Picking a caliber .50 vs .54

[AZ-Robert]

I'm thinking of getting a Lyman GPR percussion to get started with while I keep shopping around for a flint long rifle. But now I'm faced with the choice of caliber. I know opinions are varied and personal, but what are the pros and cons of .50 vs .54? What do you like about your favorite caliber? What do you not like about your less favorite?

 

[roundball]

I'm thinking of getting a Lyman GPR percussion to get started with while I keep shopping around for a flint long rifle. But now I'm faced with the choice of caliber. I know opinions are varied and personal, but what are the pros and cons of .50 vs .54? What do you like about your favorite caliber? What do you not like about your less favorite?

IMO, a lot of caliber selection has to do with what you're planning to use it for...if just target shooting, the .50 will be fine and also double for whitetails.

If you're mainly going to hunt, and hunt game larger than Whitetails, the heavier .54cal ball would carry more energy, out to longer distances than a .50cal ball.

If you're going to be getting two rifles pretty close together, then the pressure is off and you could get each in a different caliber.

BUT...another opinion:
once you get bitten by the Flintlock bug, there's a good chance that the investment in the percussion may go substantially unused in the closet...might want to think about that.

Enjoy!

 

[Bob J]

Love my Lyman GPR .54 :thumbsup: They say it "balances" a tad better than the .50. Well, it would seem to be a tad lighter with the bigger bore. Load it light for target/full power for hunting. Mines accurate with 60 grains 3f and 100 grains 3f (shoots well with 2f too).

 

[onefeather]

50 its a ell aroung gun

 

[Russ T Frizzen]

Without knowing your intended use, this is a tough question to answer. I guess if I could only have one rifle, and the choice was between a .50 caliber and a .54 caliber, I'd go with the .54. You can get equal velocities in either bore, but the .54 has over 20% more weight in its ball, yet the cost of firing the .54 really isn't much more than the .50. Put another way, the .54 will do everything the .50 will and a bit more besides.

 

[BrownBear]

I opted for the GPR 54, and no regrets. It does seem to handle better than the 50, and it's lighter to boot. I use mine with 30 grains of 3f for snowshoe hare, 60 grains of 3f for target and general plinking, and 100 grains of 2f or 90 grains of 3f for deer. Wouldn't hesitate to take it on a moose or elk hunt, but exposing my prejudice, if I had a 50 I would probably opt for a faster twist so I could shoot conicals for those. Or go out and buy a 54 to use instead of the 50 for anything larger than deer.

Others are perfectly happy with the 50 for larger game, but as I said, I'm prejudiced.

 

[WV_Hillbilly]

I went with .54 in the Lyman GPR and have never regretted the decision. I did so, 'cause I was tired of everyone's ".50 caliber this", and ".50 caliber that", and "look at what new bullet they made for my .50 caliber" and all the "blah-blah-blah-yadda-yadda"...

You've already heard some good reasons for choosing the .54 over the .50 I'll add this one too. I figured if I was ever restricted to round ball use only, I am getting another 28.6% more bullet weight than in the .50 That gives it more mass for the energy equation(s).

It doesn't used any more powder than a .50, and I feel the .54 is one of the most efficient and effective standard calibers. I shoot 50gr for target use and 90gr for hunting.

The gun will shoot as good as I can hold (or see), and anything within 125 yds or so is "mine".

I do ask this though... What caliber are you looking to get in your flint lock long rifle... probably a .40 or .45, right? Then I think you ought to definitely go with a .54 in your percussion Lyman GPR.

Shoot Safely!
WV_Hillbilly

 

[jtmattison]

.54
It'll knock the socks off just about anything on the continent.
Nuff said.

Huntin

 

[Smokin6Gun]

I perfer the .50 over the .54. I carry a Dixie Tennessee Poorboy .50 its a left hand convertable two locks Flint or Cap, came with a 41 1/4"bbl which I quickly cut & crowned to a 34" bbl 1-56. I compete in Silhouette Matches and Rodezvous shoots. Also use it for hunting, depending where I am and what I'm hunting I use either a single ball or double ball. And also carry and use a .50 Maxi ball which is half again as heavy as a .54 ball. I have no problem dropping or hitting anything I choose to. Personal preference, more versatile.

 

[CoyoteJoe]

The .54 is lighter than the .50 by about 2 ounces, anyone who can detect the difference must have a very sensitive touch, or great immagination.
The .54 carries more energy downrange, about 4% more according to Lyman's handbook if both are loaded with 100gr. of 3f. Anyone who can detect that difference definatly has a great immagination.
The .54 has about 20% more recoil than a .50 with the same powder charge. It doesn't take much immagination to notice that difference.
As mentioned, the .50 is much more popular and therefore you'll find a much better selection of balls and bullets in stock at most stores and, as obliquely mentioned, .50 cal. balls and bullets cost a bit less.
I've owned several of each and can see no advantage in anything over .50 cal. The best I can say for the .54 is that it is not much different from a .50, at least with roundballs. With conicals the .50 is way ahead since the heavier .54's produce brutal recoil if loaded up to decent velocity, that's why .54 is almost dead amoung the inlines.
:m2c:

 

[NORD]

Well shoot...I DO NOT want to start an argument here, and I have never confirmed this but I have been told by top national shooters that the 50 caliber has a tendency to be more consistent in target shooting, and 'they' wouldn't use anything larger then a 50 caliber muzzleloader for target shooting.

With that said I personally own a 50 caliber GPR and love it! I use it for target competition and for hunting. On a good day with no breeze I can drop round balls into a two inch group at 100 yards, shooting from a bench.

Now personally if you were going to use this GPR mostly for hunting I would buy the 54 GPR but if target competition was in my future I would go with the 50 caliber... :m2c:

 

[AZ-Robert]

Thanks for the great discussion (which I hope is not over!). I know much of the choice is personal preference (and the basis of hard-held opinion) but CoyoteJoe's post now has me wondering about the numbers. As I recently read, all muzzle loaders are 'reloaders' so I guess I have some learning to do about bullet weights, powder charges, and resulting velocities and energies. This hobby can trap your interest any number of ways!

Russ T. Frizzen wrote:

Without knowing your intended use, this is a tough question to answer.

Fair observation. I'll be using the GPR mostly for target shooting, but would like to do some hunting with it too. The biggest thing we have around here are Mule Deer that dress out at about 150 lbs or so. I guess the bear might get a little bigger than that, but I don't plan on looking for any of them. The deer I see are usually about 100 yds or closer when I spot them.

Given the slow twist of the GPR (1:60) I'm thinking it will be mostly patched round ball rather than conical or sabot, so maybe the availablity of a wide variety of projectiles for one caliber over the other is moot. But that is just my newbie ignorance talking - how does that slow twist handle the conical?

WV Hillbilly wrote:

I do ask this though... What caliber are you looking to get in your flint lock long rifle... probably a .40 or .45, right?

Pretty close to the mark - I want something between .36 and .45. If things work out, I hope soon to be the proud owner of a (new to me) .40 flint.

 

[NORD]

Pretty close to the mark - I want something between .36 and .45. If things work out, I hope soon to be the proud owner of a (new to me) .40 flint.

Good choice! The 40 still has enough poop to get out to 100 yards for target shooting...I might let you know that you might like a 45 caliber better for 100 yard targets though...if you will compete out to that range. :m2c:

Also the 45 caliber muzzleloader has enough power to easily take a mule deer if you are so inclinded.

 

Here are my personal caliber picks: 36, 45 and 54. I have a caplock and flintlock in each caliber, but the caplocks don't see much use anymore. In my opinion those three make for a nicely balanced battery of muzzleloaders for anything I ever intend to do. I hunt a lot, will in time shoot many matches again and one of those three calibers will do exactly what I need it to do when I need it done. As you fully intend to acquire more rifles you might consider those three calibers.

Obviously I opted for the 54 over the 50. Having used both calibers for matches and hunting I much prefer the 54. Ballistics aside, (valid arguments can be made for both calibers), I prefer the larger ball, (I only shoot PRB), velocities are quite similar, in a match that little bit larger diameter ball CAN make a difference, there is about 50 grs. more bullet weight, recoil at matches or for hunting is insignificant, ie, matches require many light loads and hunting should require only one heavy load and the economic difference is paltry. Unless you intend to acquire an in-line or a fast twist sidelock the paranaphalia available in 50 cal. is meaningless. All practical projectile choices in 54 cal. are nicely covered.

In reality I doubt you'd be displeased with either caliber. What's not to like about a 50?

Agonizing over such decisions is pleasant misery, huh!

Good luck!!

Vic

 

[Russ T Frizzen]

I wouldn't worry too much about recoil in a .54. We're talking about a half ounce ball here. I use 100-110 grains of ffg in my Hawken and recoil is not noticeable. I have a .62 caliber rifle that fires a 324 grain ball over 80-100 grains of ffg and recoil is nothing to be concerned about. This rifle weighs just over 7 pounds. Most every Hawken or plains rifle weighs a bit more and will soak up recoil quite well.

 

[Rat]

I think that any time you are torn between two calibers that are that close together, you will be more happy in the long run with the bigger caliber. It is more common to regret not getting the bigger caliber, than to say, "gee I wish this was a smaller caliber by just a hair".

Having said that, for your intended use, I think you could do a eeenie-meeenie-miny-moe and be fine. But if someday you get an unexpected chance to go hunt for bigger game than deer, you might wish you had picked the .54 over the .50.

Or not.

Oh well...go back to the first paragraph!

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Rat

 

[merdean]

OK Robert,
Here is the final word on caliber...get em all! I have .32, .36 for squirrels and we do have a lot in AZ. I have .45 and .50 that I use on various paper game. I sometimes carry the .50 for mule deer. I have a pair of .54's that I carry for elk and/or deer. So far, the only ones that have put meat on the table were .32, .36 and .54. Squirrels fall out of trees with the little ones, deer fall over with the big one. Have not gotten the shot at an elk in AZ and it looks like I won't. But, the .54 will pack more punch than a .50. So...GET EM ALL! Good hunting. (My next build will be a .40 just to round out the collection.) By the way, I use PRB for everything.

 

[roundball]

OK Robert,
Here is the final word on caliber...get em all! I have .32, .36 for squirrels and we do have a lot in AZ. I have .45 and .50 that I use on various paper game. I sometimes carry the .50 for mule deer. I have a pair of .54's that I carry for elk and/or deer. So far, the only ones that have put meat on the table were .32, .36 and .54. Squirrels fall out of trees with the little ones, deer fall over with the big one. Have not gotten the shot at an elk in AZ and it looks like I won't. But, the .54 will pack more punch than a .50. So...GET EM ALL! Good hunting. (My next build will be a .40 just to round out the collection.) By the way, I use PRB for everything.

.....and a .58cal round ball is a powerhouse...279grns...large frontal area...the .58cal has a very high Whompability Factor !!
:redthumb:

 

[Stumpkiller]

I've owned two .54's, and I just received another. I like it as an all around caliber - bunnies to whitetail. If I ever get a chance at moose or elk it will be a plus, but that's not why I got it.

Easier to load down a medium bore than load up a small bore. It don't take much to kill a bunny but a whitetail can absorb some punishment. A .530" ball is 28% more massive than a 0.490". I just feel better punchin a little bigger hole with a little harder impact. Call it insurance.

 

[Blue Smoke]

Well I've used .54,shooting Patch and Ball,pushed by 90gr. 2F,for the last 40 years,don't know how many Deer I've killed.I've only had two run.But not far.

Got a 50cal. Inline,use 240gr.Sabot,pushed by 100gr. 2F,been using it some the last 3 years,have not had a problem dropping a Deer in its tracks with it.

Only problem I see is if I run short on Balls and don't want to cast any,I can't just run into town and get some for my .54,where as I can for my .50

Blue Smoke