.530 or .535 round ball

[stevew]

Pedersoli recommends to shoot a .535 in there Hawken 54 cal. but I see a lot of guys shoot a .530 round ball in there 54's. what do you stand to gain or lose using one over the other?

 

[BigAl52]

Shoot both and let the gun decide. One size might be more accurate than the other. It will vary from gun to gun.

 

[stevew]

I have yet to shoot it. hope to get to the range sometime this week.

 

[Zonie]

The .530 ball will be easier to load. It might shoot more accurately too.

The thing with muzzleloaders is, each gun will have one load that shoots better than any of the other loads you try in it.
One gun might like a .535 diameter ball patched with a .015 thick cotton patch over a 65 grain powder load, while that load may shoot very poorly in another, similar gun. It might like a .530 diameter ball in a .018 thick cotton patch over a 80 grain powder load. (Most of my .54's like this one.)

This makes finding the best load seem like an impossible task but it isn't. Just choose one diameter ball and maybe two different patch thicknesses. Then take your gun to the range and try one of the patches with a 60 grain powder load by shooting 5 shots. Then bump up the powder load to 70 grains and try again.
Keep a record of the size of the groups.
After you get to 90 grains or so in 10 grain increases, switch to a different patch and try going thru the various powder loads again.

After you do all of this shooting, switch to the .535 diameter ball with the thick patch and start shooting with a powder load that is maybe 10 grains less than the best powder load your earlier test found. Then work up again to the 80 or 90 grain loads.

Somewhere in all of this you will find one load combination that outshoots all the rest.

Yes, it does take a lot of shooting and a lot of time but when it comes right down to it, it is a lot of fun.

Some folks will recommend changing the powder load in 5 grain incriments. That is, 60 grains, 65 grains, 70 grains etc but I think going in 10 grain incriments will get you very close to the best load. When you find the "best load" then try going 5 grains over and then 5 grains under that powder load to "fine tune" it.

Have fun.

 

[stevew]

Great advice Zonie, Thank you.

 

[griffiga]

Pedersoli recommends to shoot a .535 in there Hawken 54 cal. but I see a lot of guys shoot a .530 round ball in there 54's. what do you stand to gain or lose using one over the other?

I'm with Zonie, I seem to shoot better and load easier using a .530 ball with a bit thicker patch.

 

[mooman76]

Mine is too tight for a .535.

 

[rusty]

I use.526 balls in my .54 easy to load and accurate

 

[YJake]

My Rice barrel won’t load a .535 with almost any patch but will shoot a .530 with a .025 patch. My Pedersoli Kentucky will shoot a .535 or .530 with any patch up to .015.

Buy both sizes of balls and an assortment of patch material, the rifle will let you know what it likes best. If you’re lucky, it’ll shoot a variety of combinations accurately.

-Jake

 

[Lippy984]

I have a hard time (also lack of time) finding a thin enough, yet strong patch for .535. So for now I’m sticking with .530

 

[dragnetbill]

Pedersoli recommends to shoot a .535 in there Hawken 54 cal. but I see a lot of guys shoot a .530 round ball in there 54's. what do you stand to gain or lose using one over the other?

Pedersoli has a load data sheet on their website with recommended loads and ball sizes for their varios models; if you peruse it you will notice that it includes patch thickness recommendations, and that for .54 caliber they recommend 0.010 for a patch. You could try .530 and thicker patch material.
I picked up a Pedersoli Frontier in .36 several years back and that chart recommends a .354 ball and 0.010; well, with a supply of .350 balls on hand there was no way I was going to go in search of .354 balls so I just experimented with different patch thicknesses. As an aside the bore of the Frontier measured quite a bit different (larger) than the bore of my .36 T/C Seneca.

 

[LME]

Shoot both and let the gun decide. It will vary from gun to gun.

I have an older Ithaca Hawkins 54cal. and I shot both. If I kept the ball snug in the bore they both shot well. They do have a slight weight difference and this may change the elevation a little but I doubt you could tell a difference and as you get use to your gun it will be no problem, it wasn't for me?

 

[Hermanoshawken]

Hi. On my 54 Pedersoli Hawken Rocky Mountain, I use 0.530 and 0.535 equally. With the first with a 0.015" patch and with the second with a 0.010" patch. At 50 meters the accuracy is almost the same, using 55 grains of Swiss No. 3 black powder (2 FFg). At 100 meters if I think that the 0.535 ball is a little more accurate. The same happens with the Pedersoli '54 Mortimer rifle, flintlock, and always at 100 meters. Greetings from Spain. Saludos desde España.

 

[smokingoodtimes]

If I remember right Pedersoli on those rilfes use button pulled rifling so the grooves aren’t as deep. With a .535 and .015 or .018 patch you may find it’s to tough to load without a range rod and mallet so you may only be limited to .010 patches. I just got a Lyman GPR signature series which uses the same barrel and I have to play a around with this myself. The few shots I was able to shoot were with a .530 ball and using .018 and .015 patches. On a clean barrel both loaded fine but the next shot without swabbing was almost impossible to get down. Next time I get out I still have to play with .010 patches.

 

[tenngun]

IMHO there is not one best load for a given gun.
We go out to a range and play. Charges are increased in five grain increments different ball sizes and patch combos are tried till we find a load that shoots best... for us.
We stick with that, maybe experimenting with something different but we tend to go back to what worked best in our initial testing.
Let us say your best load is seventy grains g-o .015 patch and .530 ball with moose milk.
How will it shoot with little hotter Swiss. We don’t try since GO is cheaper, or we try 70 grains and it’s not as good, do we change ball size and patch combo and run the whole test again?
Most of us don’t
It’s my thinking that a gun will do equal with all sorts of combos we don’t find, because we found a best load, but not all best loads.
I may be all wet, because I found best loads for my guns but haven’t went all the way back to the drawing board to try all over again.

 

[rich pierce]

Let’s assume 3 rifle barrels have identical land to land measurements of .540.
One has wide lands and narrow grooves. It
needs a ball 10 thousandths under bore diameter, .530, unless you are range shooting, starting with a mallet, and using a range rod.

Another has lands and grooves of equal width. If hunting, you may still want a .530 ball but a .535 may work for you. On the range, it will like the .535 ball.

The third has narrow lands and wide grooves. This can use a .535 ball while hunting using a hickory ramrod without struggling. On the range it should also do well with a .535 ball, but a .540 may be even better.

If those making recommendations would note what their rifling looks like it would help folks looking for a load for their barrel.

 

[Marinekayak]

My Perersoli Frontier with 80 gr 2f and .535 with a 010 patch is very hard to load but at 50 yards make one ragged hole. With a 530 ball 80 gr 2f and the 010 patch is almost too easy to load but i can put three shots in the black of a 50 foot pistol target at 50 yards. Much better to load for hunting. Try both see what works. My next try is the 530 with 015 patch to see what happens.

 

[toot]

I have used a .530 RB, for all of my shooting needs, for over 65 years. works for me!

 

[jambuster]

I have had a Lyman GPR (Investarms built). I have shot .535 and .530 balls with different thickness patches . I can get both to shoot well . You just need to experiment . Seems like most people shoot a .530 with a .018 patch. I think that would be a good place to start. You might buy some .015 patches as well.

I might also mention I have mine set up for huntin and I shoot 110 grains of fffg Graff powder. I take no prisoners

The best thing is that you will be shootin your GUN!

 

[Stantheman86]

Pedersoli recommends to shoot a .535 in there Hawken 54 cal. but I see a lot of guys shoot a .530 round ball in there 54's. what do you stand to gain or lose using one over the other?

I use .520's from Hornady in my .54 Mississippi. Nice easy loading combo with .10 patches. The ball bumps up nicely.

I don't know if Hornady makes them anymore but I'll get a mould if I have to.