.54 Enough for Africa??

I was thinking about a plains game Africa hunt. Has anyone here tried it? How easy is it to get BP over there? Is my .54 enough rifle as far as PRB? 90 grns powder?
Thanks

 

[pmwest]

Check this out:

Hunting Southern Africa with Muzzle Loading Rifles
by Donald Malson & Don Kettelkamp

$2.00 from NMLRA

 

[saber]

a lot of S.A. people hunt with black powder I have a few S.A police buds that only use black powder but most like the new guns havey sabots lots of powder ect not realy flintlocks but then they are not on guided hunts with a back up gun ready to save there butts

 

[BillinOregon]

Smokie: Go to whitesmoke dot za (code for the Web site) in South Africa for all you want to know about hunting and powder availability there. Black is very hard to get, but they have a substitute there called Sannadex that even works in flintlocks. Wish we could get it here.
Your .54 will work on lots of the plains game species there, but will be light for the tougher stuff (eland, zebra, wildebeest) without perfect shot placement.
I can't wait to go back to Africa, this time with a muzzleloader!

 

Bill,
My main goal is a Kudu. Impala and maybe a Zebra if I can get a good package deal, still checking into that. Thanks for everyones replys.
Keep your powder dry!
Aim small, miss small!

 

[BillinOregon]

Smokepole: My brother and I each killed a nice greater kudu in Namibia in 2007, but with ca'tridge guns. Get close, aim small and your .54 RB will get you your bull, as they are about elk size.

 

[rkmeyer]

Wow that is a very special trophy Bill! :thumbsup: I can only dream of a hunt like that.
That is quite a rack! :thumbsup:
Dusty :wink:

 

[BrownBear]

No experience with ML in Africa, but I'll do some "inferring" for you.

I worked for a taxidermist while I was a kid in high school and the first couple of years of college. He made a month-long "antelope only" hunt and took something over 20 species including some in the books. I spent many looooong months helping him mount those heads and hanging on every word of the stories for each of them. Every single one was a 1-shot kill, but he was a heck of a hunter and superb marksman. His rifle of choice? A 30-06 with factory Remington 180's.

To the extent that the 54 cal RB is the "30-06" of the muzzleloading world to me, that's what I'd take. It's the right mix of power and flat trajectory. A ML will put extra importance on your hunting and shooting skills, but that's true on this continent, too.

 

[BillinOregon]

Dusty: Africa is more affordable thank you think, my friend. I highly recommend the experience.
If I were building a muzzleloader just for African plains game, I would consider a slow twist-barreled round-ball gun in .58 or .62. A friend in Canada recommends .66, or 16 bore as the do-all caliber for moose, griz, bison and big PG in Africa. I'd build the rifle with a generous English-style butt stock to spread out the recoil (which never gets really punishing in a round-ball gun) and point naturally.

 

Brownbear, I to worked for a Taxidermist for over 15 years, I miss it, but not the job to have if you love to hunt. I think I have the right BP rifle. It is a .54 38" one in 60 twist. With 90 grns. BP I believe if I can keep my shots to under 100 yards, I feel I will do well. As far as the range and whitetails, I can pretty much keep 5 RB within a dollar piece at 75 yds, shooting stix , not off hand. Not bragging and believe me that is nothing to brag about, I have seen others shoot, and they are incredible.
Aim small, miss small that is my attitude and has really tightned my groups.
Thanks again, and the home work begins to find a good hunt with some credibilty and hopefully someone of knowledge and understanding of BP.

 

Bill,
Beautiful Kudu, I have mounted many of them, now hopefully going to hunt one.
Congrats.

 

[BrownBear]

I think I have the right BP rifle. It is a .54 38" one in 60 twist.

Sounds right to me. Basically, anything I'd use a 30-06 on, I'd use a 54 on just as happily.

Long as you're mounting your own, I gotta tell you how this old guy mounted his kudu. He first saw it peaking out around the trunk of a tree, so he mounted it to peek out around his fireplace as you walked into his living room. All I can say is WOW. First thing you saw walking in the door, and you couldn't take your eyes off it.

That was his hallmark for his whole collection from many continents- he mounted them in poses that brought him back to a special moment with each individual animal. You can only imagine the 40+ Dall sheep mounted over the door of his den, head cocked and looking down at you, just as he saw it looking downhill at him at the moment of the shot. Still sends a little pucker down my spine to remember sitting in front of his desk with that sheep up behind me and staring down.

 

[tg]

There was an article in the second edition of the Black Powder Gun Digest back in the mid 70's that told of a trip taken by Turner Kirkland if I recall and they used guns from a 4 bore for Elephant to a lighter gun for the plains animals like you mentioned and I think they were using .50-.54 maybe .45 guns for these, these books can be found on Amazon and are well worth the price and are good reads from a time before the *&^-lines I think there were at least 3 editions thru the late 60's to the early 80's lots of good articles.

 

[hoochiepapa]

Nice kudu!!
I can only dream.

 

Sounds like a nice trophy room. thank you for all your input.
Aim small, miss small.