we only lost two total between us. The one I lost was due to a shot that perhaps I shouldn't have tried . Couple days later , I found the deer , but it was spoiled. We all do dumb things we regret.
oldwood

 

[MSW]

my next one will be a .58 .. with radius groove rifling … and a nice maple stock … with lots of curl … did I mention the curl?

 

[oldwood]

Cannon....We built my hunting buddy a .58 cal. back in late 1970's to hunt deer in Pa.'s new flintlock season. He was a big guy , and an overall better shooter and hunter than me , so who was I to question his choice to use 120 gr. ffg for the powder charge. At 100 yds. it printed well on target , but I was not dumb enough to fire that rifle due to the recoil. The rifle shot flat and the only deer he lost in 50 years hunting , was again , a shot he should have passed on. No matter where he was on the mountain , I could tell who shot as the sound was like a .300 win. mag. detonation. oldwood

 

[Tom A Hawk]

.54 round ball

Both of my flint deer guns are in .54 caliber. I simply prefer it over a .50. No other reason than I just like it. And I like the fact that with even lighter loads the .54 still packs a wallop. I use 80 grains of 2fg on the range and in the woods. Hit right with this load and it's lights out for Mr. Buck.

Regarding .54 "wallop...Here is a .54 round ball, 125 grains FF Swiss at 110 yards.

 

[Smokey Plainsman]

Just get a .54.

If you want less recoil, shoot a lower charge. A .54 will never shrink and you will not be wanting for power.

 

[Sparkitoff]

If your doing math and want a majority, here's another .54 caliber vote...