.54 GPR effective range...

[Herb]

Doesn't sound right, does it. Checked my chronograph book. My .54 32" Douglas barreled engraved Hawken with 120 grains of Goex 3F gave me 5-shot velocities of 1889 and 1855 fps, and eight shots averaged 1930 fps using different patches. 120 grains of the old Moosic, PA Goex 2F (good, high velocity) gave me 1730 fps the next group and 1776 fps. I worked up some loads in a .58 Hawken with a Bill Large barrel and the owner chose to use 130 grains of Goex 3F with a roundball, killed a humongous bull elk (at 30 yards).

 

[Katahdin]

Don't know as I would be as concerned with FPS as I would be LUP..Doesn't take much increase in Grains or FF toFFF and you get real close to having a real bad day!!!!!!!

 

[Billnpatti]

Who knows what he is talking about when he uses the word "effective"? :idunno: One thing we can say with relative certainty is that he doesn't know a whole lot about muzzleloading. :shake: No one in their right mind and with even a modist amount of hunting ethics would ever suggest a shot much beyone 150 yards with an open sight muzzleloader shooting patched round balls. :nono: Most of us who are experienced muzzleloader shooters limit ourselves to a maximum of 100 yards when shooting at game. Even if they are shooting conicals with their better balistic coefficients will not shoot at a live target beyond a maximum of 150 yards. I mean, you are shooting with open sights, for crying out loud. If anyone wants to shoot at live targets beyond 150 yards, they need to trade in their muzzleloader and get a nice .308 or .30-06 or .270 with a good 3X to 9X scope. If you don't believe me, go to this website and put in the values that they ask for and see what you think about your friend's idea of shooting at live animals at distances beyond 150 yards. http://www.ctmuzzleloaders.com/ctml_experiments/rbballistics/rbballistics.html Personally, I limit my shots to 100 yards because I want to make a quick clean kill and I know my .54 will do that safely out to about 100 yards. Beyond that, it is likely to make a kill out to a maximum of 200 yards but my eyesight is not good enough to even consider such a long range shot. Sure, you may read of people killing game or people at very long ranges but what you don't read is about all of the misses and wounded and lost game they made when trying such long shots.

Do not listen to your friend when he is telling you about muzzleloading, he knows not whereof he speaks. He is more wind than substance. Next time you have a conversation with him, be sure that you have one of these flags :bull: Hmmm :hmm: come to think about it, you may need more than one because if you wave it every time he is blowing the smoke of ignorance up your nether regions, your flag will soon become frayed on the edges. Just sayin'......

 

[Vaino]

As some of the posts state.....velocity is between 1800-1900 fps for my load and the pressure is a moderate 8300 PSI.

I used to sight in mostly CF rifles at our club's "deer hunter's clinic" and it was surprising to me how many hunters {shooters} were recoil sensitive. In other words...they were "flinchers". Many of these shooters couldn't handle the recoil of a .30/06 which in the scheme of things, is a moderately recoiling rifle.

Often wondered why some posters are concerned w/ minimum MLing cals for hunting various big game animals or prefer small cals....is recoil sensitivity the reason?

It's a given that if one is recoil sensitive, the larger cals w/ big loads wouldn't be conducive to even hunting accuracy.

By the way....my .54 cal "pet" load surprisingly doesn't have that much recoil which is borne out by the moderate 8300 PSI breech pressure.....Fred

 

[Katahdin]

In an effort to answer the original question.,,I would limit my range to 100 yards,,look at a deer/cow/horse, at 100 yards and that will show you the target is very small,,,,Plus if you can hunt, that helps if you can't shoot,,Get close is the part that "hunting" is all about or they would call it "shooting"

 

[matt denison]

look at a deer/cow/horse, at 100 yards and that will show you the target is very small,,,,

Yeah, no kidding. Ater years of hunting with modern CF with scopes I still remember the first time I drew down on a whitetail at approx. 100 yards with my brand new GPR (a long time ago...) I couldn't even hardly see the danged deer for the size of the huge sights. I might have been able to hit it somewhere but could never be sure where it would impact. I learned a good lesson that day. Effective range isn't all about the trajectory of the ball.

 

[bpd303]

My experience as well. I seriously doubt any of us could even see a target/game at 400 yards, without optics.

 

[mooman76]

I could see it if it was an open field. Shooting at it would be a whole nuther story.

 

[AZbpBurner]

Can't personally vouch for deer nor dairy cows, but at 100 yards, impact with my cast .54 PRB's cause grapefruit to violently disintegrate.

When grapefruit are out of season, little water balloons of the same size work well. At 100 yards they're not really that hard to hit.

Practice up a little, then challenge your buddy to a shootout. Fire first, just to show him how it's done. He'll likely be unsure of his rifle or skill enough to give you an edge.

 

[m-g willy]

I like your chart.
For the newbies they should take a look at bullet impact at 25 yards and at 100 yards.
Helps out when sighting in to know you can zero at 25 and be on at 100! .

 

[Mike Boettcher]

He asked me the effective range of the gun with PRB ...

In all seriousness, ask him what he means by "effective". Would he let you shoot at him at 400 yards with a PRB? :haha:

:rotf:

 

[don hepler]

I agree Semisans's chart, tells the story. Movies, like Quigley down under, and stories of Sharps rifles, have spawned a hunger for long range shooting. But movies and steel buffalo at 500 yards, is not ethical hunting. I've heard arguments about long range shooting, for years, but used to shoot competitively, and know the real world truth.

 

[George]

Where did you get the BC value in your chart?

Spence

 

[Billnpatti]

Your BC seems to be a bit off. The Lyman Black Powder Handbook & Loading Manual lists a BC of 0.075 for a .535 diameter ball. Using the formula ball weight/(10640 X ball diameter squared), I come up with a BC of 0.077. If you plug either of these into your program, what do you get for your external ballistics? :hmm:

 

[crockett]

If the mountain men wanted to "hold off" hostile NDNs they might shoot at them from 400 yards. If the mountain men were hunting buffalo by crawling up to them on hands and knees (wearing wolf ear caps) all the old diaries and journals spoke of crawling up to game animals at an effective range of 100 yards.

 

[Semisane]

Spence & Billnpatti, I don't recall where I got that BC. But I agree it's too high. Don't know why I never noticed that before.

So let's accept the Lyman Handbook figure of .075.

Here's what it looks like with a zero at 100 yards, and a zero at 115 yards.





And for comparison, here again is the old one with what's likely and erroneous BC.

 

[F.G. Ford]

The best way to calculate the effective range on your muzzleloaders, is to practice on door to door salesmen and polyticians. :shocked2:
It is better to keep those vermin high steppin'
You'd be surprised how far your smokepole can reach. :stir:
Fred

 

[Walks with fire]

Just my opinion of course but 125 yards would be as far as I would ever even attempt a shot at a game animal and then only if a solid rested steady hold and little to no wind. With a long conical and a ladder rear sight I would go a bit more if I practiced with it. BP and open sights is not for long range game hunting. Will it kill at long ranges; well yes but hunting is not sending Hail Mary's.

 

[don hepler]

The ball coefficient is different, from one chart to the next. For the calculator to work correctly, you must know the actual bullets coef. or it will calculate it wrong. I don't know which is correct.

 

[Loyalist Dave]

No one in their right mind and with even a modist amount of hunting ethics would ever suggest a shot much beyone 150 yards with an open sight muzzleloader shooting patched round balls

In fact one of the world's experts with the round ball, Captain Forsyth, wrote in 1867 that the very limit would be 200 yards, and only in open country, and he was also talking about very hot loads. He was in the top of the field, possibly the best in the world, and even he advocated 100 yards or less.

LD