.54 caliber loads

[Griz44Mag]

I see the general wisdom is to use 2f in a .54, but I am seeing plenty of people that use 3f. How do your experiences compare between the two?

Your rifle will tell you which one it likes the best. I have a Pedersoli Frontier in 54 and it loves 70gr 3F with a .010 patch
My Lyman GPR insists on 80gr 2F with a .530 ball and an .018 patch.
Both have taken deer at 75-125 yards with complete pass throughs on broadside shots.
Take your time and work up your load, listen to what the gun tells you it wants.

 

[tedium27]

The .54 CVA Bobcat I use for deer and elk absolutely loves a Lyman R.E.A.L. Conical with beeswax and tallow lube, 100gr to 120gr of 2f black, dry patched between shots. It does have a shorter twist rate, but not that much shorter. You should check your twist rate, first. It will help you decide on a beginning place.

 

[megasupermagnum]

I see the general wisdom is to use 2f in a .54, but I am seeing plenty of people that use 3f. How do your experiences compare between the two?

Mine is a TC renegade 54 caliber. I tried multiple brands of powder in 3Fg, 2Fg, and 1Fg. The best in mine was Goes red can 1Fg.

My load is 90gr Fg Goex, two 1/8" felt wads (5/8" diameter), Carhartt duck cotton patch lubed with mink oil, and finally a hand cast .520" ball of pure lead.

The keys for mine was to compress the powder with the felt wads, and only seat the ball. Also cast ball, the Hornady swaged were equal at 50 yards, but no good by 100 yards.

 

[hanshi]

It has been many years since I last took my .54 into the deer woods. That last deer trek saw the rifle loaded with 110 grains of 3F, a true "flat stomping" load. But that deer was only 30 yards away and while it was a smack-down DRT, that load was totally unnecessary. Since then I've used only 60 grains of 3F and shoot only paper. But that load makes thumb size 6 shot groups at 60 yards. I wouldn't hesitate using that load on forest deer under 75 yds. I've had a long history of hunting deer with revolvers and consider muzzleloaders to be equal in the challenge department. If I were to hunt deer with the .54 I'd go to 70 grns with 80 grns being the top load.

 

[Cruzatte]

I see the general wisdom is to use 2f in a .54, but I am seeing plenty of people that use 3f. How do your experiences compare between the two?

Less fouling, and I can prime with 3f if I've forgotten my priming horn.

 

[ugly old guy]

What rifle?

I have a (factory) T/C .54 caliber Hawken
according to the manual 55 to 130 grains FFg is acceptable, shooting PRB or conicals, regardless of weight.

TC does not give loads using FFFg or Fg powder, and "recommends" FFg regardless of caliber.

80 grains FFg SWISS seems pretty accurate at the range. The one time I've been able to shoot it, the weather sucked, to be honest. (cold, rain/drizzle/sprinkles mixed with the white stuff) The folks I was with decided to leave before I could try heavier loads.

The lack of a vehicle and some unexpected health issues have prevented me from getting back to that range, to finish working up loads.

(the range has been closed because of the Covid-19 pan(ic)demic anyway. (not an "essential" business) Even if I had a vehicle, I can't go burn some powder and reduce my inventory of patches and round balls.) (just as well ... I can't afford powder, patches or balls for the foreseeable yet to happen, anyway.)

 

[Loyalist Dave]

so I just need a load that will give me good performance from around 150 yards and in...., no more than 125 or so on deer.

Well my flintlock with the 38" Colerain barrel shoots a .530 patched ball with .018 pillow ticking, using 70 grains of 3Fg. Farthest shot was 110 yards with open, iron sights, and the ball passed through the doe, broadside. It's a quite accurate load in the rifle when shooting from some sort of rest ; either from the bench or using a tree as a support. I prime the lock also with 3Fg. I use standard GOEX to hunt, BUT I understand that Graf & Son is now getting their brand of powder from GOEX, so I may use some of that in the future.

In my opinion the drop off of velocity from the .530 round ball is such that I'd work on getting the deer inside 100 yards. My 110 yard shot was on a rather large doe for my area, and I under estimated the range and too the shot.


LD.

 

[Tom A Hawk]

I will admit to being a fan of "magnum" power whether handgun or ML. I shoot 125 grains Swiss FF in my .54 Hawken rifles and appreciate the impact energy and flat trajectory. Here's a gallon milk jug at 110 yards.

 

[longcruise]

We still don't know enough about your rifle to advise specifically on loads.

 

[Bassdog1]

I bought a 54 TC Renegade from a forum member and got to the range with it today and shot 30 rounds using 80 grains of 2F Olde E. Tried loading with .016 compressed tightly woven linen and had to pound the ball down. Switched to .013 Compressed linen and loaded tight but doable. Had to soak the patches with either Hoppes BP Lube or mink oil for any accuracy at all. Tried a .010 patch but it blew apart. Am going to try bumping load down to 75 and perhaps 70 grains over the next few days and try to get a good hunting load dialed in.

 

[Griz44Mag]

I bought a 54 TC Renegade from a forum member and got to the range with it today and shot 30 rounds using 80 grains of 2F Olde E. Tried loading with .016 compressed tightly woven linen and had to pound the ball down. Switched to .013 Compressed linen and loaded tight but doable. Had to soak the patches with either Hoppes BP Lube or mink oil for any accuracy at all. Tried a .010 patch but it blew apart. Am going to try bumping load down to 75 and perhaps 70 grains over the next few days and try to get a good hunting load dialed in.

In both of the 54's I hunt with I run 70gr of 3f.
On the GPR I run a .535 ball with a .015 patch and the Frontier (Pedersoli) a .535 ball with a .010 patch.
Both have taken multiple deer and with a well placed broadside shot will pass through - leaving a huge blood trail.
the last deer I took was with the Frontier at a little over 100 yards. A nice heavy 8 pointer. The ball tore a bulldozer path through the heart, one of my favorite organs, and destroyed it.

 

[Tom A Hawk]

I have no experience with the TC Renegade. However, I will pass on my .54 loading secret that allows repeated, high end powder charge loading without swabbing, nor blown patches. It is the use of a 12 gauge, lubed felt, over powder wad. The wad accomplished two things. Since the wad is larger than bore diameter it folds around the bare end of the ramrod and scrubs the bore clean on the way down. On the way out, it flares and protects the ball patch from gas blow-by. As mentioned, my standard load in a 1" 1:56 + 1:66 twist barrel is 125 grains FF Swiss.

Caplock Hawken. 1:66 barrel twist, 100 yards. .530 ball. 0.015" patch. 125 grains Swiss FF. Mutton tallow patch lube.

 

[Bassdog1]

I will try some 3F and also try a felt wad over powder thanks for the tips

 

[Griz44Mag]

I have no experience with the TC Renegade. However, I will pass on my .54 loading secret that allows repeated, high end powder charge loading without swabbing, nor blown patches. It is the use of a 12 gauge, lubed felt, over powder wad. The wad accomplished two things. Since the wad is larger than bore diameter it folds around the bare end of the ramrod and scrubs the bore clean on the way down. On the way out, it flares and protects the ball patch from gas blow-by. As mentioned, my standard load in a 1" 1:56 + 1:66 twist barrel is 125 grains FF Swiss.

Caplock Hawken. 1:66 barrel twist, 100 yards. .530 ball. 0.015" patch. 125 grains Swiss FF. Mutton tallow patch lube.

View attachment 42162

So this is a one hole group of how many shots????
(Even a blind hog finds a truffle every once in a while)
LOL -just razzin' ya.

 

[Tom A Hawk]

So this is a one hole group of how many shots????
(Even a blind hog finds a truffle every once in a while)
LOL -just razzin' ya.

Why...there's 27 shots in that hole. That's my story and I'm stick'in to it.

 

[Griz44Mag]

Why...there's 27 shots in that hole. That's my story and I'm stick'in to it.

Here in Texas we start these stories with "Listen here, this ain't no ********, hold my beer and watch this!!!"

 

[Kansas Jake]

And as my grandpa said, first lier doesn’t have a chance.

 

[Sparkitoff]

I have five 54 caliber rifles. I was able to get to where I use the same load in all. Yes, some a a wee bit more accurate with a little more or less powder, or a different wad, but for one load that is acceptable for 100-yard hunting in all I hit it with 80 grains Goex FFFg, .018 pillow tick with 7:1 water/ballistol dried and a .530 Hornady swaged ball. Among all the rifles, they will all group under 2-inches at 50 yards and all but one will group 3-inches or less at 100-yards. 5-shot groups off the bench. Bear in mind they all have different barrels and lengths, and sights. The velocity ranges from the low of 1424 FPS to as much as 1735 FPS (again same load, different barrels). with 3F I can use it for priming and get reliable ignition, although two rifle do prefer 4F, they will prime and ignite quickly with 3f but not 2f. I got lucky that my favorite rifle and my most used rifle and the two best with this load. The others are more than adequate with it too. Like most everyone said, a load somewhere around there is going to put you close and you can tweak it as much as you want after that.

 

[Ben Meyer]

I worked up "the" most accurate load for my sons .54 cal flintlock. After lots of trial and error(3 different sized balls(.526, .530, .535), 4 different patches/lubes, 70-80-90gr loads) heres what shoots best:

80gr Swiss 2F, .535 ball and white joann fabrics cotton patching(.014 thick, compresses to .00325, see pic), drylubed with ballistol and water, mix is 7:1, cut at the muzzle. Sub 2" benchrest groups.

 

[YJake]

I have no experience with the TC Renegade. However, I will pass on my .54 loading secret that allows repeated, high end powder charge loading without swabbing, nor blown patches. It is the use of a 12 gauge, lubed felt, over powder wad. The wad accomplished two things. Since the wad is larger than bore diameter it folds around the bare end of the ramrod and scrubs the bore clean on the way down. On the way out, it flares and protects the ball patch from gas blow-by. As mentioned, my standard load in a 1" 1:56 + 1:66 twist barrel is 125 grains FF Swiss.

Caplock Hawken. 1:66 barrel twist, 100 yards. .530 ball. 0.015" patch. 125 grains Swiss FF. Mutton tallow patch lube.

View attachment 42162

I’ve got a .54 caliber punch and may try this. My round bottom rifled 1-66 twist Rice barrel shoots well with 100gr FFg/.530 ball/.020 lubed patch. However, I plan to hunt with it in a couple of weeks and don’t want to risk contaminating the powder leaving it loaded for several days.

Do you always use lubed wads? Ever try dry? What kind of lube?

-Jake