hunting load ?

[kevin beers]

Question ,I hear guys say that they load their mls with a hunting load to hunt with.In my 54 cal tc I shoot 90gr with prb.Now my gun shoots very tight at 90gr and I know that when you work up a load for your gun you add 5gr shoot,5grshoot untill you achieve a tight group.My thought is that if you go above what that load is ,the so called sweet spot your groups start to spread out apart making the gun less accurate.Am I wrong? I know I am wrong a lot just ask my wife LOL !What I am getting at is I hear guys say that they use a hunting load 100gr or more but I would think if you use too much powder then it would at some point strip the riflings especially in a 1-48 like mine.Do you guys use a stiffer charge or stay with like 90gr what is accurate?......Maybe Im thinkin too much! LOL

 

[reddog]

90gr in a .54,,,most likely kill whatever you hit with it...

 

[excess650]

I would hunt with what was most accurate in MY rifle at my anticipated or maximum distance. Yeah, a 1-48" may like a lighter charge than a slower twist, but 90gr in a .54 should get the job done. I'm only (?) loading 100gr ffg in my .58 and .62 with PRBs, and don't feel under loaded.

 

[Stubert]

I took a doe last year with a .62 1-66 flinter, I was only using 80 gr.2f. It took out a rib going in and came out the center of the off shoulder. PLENTY of power, 340 gr. ball

 

[crockett]

I'm not sure the heavier loads will produce less accuracy but with the round ball the heavier powder loads might not push it that much faster- you are just burning powder- and the rapid velocity drop on a round ball, once again the heavier charge might not make that much difference. That 90 grain load is a long time standard that- as stated- ought to kill most animals if properly placed and at a reasonable range.

 

[BrownBear]

My "go to" hunting load for all my 54's is 90 grains of 3f. It's so consistent about producing good accuracy that I always start there, planning to adjust the load if necessary. Haven't needed to use a different charge yet.

I like it for two reasons. It just slaps the snot out of game inside 100 yards where I do my shooting. And, even though I'm sure I could get away with less powder for killing, it gives me a better trajectory for my needs than I get with smaller charges.

Boil it down, and it's a dandy hunting load in terms of power, and it shoots flat enough for easy 100 yard shooting. That's an inch high at 50, dead on at 75 and around three low at 100.

 

[BrownBear]

...if you use too much powder then it would at some point strip the riflings especially in a 1-48 like mine.

Spread that rumor on your garden and you'll grow really tall corn.


The whole beef about 1:48 twist is mallarky. You need to realize that those super accurate Hawken rifles that started grabbing all the attention nearly 200 years ago had 1:48 twists.

If there's a legit beef about 1:48, it comes from the shallow rifling in TC barrels. They need a little tighter patch maybe, but there isn't going to be any stripping due to the twist rate.

 

[nchawkeye]

90 is plenty, I use 80grs of FFF Goex...When I started with my .54 twenty plus years ago, I started with 120grs of FF...I later went down to 100 and now I'm shooting 80...

There are 4-5 good reasons I can think of as to why not to shoot heavy loads...

1...Many don't realize this but the faster you push a round ball the faster it slows down...That large frontal area creates a drag...So you aren't pushing it that much faster, it might start faster but it also slows down faster...

2...Lead is a soft metal, by pushing too fast you can actually get less penetration because it flattens easy and doesn't penetrate as well when flattened...

3...More powder means more fouling in the barrel...Over half of black powder isn't burned so you'll have more left in the barrel as you increase charges...

4...More powder means more smoke and more recoil...

5...More powder also burns patches faster...Sure, with the proper ball/patch/lube/overwad combo this can be remedied but frankly in most situations more powder isn't needed...A deer can easily be taken with 70grs FFF Goex and a .530 ball...

 

[roundball]

For deer hunting in thick woods where my shots are 50yds or less 99% of the time, my .54cal deer load has always been 90grns Goex 3F and devastating on deer.

I used 90grn charges in my T/C 28" x 1:48" shallow groove barrel and my T/C 32" x 1:66" deep groove barrel.
At 100yds benched, both barrels kept everything in 1+7/8" to 2+3/4" groups.

All the negative stuff about shallow groove 1:48" twists is just BS...and typically its just people repeating what they've heard without a bit of actual hands on experience with the subject

 

[Trench]

If your rifle likes 90gr and you can shoot it accurately all the time, then by all means use it. After some real-life experience hunting and playing with loads, I came to find out that I personally do better with lower-end charges. I've only killed two deer since I'm a fairly new deer hunter, and I've never used more than 60gr of 2F to kill a deer with either my .50 or my .58. I found a decent combo at 90gr for my .58, but I guess I was too much of a recoil flincher to put it to much practical use. :idunno:

 

[Flash Pan Dan]

I agree with what has been said by my esteemed fellow shooters. I have shot 120 grain loads through my 54 and have gotten more than adequate groups to kill a deer, in my case that would be Blacktail deer, but my tightest groups were shot with 85 grains of 3fg. When I might only get one shot during the season, it gives me that warm and fuzzy feeling to know I have the most accurate load in my rifle.

 

[CoyoteJoe]

Question ,I hear guys say that they load their mls with a hunting load to hunt with.In my 54 cal tc I shoot 90gr with prb.Now my gun shoots very tight at 90gr and I know that when you work up a load for your gun you add 5gr shoot,5grshoot untill you achieve a tight group.My thought is that if you go above what that load is ,the so called sweet spot your groups start to spread out apart making the gun less accurate.Am I wrong? I know I am wrong a lot just ask my wife LOL !What I am getting at is I hear guys say that they use a hunting load 100gr or more but I would think if you use too much powder then it would at some point strip the riflings especially in a 1-48 like mine.Do you guys use a stiffer charge or stay with like 90gr what is accurate?......Maybe Im thinkin too much! LOL

I totally agree with shooting the most accurate load but I would not assume that heavier loads are less accurate, you have to try them in your own rifle to know. I had one .50 caliber which shot best with either 60 or 120 grains. The 60 grain load was great for target shooting and general plinking but I felt it was a bit marginal for hunting so that rifle got 120 grains. I also had a .54 which produced it's best groups with either 70 or 140 grains so 140 it was, even though recoil was downright nasty. :haha:

 

[Mike Brooks]

I hunt in Iowa. Most shots are 50 to 70 yards or less.I shoot what ever load shoots the most accurate. For years I shot deer with a flint 20 bore shooting 60gr 2ff and a bare ball. Never failed to shoot all the way through a deer. I doubt the ball was going more than 950 fps.
I once sighted in a .62 for a customer that was convinced he had to shoot a 140gr load. :youcrazy: I found that 95 gr shot best and sent it off to him. He shot the 140gr load any way then bitched because it didn't shoot well. :idunno:
In my experience, it doesn't take a fast moving ball to put down a deer. Western hunters that shoot longer distances may want to find a flatter shooting load, but here in the midwest it just isn't needed.

 

[jerrywh]

In my opinion you are correct. I am rather suprised that your best load is as high as it is with a 1 in 48 twist.

 

[tg]

I have always favoured accuracy over velocity 70-90 gr 3f is what I have used in guns from .54-.62 and not in any particular sequence as to charge and calber but with accuracy as the determining factor.Many like to have the extra range of a heavier load even if the accuracy is not quite as good for the "once in a life time Buck" but he will likley stop by just out of range of any gun you take out, even a 300 mag centerfire

 

[hanshi]

...if you use too much powder then it would at some point strip the riflings especially in a 1-48 like mine.

Spread that rumor on your garden and you'll grow really tall corn.

The whole beef about 1:48 twist is mallarky. You need to realize that those super accurate Hawken rifles that started grabbing all the attention nearly 200 years ago had 1:48 twists.

They need a little tighter patch maybe, but there isn't going to be any stripping due to the twist rate.

I agree. Load tight, hits right.

 

[rabjr]

I feed my .54s 90 gr of powder which is very accurate and so far deer have proved not to like it at all.

 

[Rifleman1776]

strip the riflings

What these well meaning but uninformed friends probably mean is the ball/patch might strip from the rifling as they travel through the barrel with heavy charges. I have heard this a lot but do not know if it actually can or will happen. But, what I do know, is that accuracte charges can be quite finicky in larger bores with a (relatively) fast twist like 1:48".
However, your "sweet spot" charge will kill the deer real ded, no doubt. Don't change a thing.

 

[crockett]

I've been shooting BP over 40 years and gone way up on charges and then back but as far as the rifling stripping the patch/ball- I've never heard of it and I don't think that is an issue. The excess charge and fouling is very valid- on really heavy charges you might have to swab between shots to reduce the fouling enough to ram down a ball without much trouble.
Thanks about the higher round ball velocity just causing a faster velocity drop- that is what I was trying to say, in essence that putting in a heavy charge doesn't really mean a round ball at one hundred yards is going to be traveling any faster or hit any harder than with a 90 grain charge- maybe a little faster- but very little. You're just wasting powder.
Most of us probably started out with modern firearms and bullets, we worry about velocity, foot pounds of energy, soft points, hollow points, bullet sectional density, and all sorts of ballistic stuff and then when we shoot black powder we tend to apply the same logic to a soft round ball and black powder.

 

[762subsonic]

My hunting load is also my target load. My .54 groups great with 70gr of 2f and drops whitetails with ease.