.54 cal round ball on deer

[rawhide]

Ok I got a good old cva st.louis hawken in 54. I used to hunt elk with it. The load I used was 90 grains of rs and a cast 380 grain real bullet.do to bad neck and back I can no longer shoot this load. So I was thinking using it on deer with a round ball. Most shots at black tail deer here or under 100 yards. Was thinking like 70-80 grains of FFg a .015 pillow ticking patch and a .530 cast ball should be good. Or should I go with a hotter load?

 

[bender20]

In my experience that will be plenty. Have shot a couple whitetail with a .50 prb over 75 grains of 2f and have had no issues. Even had a through and through at 80 yards on a pretty good sized doe. Personally I am not confident enough in myself to shoot over 100 with it but I am confident that the load would do its job out to about 200.

 

[Flintlock]

I've only shot two Mn. size whitetails with my .54 longrifle, using 67 grains of FFG and a.526 roundball. One was at 70 yards the other at 30, both were dead in their tracks, neither took another step.

 

[wattlebuster]

The 54 ball will for certain an for sure get the job done at 80 gns. When I hunt with my 54 thats the load I use an it has worked quite a number of times with complete pass thru's over the years :thumbsup:

 

[nhmoose]

My .54 LRFL punched a RB through a bull moose in-out. dropped in 30 yards have a video of him standing with steam and blood out both sides and his nose wobbled and dropped.

Load was 120grians of 2f. I stopped using that load long time ago and have found 70-75 same powder works just as good without the recoil.

 

[hanshi]

I've killed two deer at about 100 yards or a little more. I used two different .50s and a prb. A .54 has even more muscle than that. You have nothing to worry about with that load.

 

[BrownBear]

My wife doesn't like the recoil of 80 grains in her 54, so insists on shooting 60 grains of 3f. She's never pushed a shot past 50 yards, but we've never recovered on of those .530's from a deer. Clearly they have lots of oomph left for longer shooting, but she simply hasn't tried it. Pretty mild shooter, even as it kills well.

 

[R.C.BINGAMAN]

I understand your situation with the load, I sometimes hunt deer with a 54 mountain rifle. The last one shot with this rife was a huge 9 pt. complete pass through double lung shot at 109 steps, 90 grains 3-f goex,530 swaged speer ball,15 thousands linen patch, Crisco lube. his mount now graces my wall. I would try 70 grns. and limit my distance.

 

[azmntman]

I kill elk with.54 prb and 80 so yer good to go :thumbsup:

 

[tenngun]

Just look at the ballistics data a .54 loaded with 120 grains 3f will get about 1800 fps in a 35" barrel or so. At 100 yards will slow to 1050 or so. An 80 grain charge will do about 1500 fps and will slow to a little more then 900. Fater charges won't buy you a lot down range. It will go clean through a deerbreaking ribs in and out.

 

[FishDFly]

Fater charges, huh.


?????

 

[tenngun]

Am I not pc? Should I say barritric, rotund,full figured? Or just larger? When I started this back in the 70s I tried to compare my .50 to a 30/30 and found it wanting. So I tried loading for bearbut I found it didn't pay off after about twenty five yards. At a hundred yards a 1000fps ball at the muzzle and a 2000 fps ball will be close to same velocity at hundred yards.
Supersonic and transonic decreases velocity in short range. Ball at or below sonic speeds keeps its velocity pretty well. So a 1400 fps ball and a 2000 fps ball hits about with about the same velocity at hundred yards.
Now faster ball will have less drop,lower midrange trajectory and less time in flight,and those can be an advantage. The deer just won't go ahead and stand still on the hundred yard mark. On the other hand should one shoot closer be holding on the heart and hit 2" high you end up with venison for dinner. Myself I found 60 in a .50 is plenty,80 in a .54 will even maker it really really dead,just as dead as 110 grains,almost as dead as 140 grains.

 

[FishDFly]

Fater charges, huh.

Still wondering, "what is Fater charges"?

Wife says poor typing skills???????????

 

[Black Hand]

Was thinking like 70-80 grains of FFg a .015 pillow ticking patch and a .530 cast ball should be good. Or should I go with a hotter load?

I shoot 70-80gr FFFg and a 0.530 roundball.

 

[tenngun]

Oh I'm sorry, :redface: missed your point I have mild dyslexia and my spelling skills are badly effect I can correct for it often but didn't reilize I had misspelled it. And your wife is right my spelling is poor,and my typing is worse.

 

[nhmoose]

Not to tengun, to the complainer.

Hard to respect anyone who can only spell a word one way :rotf:

 

[FishDFly]

We suffer the same problems, I am married to an English major, sigh.

rde

 

[FishDFly]

Not to tengun, to the complainer.

Hard to respect anyone who can only spell a word one way :rotf:

Not complaining, need to appear to have some education.

I can spell one word many ways, not correctly
all the time.

 

[azmntman]

We suffer the same problems, I am married to an English major, sigh.

rde

I married the local newspapers proof reader :shocked2: I stopped asking her to scan stuff for content as all I got was what looked like a second grade spelling test complete with red lines through several (many :redface: ) words

 

[tenngun]

Well you know 'ok' comes from newspaper editors putting 'Oll Korrect' on stuff they proof read, right?