Is Hornady doing away with the .54 great plains bullet

[Howie1968]

im down to about 6 boxes of .54 caliber Hornady great plains bullet. went to TOW and it said they are closing out that item. went to midway not in stock midsouth shooters supply doesn't even list them. all still have the .50 cal 385 gr. I have used roundballs both .530 and .535 out of my various .54 rifles but I like the performance better out of the 425 great plains bullet

 

[Howie1968]

I just talked to Jordan from Hornady, he stated they are discontinuing the .54 great plains 425 gr bullet. Guess I better buy up 4 of my .54s love them!!!

 

[renegadehunter]

I'd better do the same, my renegade really likes them too.

 

[rodwha]

Time to search out a mold and cast them yourself!

 

[renegadehunter]

I haven't ever tried any other conical in mine, the Hornady GP's were the first ones I tried and it loved them. It may shoot Maxi's or something well too. I don't see myself getting into casting any time soon. In the meantime I saw several boxes of GP's on the shelf just a few days ago so I'll go pick up several boxes. That'll last me quite a while since I only shoot them when late muzzleloader hunting for elk. More likely I'll just develop a little hotter PRB load and hunt them with that after the GP's run out.

 

[BrownBear]

Time to search out a mold and cast them yourself!

Lyman makes a mold that almost a spitting imaged in both 50 and 54 cal. Sad to say, they don't make it in 58. When Hornady dropped the 58 a few years back I dashed around and bought all I could find, but I think I'm down to a little over 2 boxes now.

 

[rodwha]

Lyman makes a mold that almost a spitting imaged in both 50 and 54 cal. Sad to say, they don't make it in 58. When Hornady dropped the 58 a few years back I dashed around and bought all I could find, but I think I'm down to a little over 2 boxes now.

Been a thinking of trying another conical other than the REAL in my .50 cal. Something I can cast. Ultimately I’d like something with a big meplat. Seems it would provide a better wound channel than a REAL.

Curious how much that .58 cal conical weighs and what the load and recoil must be like.

 

[Oregononeshot]

I haven't got around to trying conicals in my GPR yet, but I plan to once I develop a PRB load. I went down to my local store and they had 3 boxes!! I bought them all! If they don't work good, I'll sell them on here!

 

[CapPopper]

Lee makes what they call an improved Minnie ball the 50 Cal is 340 grains and will punch one big hole out of my rifle at 50 yards. They have a big meplat and hammer deer. That might be a place to look

 

[BrownBear]

Lee makes what they call an improved Minnie ball the 50 Cal is 340 grains and will punch one big hole out of my rifle at 50 yards. They have a big meplat and hammer deer. That might be a place to look

Those are notably good performers. You can't drive them as fast as a flat base conical, but you can sure beat the velocity limits of traditional minies for achieving flatter trajectories. Of course, when it comes to driving really heavy chunks of lead fast, your shoulder could well impose limits on velocity before that happens.

 

[renegadehunter]

I went to the couple stores in town that I normally find them this last Friday and found both sold out of them. Word travels fast. I then went online to TOTW and they showed them on close-out but in stock, so I ordered 4 boxes of them. That'll last me quite a while and gives plenty of time to find something else that'll shoot well.

 

[CapPopper]

Those are notably good performers. You can't drive them as fast as a flat base conical, but you can sure beat the velocity limits of traditional minies for achieving flatter trajectories. Of course, when it comes to driving really heavy chunks of lead fast, your shoulder could well impose limits on velocity before that happens.

I never chronod my load but I shoot 100 gr charge of pyrodex RS all I can say is if black powder guns had the same sharp recoil of smokeless I wouldn't want to shoot more than a couple lol

 

[Rat]

Bummer. My Plains Pistol loves them.

 

[user 29778]

Graf & Sons appear to have some in stock. https://www.grafs.com/retail/catalog/product/productId/6846

 

[toot]

I guess that LEE MOLDS in .530 RB. will be flying off of the shelf. as said, time to start running your own!

 

[artmechanic]

Been a thinking of trying another conical other than the REAL in my .50 cal. Something I can cast. Ultimately I’d like something with a big meplat. Seems it would provide a better wound channel than a REAL.

Curious how much that .58 cal conical weighs and what the load and recoil must be like.

I cast from a Lee .575 (Minie repro) and get a weight of ~33.9 - 34.5 grams (523.46 - 532.4 grains). I cast 10, take the average, and then stay within a close range of that weight.

Out of my Kodiak .58 double barrel I range load about 55 grains of BP or Hodgkins (adjusting my sight picture accordingly). I have loaded up to 80 grains, but did a paper test and found I was wasting powder...not to mention the kick was substantial.

At 55g the recoil is not an issue, even over a full day of shooting...but the difference between the feel of shooting a RB vs Minie is noticeable. I prefer the RB.

The difference in accuracy is minimal up to 100 yards, as long as I make the sight picture correction for each bullet.