.54 caliber conicals

[dwr]

Howie,

A little late to the thread, but FWIW one of the two cappers I own is the Lyman Deerstalker in 54 cal.

It loves the Maxi Ball bullet...hard hitting and very accurate, a real thumper.

I cast my own and use a wad underneath. I'll bet the Thompsons from TOW would be just fine.

I have tried the Great Plains, and they will do, but just not as accurate for me. I am somewhat of a accuracy fanatic.

They Maxi's also shoot well in my White Mountain carbine.

I have cast the REAL bullets, but the accuracy was just not there in either one. May have been my casting.

Don't think I have ever shot a patched RB in either, I save them for my flinter long rifles.

Like Brown Bear, I use the TOW mink oil for the Maxi's , works just fine.

Make lots of good smoke!

 

[AZbpBurner]

My .54 cal. flint Deerstalker is my 'Grapefruit Gun. Dad used to save me bags of the culls and when I got tired of squeezing & freezing gallons of grapefruit juice, the remainder went to the 100 yard berm at my range.

At 75 yards I can splatter grapefruit 100% all day using either PRB's or the Lee Improved .533" Minie's I've been casting for about 40 years now.

At 100 yards, 100% with PRB's, and opens up to a generous 60% hits with the Minie.

REally, when you tire of looking at the coolness factor of the big honkin' hollow base on the Minie, you'll realize that the RB has higher precision at distance.

 

[Cowboy]

At 75 yards I can splatter grapefruit 100% all day using either PRB's or the Lee Improved .533" Minie's I've been casting for about 40 years now.

At 100 yards, 100% with PRB's, and opens up to a generous 60% hits with the Minie.

REally, when you tire of looking at the coolness factor of the big honkin' hollow base on the Minie, you'll realize that the RB has higher precision at distance.

This really is a very cool post!

Love the description and the information you provided!

Respectfully, Cowboy :thumbsup:

 

[Howie1968]

Thank you men, im going to order me some .530 roundballs to try this week also, maybe even some .535 ive got 4 sizes of patches coming .010 .015 .018 and .020 . im not dead set against using round balls. the deciding factor is accuracy. i want to use a big heavy bullet but if a patched roundballs shoots more accurately then that will be my choice. A big heavy bullet wont do me any good if it wont shoot accurately

 

[excess650]

If 50 yards is a long shot, the PRB is what I would be loading. They work rather nicely in my .54 Grey Hawk (1-48" twist).

 

[nkbj]

Yo Howie!
Had a chance to work up any loads yet?

 

[Howie1968]

No sir, i havent gotten any #11 caps around here a local range was supposed to get some in however they never did. Im making an order thursday for caps and roundballs and some conicals. im thinking im gonna have to cast my own and give a serious look at the Lee real bullet as well. once i get the caps and bullets ill post a range report. thanks for checking in thats why i love this site people are friendly and helpful and always checking in on progress