58 good and bad

[GoodRabbitPilgrim]

I've been keeping an eye out as well as proactively speaking with some people e.g. Jim chambers, about a rifled flintlock.

I would never part with my rocky mountain .54 caplock so I thought the next logical thing would be to get a 58 (I also own an inline and caplock 50). I just wanted a point of difference so I didn't have two of the same cal and end up using just one like I do with my 50s.

But what are the real pros and cons to a .58 over a .54? I've had the opportunity to buy a couple of .54s and have passed thus far.

I mostly hunt red deer which for arguments sake let's call elk size, I like the idea of having a good size ball for taking them on quartering to shots and such as I like to roar them in during the rut meaning that often frontal or near frontal shots are common.

I just want it to shoot point of aim at 100 yards and to be able to shoot minute of whitetail at that range.

Thinking logically I can see that a 58 would likely hit a bit harder but also drop a bit quicker. Recoil doesn't really bother me.

Any other considerations to swing me one way or another?

 

[Britsmoothy]

I use to shoot a .562" ball in .58 guns.
I didn't think it that big but then again I was used to fooling with .700 balls.

 

[Art Caputo]

I had the same questions. Giving the 58 cal a try, I ended up being pleasantly surprised. I shoot a patched .570 LRB with 80gr 3F. From a ballistics standpoint, aside from the noticeable energy/knockdown effect on deer, the larger ball impacts within an inch or so of my 54 cal out to 100-125 yards with he same, or slightly better wind drift due to the increased BC of the larger ball. With a 50 yard zero, my drop at 100 yards, within the vitals of a deer from 25-100 yards. I have found no difference in accuracy and the felt recoil difference is not that noticeable to me. My Kibler Colonial with the 58 cal GM barrel balances perfectly with the 58 cal barrel. Aside from fewer balls/pound I see found no downsides with this caliber becoming my go-to for deer hunting.

 

[Brokennock]

I've been keeping an eye out as well as proactively speaking with some people e.g. Jim chambers, about a rifled flintlock.

I would never part with my rocky mountain .54 caplock so I thought the next logical thing would be to get a 58 (I also own an inline and caplock 50). I just wanted a point of difference so I didn't have two of the same cal and end up using just one like I do with my 50s.

But what are the real pros and cons to a .58 over a .54? I've had the opportunity to buy a couple of .54s and have passed thus far.

I mostly hunt red deer which for arguments sake let's call elk size, I like the idea of having a good size ball for taking them on quartering to shots and such as I like to roar them in during the rut meaning that often frontal or near frontal shots are common.

I just want it to shoot point of aim at 100 yards and to be able to shoot minute of whitetail at that range.

Thinking logically I can see that a 58 would likely hit a bit harder but also drop a bit quicker. Recoil doesn't really bother me.

Any other considerations to swing me one way or another?

I'm just curious, why you don't want more than one gun of the same caliber?

 

[tenngun]

I'm just curious, why you don't want more than one gun of the same caliber?

For me if I have two guns in the same caliber I just end up shooting the one
I would say that on an American elk sized animal, I understand red deer are European elk and our moose is your elk . On that animal if you can kill it with a .54 it won’t be any more dead with a .58
That however is not the point. A .58 in your harem is a good idea if you don’t have one.

 

[GoodRabbitPilgrim]

I'm just curious, why you don't want more than one gun of the same caliber?

As I said I know myself well enough to know I would end up just using one of them. The other would be sitting in the safe taking up room. I've not fired my inline since getting my caplock 50, would hate that to happen with a good gun.

 

[Loyalist Dave]

I mostly hunt red deer which for arguments sake let's call elk size, I like the idea of having a good size ball for taking them on quartering to shots and such as I like to roar them in during the rut meaning that often frontal or near frontal shots are common.

I just want it to shoot point of aim at 100 yards and to be able to shoot minute of whitetail at that range.

Thinking logically I can see that a 58 would likely hit a bit harder but also drop a bit quicker. Recoil doesn't really bother me.

Any other considerations to swing me one way or another?

So the bullet will drop "more" ONLY if it uses the same powder load as your .54. It will start out slower with an identical powder load to your .54 because it has more mass, AND it has a larger diameter, so will have more air friction as it flies. The downward pull is the same on both round balls, but due to the long flight time because it will be moving slower than the .530 ball..., gravity will have longer to pull it down and thus... more "drop". SO... you'd simply give the .58 more powder and voila, you've compensated.

At the impact, the .570 round ball will give a larger hole, and with more mass, should penetrate deeper. This really isn't that much of an advantage, as most of us seem to favor broadside or shoulder shots. At 100 yards (depending on your load of course) I'd expect that .570 ball to go through a white tail or a red deer. A shoulder shot with the deer quartering toward you..., should drop it as if poleaxed.

So IF you want that .58... get it!

LD

 

[Old Hawkeye]

58 = GOOD!

 

[Juniata]

I was leaning towards a .58 but after giving it more thought, a .54 will handle big critters fine and I'll save lead.
I'm still not 100 percent decided tho.
I'm leaning towards a .54 now.
This thread may help me decide as well, who knows!

 

[Old Hawkeye]

I was leaning towards a .58 but after giving it more thought, a .54 will handle big critters fine and I'll save lead.
I'm still not 100 percent decided tho.
I'm leaning towards a .54 now.
This thread may help me decide ass well, who knows!

Depends, as they say. If you shoot patched round ball the 58 is better on bigger game. If you shoot heavy conicals the 54 has more choices & is adequate for anything on the NA continent.

 

[Nameless Hunter]

If you shoot a 54 with a muzzle velocity at 1800 fps and a 58 at 1600 fps, the drop at 100 yards (sighted in at 70 yards) would be -3.9" for the 54 and -4.2" for the 58 . The 58 would also add about an extra 90 ft/lbs of energy at 100 yards.
"Calculations" from the External Ballistics Simulator program.

 

[Grimord]

I hunted deer for many years with a .54 and had reasonable success. Most of the deer i shot with the .54 were broadside or nearly so and were hit either in both lungs or the heart. 80% of the time, the deer were able to fun off 40-100 yards before dropping. I hunt in very thick laurel, and tracking a wounded deer that has gone only 100 yards from the point of impact can sometimes take hours on hands and knees. I'm getting too old for that, so I switched to a .58. So far, the last 8 deer i have taken with the .58 have gone less than 10 yards from POI or have dropped in place. I am now a big fan of the .58 for that reason. I have noticed no change in accuracy between the .54 and the .58.

 

[olskool]

i have never had a 58 i am sure they are a great caliber. i have had a couple of 62 jaegers. my 54 is the most accurate rifle in BP form that i have ever used. it uses less lead than a 58 and it kills deer dead! the target was shot at 50yds offhand, and the deer was killed at 93 long steps. both shot with 80gr. of goex ol Esford 2f but i think a 58 would do the same just what i like,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

 

[hanshi]

Long, long ago I had a .58 but never used it on deer. Other than needing to be fed more of everything I think it's a great caliber for the largest game you'd be shooting.

 

[excess650]

If I were hunting elk or moose, I would pefer my .62. I do have a .58 in a stock to be built to replace the one I sold. My .58 was fed .562" balls and 80-100gr fffg Goex. The .62 gets .605" (325gr) over 100-120gr fffg Goex.

 

[jackpine54]

Plus the 58 has a higher whompability factor!

 

[GoodRabbitPilgrim]

The other option is to bore my rocky mountain hawken out to a .58 and buy a .54 flintlock.

I know I can get a .54 in a pedersoli frontier for about $1700, to get a chambers in the white here is likely to be between $2500-3000 my money. Getting the actual kit is a headache as we have 14 days to complete it legally in my state.

 

[Tom A Hawk]

I tend to shoot heavy charges and have been delighted with my .54 Hawkens and now Isaac Haines
The .54's have tremendous downrange impact and flat trajectory - but I just ordered parts for a .58 mainly because I don't have one yet.

.54 Caplock Hawken at 100 yards.

 

[rich pierce]

I’ve shot and killed deer with a .45, a .50, and a .58. My buck last year was shot with the .58 and the deer was very downhill and quartering more than I realized. Ball went in high on near shoulder, breaking a rib, through thenear lung, then diaphragm, liver, and stomach, exiting low close to the white of the belly on the far side. Altogether it traveled about 30” through the deer. I’m sure the .45 or .50 would not have done as well. A .54 may have. But if I was taking 125 yard shots I’d prefer the .54 for trajectory. I shoot 90 grains of FFG in my .58 and my .54. Both have Getz barrels.

 

[Historian]

Question? Why only 14 days to complete a kit build? Do the authorities come and check it out? That's crazy if they are that paranoid over a Flintlock or Caplock muzzleloader. Hope you find what you are looking for my friend. I am actually waiting on the Pedersoli SXS Flintlock 20 bore Rifle to make it over as I plan on buying one of those. Would love to use one on pigs.