.54cal smoothbore Turkey Load

[roundball]

Hoping to find some load info.
I've read where traditional loads for a .54cal cylinder bore smoothbore can be tinkered with to produce a pattern equal to that of a Full choke. (bare bore, no shot cups, etc)

I've spent quite some time & money over the years experimenting with a variety of powder charges, various wads(or not), using OS cards instead(or not), various shot charges, OS card(s), etc.
And while I've seen changes in patterns within that variety, I've never gotten anything even close to a Full choke result out of a cylinder bore barrel. (70% in a 30" circle @ 40yds).

Anybody else ever heard of this...know of such a .54cal smoothbore load...use such a load?

 

[roundball]

Yeah, no replies...I thought it was BS too, and is why I asked if anyone had heard of such a thing.

 

[TinStar]

roundball,

What is the best combo you have found out of your 54/28 ga. smoothie? Weather gets nice up here I will be getting out and trying shot loads with my 20 ga. Will be ordering a wad punch soon from Ohio Ramrod too.

TinStar
Soli Deo Gloria!

 

[sb 54 cal.]

roundball,
Still working with mine and only feel comfortable at 20 yrds. Am trying paper cups and different fiber wads to tighten pattern. Thought about 28 ga. plastic shot cups but know how it will act. if you get any more info let me know. Pappy

 

[Chris Hayes]

Roundball, I have a cva .50 with a 1" barrel my dad smoothed out to a .54 smoothie. Can you give me some tips on a good squirrel/rabbit load to start with? Would you try for a 30 yd shot at a turkey with yours?

 

[sb 54 cal.]

Came in after testing corn muffin mix and copper plated #5 shot 65 grain of each at 20 yards put 13 pellets in turkey head target best I've done so far to working with load. Only used 50 grain 3f powder. pappy

 

[roundball]

Personally, I would not try a 30yd shot on a turkey with any shot load I've been able to figure out...too iffy...25yds is my max.
And in reply to a couple questions about .54cal shot loads, I'll repost the info below.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
It's some hunting load information I’m sharing in case anyone can get any ideas from it.
Not "recommending" anything, only sharing what "I" use in my modern steel GM & Rice barrels.
DISCLAIMER - This is strictly an INFORMATIONAL post only
1>None of this may be new news to anyone
2>Its purpose is to share information that might be of interest to someone;
3>It is not being posted asking for agreement, approval, disapproval, etc.
4>If it’s of no interest to you, ignore it;
5>If it doesn’t apply to you, your equipment, your style, your location, etc, ignore it;
6>If you dislike or disagree with it, ignore it;
7>If you’d prefer not to see these kinds of posts, ignore them;
Just ensuring the purpose is clear...INFORMATION ONLY...take it or leave it.

My experience testing & hunting the .54cal/.28ga smoothbore has proven to me that it has a lot more flexibility with shot loads than I originally thought just from the typical discussions I've seen / read about on forums like this. Ordinarily the load data often repeated is nothing more than modern shot load information from a modern .28ga shotgun shell with its limitations of a 2+3/4" hull.

What I’ve learned underscores the old adage: "Little powder, more lead, shoots far, kills dead".
An associated finding in the field is that long shot strings are really beneficial to small stationary targets like a squirrel, turkey skull / neck vertebrae, etc.
Following that "Little powder, more lead, shoots far, kills dead" approach...with a strict eye towards avoiding any excessive pressure...I use the caliber’s largest weight lead conical as sort of a max payload guide, and I use FAR LESS powder so pressure is never an issue for me.

As one reference example, T/C's published load data has been around for almost a half century now, and their chart includes a heavy .54cal conical around 550grns with 120grns of Goex.
Using that as a guide, I use a 100grn measure of #5 or #6 shot which weighs about the same, and I only use 60grns of powder...(only 50% of T/C”˜s powder charge for their heavy conical).

One result is this .54cal/.28ga Turkey Load:
60grns Goex / Circle Fly 1/2" cushion wad / 100grn measure of hard #6s / 2 Circle Fly OS cards
3.5" tuna can at 25yds, 42" Cylinder Bore Rice barrel.

 

[Chris Hayes]

I understand your need for the disclaimer. And I appreciate your advice on the turkey load. I have yet to shoot the rifle we converted. It is a 1" barrel so I don't think pressure will be an issue. Thanks for everything!

 

[TinStar]

Thanks roundball.

So from I gather a smaller dose of powder means that with less pressure behind the load the less likely the shot will disperse rapidly after leaving the muzzle. The more powder the more rapid? or am I reading this wrong?

TinStar
Soli Deo Gloria!

 

[roundball]

That's the way I understand it...not an authority on anything, just speaking from my personal experiences at the range

 

[Lonegun1894]

My best aren't close to what my modern full choked gun does, but I can get patterns that match my modified choke at 30yds. Downside with those is that while they have enough steam for rabbit and squirrels, I'm not sure they would be enough for a turkey. I am still working on that though. I have gotten full choke pellet counts out to 40yds by using excessive loads of #6 shot along with very light loads of powder, but those were moving too slowly to be effective. And when I start increasing powder charges, the best I can get is modified decent pellet counts out to 30-35yds, but they start getting somewhat questionable for turkey use. I would take a shot at 30yds with them under perfect conditions, but not any further. I have tried paper and cloth shotcups, and have gotten everything ranging from blown patterns to slugs, so I need more practice and experimenting to get reliable results so I can maybe use those. Like I said, I can get relaible squirrel and rabbit patterns out to 30-35 yds, but my turley loads need a little work still. Right now, I trust them to 25yds anytime, and 30 under perfect conditions.

Thanks for the reminder that I need to get back to working on my turkey loads with #6 shot instead of messing with my swan shot loads with turkey season as close as it is getting.

 

[roundball]

I appreciate your candor and agree...have also experimented with some extreme loads at the range that make dense patterns on a piece of paper at longer ranges, but like you, concluded they were not reliable / effective hunting loads.

I guess the simple guideline is if a bare bore / no shot cup / cylinder bore muzzleloader could simply be manipulated to a full choke 70% pellets / 30" circle / 40yds pattern, with the appropriate energy for humanely taking game, there wouldn't have been much point in inventing the full choke.

 

[Lonegun1894]

Roundball,
Now just cause we know the facts, please don't let that stop you and me and anyone else interested from experimenting and attempting to break the laws of physics and everything else, cause we just might get lucky. As to the extreme loads, you can take a wind guess at how much shot this took just for giggles, but I have gotten equal pellet count impacts with my 32" GM .54 at 35-40yds as I get out of my modern 12ga on a turkey paper target, but I wont hunt turkey with a 20-30gr FFFg load. At the same time, I refuse to choke my MLs because I value the RB accuracy and loading ease more than I do the extra 10yds of range with shot.

 

[roundball]

Yes, that's the challenge, eh...balancing the sides of a triangle for the best package of penetration, pattern, and distance.
Enough powder to push the shot charge to get the velocity / penetration for the game being hunted;
The best pellet size & size of shot charge to make the pattern dense enough for the size of the game / target being hunted;
The combination of those that yields the maximum distance without having to give up penetration or pattern;

 

[roundball]

Came in after testing corn muffin mix and copper plated #5 shot 65 grain of each at 20 yards put 13 pellets in turkey head target best I've done so far to working with load. Only used 50 grain 3f powder. pappy

For what's its worth, years ago member DaveK mentioned a tip about using a steel food can as a rough gauge for penetration testing, actually mentioned 'tuna cans'.
In addition, when sitting on their sides, they only present a 3.5" wide target which also strikes me as a pretty handy size when pattern testing for turkey heads, squirrels, etc.
I've used them religiously for a number of years now and setting them up in 5 yard increments, when I get to a point where I started getting some dents instead of pass-throughs, I let that tell me my max effective range for a given load is 3-4yds less than the dented can distance.
Obviously not rooted in scientific precision but has worked well on turkeys and squirrels I've been able to take in the distance limitations identified by the cans.