Is it really so???

[longcruise]

i can't count the number of times that I have read that the 54 is an ideal b8g game caliber. And, FWIW, the 54 is a big favorite of mine. One of the often cited reasons is it's favorable trajectory. However, something about that seemed suspect in that as round balls get larger the BC improves and therefore, given equal starting velocity, the larger ball should have the better trajectory

Sooo, I ran 4 ball sizes through a ballistics calculator with a velocity of 1700 fps. Turns out that the larger ball is better in the trajectory department but by so little that it's not going to be a factor in most situations. I'm going to guess that better trajectories are going to be more easily achieved with higher velocities.

 

[Sidney Smith]

More actual real world shooting will give you a better evaluation than number crunching on a piece of paper.

I never pay any attention to charts and graphs. They're most always wrong.

 

[longcruise]

You paid attention to this one!

 

[Tom A Hawk]

The 7.5 inch correction value at 100 looks suspicious to me. I lack a chronograph and therefore have no idea what my velocity is however my rifles zeroed at 60 yards are still dead on at 100. If you are able to re-run the .54 numbers based on a .530 ball and and a 125 grain powder charge ( perhaps 2000 FPS) , I would be interested to see the values.

 

[Tom Compton]

An over looked variable is the sight height above the center line of the bore. Given a .50 cal w 1” barrel and 1/2” high sight is 1” above center line and with 1/4” high sight 3/4” high. The two flight paths are different.

 

[Bob McBride]

...you guys and all your ‘carrying the one’, adding and subtracting in parentheses, and fancy ‘-th’s‘ on the ends of your numbers....

 

[longcruise]

The 7.5 inch correction value at 100 looks suspicious to me. I lack a chronograph and therefore have no idea what my velocity is however my rifles zeroed at 60 yards are still dead on at 100. If you are able to re-run the .54 numbers based on a .530 ball and and a 125 grain powder charge ( perhaps 2000 FPS) , I would be interested to see the values.

They are all large because the zero range is 150 yards.

An over looked variable is the sight height above the center line of the bore. Given a .50 cal w 1” barrel and 1/2” high sight is 1” above center line and with 1/4” high sight 3/4” high. The two flight paths are different.

Yes, there could easily be a case of a 58 with a sight height lower than that of a 50.

To keep it all on even footing, I used a setting of .70 above center line of the bore.

 

[tenngun]

I noted this some years ago looking at Lyman ballistic chart. The .54 just didn’t seem a big kick in the pants more then a .50
Hmmm
It’s not energy, it’s not size, if you miss it it ain’t likely to be hit .02 bigger.
Yet .54 seems deadlier on bigger game then a .50
Rifles made for the mountain men at the time of and just before the rendezvous period seem to have been mostly .50, then toward the end of the period .54. Did they need the bigger ball?
I’ve killed elk with a .54, would it have went down if I used a .50? Same shot?
I don’t know. Lots of guns sent to Hunt in the East when elk and buffs were to be found were .50. I seem to recall at least one of Boone’s guns being a .47
Sometimes I wonder if they needed bigger or if ‘two balls to the ounce’ made a difference.
If bigger was better why not step up to a .58? There were .58 plains guns during the mountain man period or just after but that .54 would remain most common. When the Mississippi rifle was made a few years after the end of the ‘voos it went with the .54 of the ‘17 and 03.
Makes you go hmmm

 

[Rifleman1776]

54 is a big favorite of mine

Then, the .54 is the ideal round ball caliber for you. Others will claim the .50 is ideal. I once read an article in which the author 'proved' the .52 was the perfect caliber.

 

[FishDFly]

Folks pick and shoot what they are comfortable with, that does not make them wrong.

"I never pay any attention to charts and graphs. They're most always wrong."

Could you tell us how they are wrong?

Seems Zonie quotes a lot from the Lyman book that he has.

 

[mooman76]

No such thing as perfect. There is best for you and to each it may be different.

 

[longcruise]

Well, the numbers are as correct as Point Blank can make them. I'm sitting in the kitchen watcging rain turn to snow so playing with numbers provides some entertainment. Maybe go start a shooting bag later.

 

[Walkingeagle]

I wonder if the mountain men started with a .50 and that same rifle, after refreshing the barrel, became a .54 by the end of the era?
Walk

 

[Intosomthin]

Im pretty sure, 45,50,54 58,63... if you put er in the boiler room, its going to be dead,deader, deaest, etc...

 

[GANGGREEN]

The ballistics, velocity and drop may be only marginally better relative to a .50, but the energy differential is substantial. There's nothing wrong with a .50 for deer-sized game, but a .54 has more killing energy and not just a tiny bit. I'm a fan of the .54, although I've killed more deer with a .50 and nearly as many with a .45.

 

[Frontier's]

With my usual load of 70gr 3fg with a 100 yard zero, Im 17" LOW at 150 yards. With my 54cal, its only 10" low. So no, the charts are not always reliable.

 

[Zonie]

Folks pick and shoot what they are comfortable with, that does not make them wrong.

"I never pay any attention to charts and graphs. They're most always wrong."

Could you tell us how they are wrong?

Seems Zonie quotes a lot from the Lyman book that he has.

The reason I quote a lot from the Lyman BLACK POWER HANDBOOK & LOADING MANUAL, is because I have it and it does give a lot of information about muzzleloading ballistics. By using their data I think the calculations and conclusions I make have some credibility.
That said, it does have several tables in it that don't seem to make a lot of sense when comparing them with similar calibers and loads a few pages away.

 

[ugly old guy]

Heavier ball = more energy delivered on/in target, regardless of distance.

That might be why some claim the .54 is "ideal" (note quotes).

Yeah, I currently shoot a .54. rifle.
Decades ago, I've also used .45; .50, and .69.
If I did my part and put the ball "in the boiler room" of a critter, I had meat to eat, using any one of them ... or putting an arrow in/through a critter's "boiler room", for that matter.

Current state gives .45 minimum for whitetails. .50 as the minimum for bigger than whitetail deer, and a few whitetail deer size critters, like mountain goat, big horn sheep, and mountain lion/puma/cougar, even tho the cat is smaller than a whitetail deer, when huntimg with a ML.
(the cat is also the only critter you can legally shoot with a ML pistol (not ML revolver) but only if the cat is tree'd.)
(license/tag for the cat is also required.)

I have a .54 because that is what a friend bought and gave me.
(yes. I was not expecting him to do that.)

 

[toot]

when a deer is hit in the ENGINE ROOM he isn't going to ask himself, I wonder what caliber was the slug that hit him was?

 

[Spikebuck]

Let's just say that all the numbers are correct. The missing variable in the discussion for the hunter/shooter is just how much more powder it takes to get a .610 ball moving at 1700 fps (or any equal velocity) vs a .490 or a .530, etc. not to mention the extra lead cost for a projectile that probably won't kill much differently on what most of us will hunt.

I have owned and shot every "normal" caliber from .32 to .62, but only 50, 54, 58, and 62 for deer. Personally, I have settled on the .54 as my favorite because it's relatively economical for powder and lead, as far as a big game load is concerned, is what I call a "100 yard deer gun" meaning if I sight in at 50 yards, I can still just put the sights on the lungs (maybe just a little higher up for long shots) and have a good killing shot, and it creates a big enough hole that my "color challenged" eyes have enough blood to see. If I ever get the chance to go for some larger game, like elk, it would be a good caliber for that too.

But that's just me. A friend of mine likes the .58 best and I can't disagree with his reasons. I've watched all of Brian Beckum's traditional videos and 99% of what he shoots is with a 50...and most of those deer never need to be tracked since they are DRT. It's great that we all get our choice.