powder for a .54???

[mainiac]

Was wondering how many people shoot fff powder in there .54,,instead of ff?????

Gonna have a .54 here,in the near future,,and was wondering if i should buy ff,,or fff for it.
Thanks,,,

 

[YoungGunner]

I shoot triple seven fffg out of my 28" CVA Hawken and it does quite well. When I get a chance I will shoot ffg just to try it but for the time being fffg is all that I have and it does me fine

 

[BrownBear]

Between my wife and I we have six 54 cals (I know, we're nuts). All of them shoot very, very well with 3f, whether Goex, Pyrodex or 777. Two shot about as well with 2f, whether Goex or Pyrodex (but don't like 777 2f). Other folks report better luck with 2f.

If I was guessing and spending your money I'd start with the 3f, then move on to 2f if that wasn't working out. Others will reverse that recommendation based on their own experience.

In either case, your rifle is going to tell you which it really prefers.

 

[Semisane]

I shoot mostly GOEX FFFg out of my .54 Great Plains and .54 Green Mountain barreled TC Renegade, as well as my .58 GM barreled TC Hawken.

 

[robtattoo]

Since I got my .54 barrel for the GPR, all I've shot is the FFF I have on hand. It would seem, however, that no matter what load I try, what patch tickness & lube I use, it simply does not like the stuff. I'm hoping I can score a pound of 2F from a guy here in Tullahoma in the next few days, so I can see whether it will tighten my groups up.

 

[Tom Compton]

I found FFg more consistant in .40, .50 and .54s.
TC

 

[saber]

I have 6 54 cal long rifles and each is it own some shoot fff best and some shot ff just as good I would work the best ff load up you can and then try fff and see which one workd best my 54 cal smooth rifle shoots fff the best out of its 46 inch tube with a patch ball will shot a raged 5-shot hole at 50 yards with 90grs of 3f God Bless

 

[Otter]

I only have 3 - .54s :wink: and have shot Goex 2f, Goex Ctg, Goex 3f and Elephant 2f & 3f in them all. Mine seem to prefer the Goex 3f over the others, so that's what I shoot in them. As several have said, in the end your rifle will let you know what IT likes best. That's what you should use . . .

Get a pound or two of both 2f and 3f and listen to what your rifle says to buy more of.

 

[rawhide]

I myself shoot FFFg goex pyro clean shot 777 my loads for the cva cap hawken is 60 grains FFFg .530 ball .010 patch. same gun hunting load is 80-90 grains 380 grain cast lee r.e.a.l. bullet. the blue ridge likes 60 grains of FFFg same ball and patch.

 

[William O.]

I have used both and here's what I found out about my particular rifles. My .54 likes 2f no matter what, it just won't group well using 3f, Goex brand. Now, my .50 cals both prefer 3f, especially the fast twist barrel, Goex again.

 

[necchi]

2f or 3f,,

The absolute BEST powder I've used is Dry :thumbsup:

Always have good luck with dry powder,,,

 

[Ft. Jefferson]

3f for round balls and 2f for conicals.

 

[Little Wattsy]

Id go FFF.....

 

[jtmattison]

I have shot 3f out of all of my .54's but found them all to be tough to develope a consistant load. I switched to 2f and they all shoot much better groups.
It's a matter of personal taste. I feel much more confident with 2f. It seems that slight variations in charge do not effect accuracy as much with 2f as it does with 3f.

:2

HD

 

[luieb45]

In my .54 flinter I use 3f as the main charge and for priming. I tried shooting 2f but it didn't work any better and maybe even worse. Plus it fouled the gun up horribly.

 

[buttonbuck]

in my 54 cal renegade 2f for conicals 3f for roundballs give me the best accuracy for goex for the graff and sons powder 3f hands down.

 

[paulvallandigham]

Fouling is not caused by using 2Fg powder in a .54. Inadequate chamber pressure causes increased Powder residue. That is due to using the wrong diameter ball( too small, or too hard lead alloy) or too thin a patch and lube with the ball in the barrel.

This can be a "tricky " issue when working up a load for a given barrel, as molds from RBs come generally in .530, and ,535. There are not any " In-between" sizings of molds unless you have one custom made. Its important then to use CAST, Pure Lead balls in your gun, as the pure lead upsets in the barrel faster than the harder alloy lead balls will. If you are using Swaged lead balls, almost all of them are made with antimony in them, and they are much harder than pure lead balls will be.

I shot my .50 caliber rifle with the same .490 ball, and .015" thick patches, with very good accuracy, for many years. However, I was given a bag of .50 caliber Vegetable Fiber Wads( TOTW has them) and found that when i used a wad as a "Firewall", MV improved, SDV dropped considerably, Chamber pressure rose, causing more complete burning of the 2Fg powder in the barrel, leaving no more residue than when I was using 3Fg powders when working up loads for the gun originally. POI also rose at 50 yds by almost 1 inch! to my surprise.

I can deal with the POI by reducing the amount of 2Fg powder I use in my rifle. The lower SDV simply means the gun is more accurate, and I have fewer excuses for any " miss!" :shocked2: :blah: What I found to be wonderfully unexpected was the felt decrease in BP residue in the bore, when I cleaned the barrel after each shot( my habit). Even the amount of "gunk" on my dampened cleaning patches was visibly less than when I used the same Ball/patch/lube combination, Without the "firewall".

i am going to try a .495" diameter Cast Ball, again, and I am going to use some .018" patching I already have to see if I can get similar BP residue results without using the wad. The Swaged RBs I tried 30 years ago were simply too Hard to drive into the muzzle without cutting patches on the lands, then. I have since polished the crown of the barrel, and tapered the front of the lands at the muzzle to eliminate patch cutting there.

 

[BrownBear]

The point about pressure and fouling is well taken.

In our six different 54 cal guns, loads of less than 80 grains of 2f foul noticeably more than heavier charges, and the lower the charge the worse the fouling. None of ours are reasonable to shoot with less than 70 grains of 2f, but fine over 80. And 3f is noticeably cleaner even at 80-90 grains than the same volume of 2f.

 

[ebiggs1]

I haven’t tried pure lead round balls, as Mr.vallandigham promotes, but it is on the agenda, I am doing some tests on lubes as we speak. I have tried as many of the ones recommended by the old guys here as I can. They all work! But I stumbled on one fact and that is whichever one you chose to use, use enough! If you err make it more not less. Now I don’t mean dripping wet but more seems to lessen or it keeps the fouling softer and is easier to clean out. So if you are concerned about 2f fouling your gun more than 3f, you may be able to ease that concern with your lube.
OH, BTW, the only “lube” I don’t recommend is spit.

 

[redwing]

My go to gun is a Rice barreled .54 Cal. It prefers Wano 3f over anything. The rifle shoots very clean with a .535 ball and a .024 Walmart Duct patch lubed with Hoppe's BP Plus. The all around load for hunting and 100 yd targets is 90 grs of 3f Wano. If you live in the arid areas of the western US use a very damp patch such as Hoppes BP +. Do not try to use the lubes suggested by folks in the east where they have high humid conditions. They have moist barrles after shooting. In the west the barrel are bone dry and white after firing. Western folks need a wet patch. Spit patches are a no, no in the deserts. :thumbsup: