Point and Click Shooting - .58 Rifled Round Ball

[Rat Trapper]

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Not sure which conical but for a 525gr hornday that is 30gr over a max load with 2FF. That kicks like a mule with 90gr.


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Just for the record, I have used 120 grains of Triple Seven 2F with the Hornady 390 grain bullet in my TC Hawken 54 cal, and it worked just fine on paper and on deer. A little recoil is not to be feared in a good hunting rifle! A good shooter will know how to deal with recoil and it won't be felt while shooting at game.

 

[Mad Professor]

I shot a conical with 120 gr once outta my .58. Wont be doing that again. :shocked2: OUCH

Posted before, My pop shot a buffalo at 50 yds with the .58 and a PRB and it whacked him hard, three leaps and down. 80 grains. Elk are not built any tougher. I'd rather hit a nice cow in the boiler room with my 75 gr load all day that put a 120 grain load just outside.

Get to the range and start the process. If 120 is the magic number then so be it but I can tell ya I have killed many many elk with 75 grains. They taste good as if ya overtenderized em with 120!

Not sure which conical but for a 525gr hornday that is 30gr over a max load with 2FF. That kicks like a mule with 90gr.

How do you determine what a "max load" is in this case - directions from the builder, barrel maker or mfg???

Looking at breech pressures in the Lyman handbook, for 58 cal's, 32" 1:48 barrel shooting 140 grains of Goex 2F I find the following:

510 gr Lyman 575212 = 12,400 psi
530 gr Lyman 575611 = 12,200 psi
555 gr T/C Maxi = 14,400 psi
566 gr Lyman 575213PH = 13,200 psi

In comparison, a 50 cal Great Plains Hunter (32" 1:32) shooting 90 grains of 2F under a 370 gr Lyman Maxi generates 13,600 psi at the breech - 15,500 psi if you bump it up to 100 grains of powder and nobody would consider that "dangerous" or "over charged" (Lyman posts a max charge of 100 grains of 2F with a 420 grain maxi for the GPR in 50 cal).

I'm still not saying I would want to pull the trigger on it, but it doesn't seem to be dangerous from the point of view of potential barrel or breech failure...

Hornady lists loads on each box of great Plains Bullets, 90 FFg was the max. for 525gr 58.

I've shot LESS than their max loads with 425gr in a 54 that kicked the hammer back to full cock with a new nipple, I backed off 10gr more

P.S. the max load of powder tends to decrease as you go to bigger bullets. If I remember correctly the 54 had a max of 120gr and the 58 90gr. Pressure get big trying to move the mass of the bigger bullet.

WORK UP TO A MAX LOAD, never start close to it.
:thumbsup: :thumbsup: :thumbsup:

 

[roundball]

General information post to no one in particular...just introducing some established load data facts to the discussion:
Thompson / Center Arms has published their load data charts for almost a half century...page 80 of their manual shows the conical loads for the .54 and .58cal.

 

[George]

I respectfully disagree that one shot means much of anything from an accuracy perspective or even elevation appraisal.
Now three to five in the same minute of angle has some meaning and ten would be conclusive. I can assure you the random cone of dispersion from all influences will be a great deal larger in five shots! MD

You are right, of course. On the other hand, when the deer steps out, you only have that one shot. That's the one I took on that target. :haha:

Spence

 

[Sean Gadhar]

I respectfully disagree that one shot means much of anything from an accuracy perspective or even elevation appraisal.
Now three to five in the same minute of angle has some meaning and ten would be conclusive. I can assure you the random cone of dispersion from all influences will be a great deal larger in five shots! MD

You are right, of course. On the other hand, when the deer steps out, you only have that one shot. That's the one I took on that target. :haha:

Spence

Did ya skin it there & then? I think it looks so tacky when folks strap there target to the roof of the car & drive through town. :wink:

 

[roundball]

Did ya skin it there & then? I think it looks so tacky when folks strap there target to the roof of the car & drive through town. :wink:

MUCH more sophisticated now-a-days...LOL
(but I still avoid any towns / congested areas)

 

[Carl Fowler III]

That deer looks like it's taking a nap...how did you get it to do that? :wink:

 

[azmntman]

Stalk, shoot, gut, skin/bag and drag. Unless in wilderness like elk last Oct, then stalk, shoot, quarter (skin off, meat bagged) and pack.

I firmly believe the better meat is skinned immediately. I do know some that shoot it, drive up to it, rope it, drag in to camp, get drunk, pass out, wake up, gut it, drive it into town to show it off, drive it back to camp and hang it while drinking for days as others hunt then take it with skin on to butcher and wonder why it has dirt n hair in it and tastes "strong" :idunno: .

 

[roundball]

That deer looks like it's taking a nap...how did you get it to do that? :wink:

Slipped it a mickey...
( a.k.a. one of member 'oldnamvet's custom .40cal x 200grn REAL's )


I thought that one was a really nice, trim, healthy looking buck

 

[dave524]

Honestly, my experience with prb and hunting charges, a 100 yd zero , holding a 3 inch midrange and 6 inches of drop at 125yds is going to put meat in the freezer. The biggest problem past 75 yds is wind drift, a .50 will be moved about 1 inch per mph of crosswind at 100 yds, I'm betting a .58 could be off a foot at 125yds. with the same 10 mph wind. This came from trying shoot groundhogs with prb in hayfields long ago, range holdover was the easy part at longer range, it was the windage that was always tricky.

 

[BrownBear]

...it was the windage that was always tricky.

Amen to that.