Question

[Brownie]

I shot a CVA Hawken style 50 and 54 for hunting. I have been using 100 to 110 grains of powder but since joining here I think I may be overloading everything I have read people are using a lot less powder some almost half as much looking for your thought's thanks. I am using FFFg powder

 

[waksupi]

65-75 gr. 2 or 3 FFF with patched round ball should be all you need in either to kill a deer or target shoot.

 

[Rebel jim]

I practice with 60 and hunt with 80.
2f powder in my .50

 

[Rod Man]

I have found for me the sweet spot is 70grs 3F with the .50 and 90grs 2F for the .54.

Edit-
.015 patch for .50 TVM
.018 patch for .54 Selb

RM

 

[BoomStick]

I'm using 60-65gr of 3F or 70-80gr of 2F in my 50's, both on paper and the field.

 

[Walkingeagle]

In my .54 Renegade percussion; 60gr Pyro P under .018” pillow tick and .530rb for target. 80gr for hunting.
In my .50 Lancaster percussion conversion; 60gr 2fg Goex, spit patch .015” and .490rb. Never hunted this rifle.
Walk

 

[david58]

Consider that the T/C Hawken and the CVA are both barreled to shoot bullets with shallow rifling and a fast twist. Too large a charge will tempt your projectile to ignore the rifling to some degree. I found that my TC Hawken got silly inaccurate above 80 grains. My Sharon-barreled scratch build shoots fine at 140 with a hunting load, but I have backed off to 70 for fun shooting and find it much more comfy to shoot. But it has super deep rifling, which allows those heavier charges.

As an aside, I rebuilt a Pedersoli rifle, given to me because it hurt to shoot it. Well, yeah, with 100gr it would hurt anyone. With 50 grains, it is a one-holer at 25 yards and doesn't hurt. Increase accuracy, lower pain with lighter loads.

David
NM

 

[Rock Home Isle]

I hunted 2 decades with a .50 calibre Mountain Rifle, and about 6 years with a .54 calibre CVA Big Bore Mountain Rifle. As a hunting calibre, the .54 is hands down my favorite calibre to use for big game.

.50 calibre loads
.490 RB, 95 grains fffg, blue pillow ticking, beeswax/lambs tallow lube
.50 calibre Maxi-Ball, 100 grains ffg, Teflon Tape wrap

.54 calibre loads
.530 RB, 90 grains ffg, blue pillow ticking, beeswax/lambs tallow lube
.54 calibre Maxi-Ball, 105 grains ffg, Teflon Tape Wrap

I hunted both deer & elk, but my primary focus was elk…so consider these elk loads.

 

[SciAggie]

I hunted 2 decades with a .50 calibre Mountain Rifle, and about 6 years with a .54 calibre CVA Big Bore Mountain Rifle.

.50 calibre loads
.490 RB, 95 grains fffg, blue pillow ticking, beeswax/lambs tallow lube
.50 calibre Maxi-Ball, 100 grains ffg, Teflon Tape wrap

.54 calibre loads
.530 RB, 90 grains ffg, blue pillow ticking, beeswax/lambs tallow lube
.54 calibre Maxi-Ball, 105 grains ffg, Teflon Tape Wrap

I hunted both deer & elk, but my primary focus was elk…so consider these elk loads.

These loads are close to what I have used. My 50 caliber Lyman Great Plains rifle uses 93 gr 2F and a 490 PRB.

My 54 Hawken uses 105 gr 2F and a 530 PRB.

 

[Rock Home Isle]

These loads are close to what I have used. My 50 caliber Lyman Great Plains rifle uses 93 gr 2F and a 490 PRB.

My 54 Hawken uses 105 gr 2F and a 530 PRB.

Yeah…my cutoff for big game hunting loads is 85 grains, 85 grains will do an elk with a .54 calibre rifle. Once I get above 85 grains, I’m looking at the most accurate load for the gun. I prefer getting it above 90 grains if possible. I go in 5 grain increments over the whole range from 85 grains up to 115 grains. I’ll use different calibre RBs, different patch materials…lube doesn’t seem to be much of an issue; once you are .45 calibre and larger. The smaller calibres can be more finicky when it comes to powder patch & lube combinations.

My CVA .50’s seem to fall into a region of 93 to 98 grains with a patched RB, right in with your findings…while the .54’s that I’ve owned or shot, are kind of all over the place. I had one .54 calibre rifle that loved 110 grains of fffg…I hated shooting that gun from the bench; 3fg in a big bore is brutal.

My current .54 is an Early Plains Rifle Flintlock…right now I’m shooting 85 grains of ffg. Nice easy shooting gun. I love this gun. I’m planning a January Hog Hunt in Texas with my son, so I’ll see if there is an accurate pocket between 95 grains ffg and 105 grains. But if not 85 grains should be good…

My back up gun is a Dixie GunWorks Tennessee Mountain Rifle, that I rebarreled from .50 calibre to a .54 calibre Corlerain 36” barrel. The original lock was replaced with a large Siler lock, by the previous owner. It really likes a load of 75 grains of ffg…but again that’s light as a hunting load, I’d be more comfortable exploring above 95 grains ffg for a nice accurate load.

 

[tenngun]

Should you look at the ballistic It sort of makes small not seem so small.
Ball from a .50 can get over 2000 fps, you can get up to 2200, about what a 30-30 can get with a 180 grain round, but it sure won’t match down range. At a hundred yards it slows to about 1100 fps.
So start real light. MV of 1100, and at a hundred yards it’s down to about 800
Any time a ball goes supersonic it dumps velocity like it had a brake on.
You just don’t get more bang for the buck.
You do have to consider time in flight, mid range trajectory, and drop. All those factor change with a higher MV, but your payoff, your hole through deer value doesn’t improve much
Most of us grew up with the superior ballistics of a modern bullet. We want to get those foot pound numbers, but that just doesn’t translate well to ml.
Ml is a low power gun, it should not be classed even with an old 30-30. It’s archery on steroids.
And big clouds of smoke and a hard shoulder slam just don’t do it for even the best ml.

 

[Trapper Scott]

I shot a CVA Hawken style 50 and 54 for hunting. I have been using 100 to 110 grains of powder but since joining here I think I may be overloading everything I have read people are using a lot less powder some almost half as much looking for your thought's thanks. I am using FFFg powder

Find out what your rifle likes. Mine likes 70 grains for the best paper punching accuracy. More than 70 and accuracy starts to wander a bit. I wouldn't elk hunt with that load, but for deer in my area, it is plenty good. I don't take more than a 50-yard shot anyways.

 

[Loyalist Dave]

I shot a CVA Hawken style 50 and 54 for hunting. I have been using 100 to 110 grains of powder but since joining here I think I may be overloading everything I have read people are using a lot less powder some almost half as much looking for your thought's thanks. I am using FFFg powder

So you didn't mention your projectile, a conical lead bullet or a patched round ball?

Out to 100 yards with 70-80 grains of 3Fg my patched round ball will go through an average whitetail.

LD

 

[Rock Home Isle]

Inside of 100 yrds, 85 grains of ffg under a .54 calibre patched RB will go through both shoulders of an elk, and be found flattened out just under the skin on the opposite shoulder…at least that has been my experience.

Save the bullet, melt it down, use it again next year…ultimate recycling.

 

[TexiKan]

Back when we began muzzleloading, the prevailing thought was to use about the same amount of grains as the caliber of the rifle. As a result, most stuck with 50 for .50 cal. Those who read the Dutch Schultz instructions know that he recommended 1 1/2 times the grains for the caliber to start and find the best amount of grains for YOUR gun. He recommended changing up or down, five grains, to check the accuracy. He also mentioned the "crack" of the rifle heard as opposed to the "boom." After doing this, I have basically settled for 70 grains for my .50 cal. Sharon. Again, this is a general recommendation he makes and does not specifically state one load is the best until you experiment and sight it in at different loads.

 

[Rod Man]

^ that’s exactly how I came up with my load for the .50 TVM. Mr. Selb told me what he found in regards to what works best in his rifles. The only deviation from his advice is that I am using .018 pillow ticking instead of .02.

 

[Billy Boy]

I shot a CVA Hawken style 50 and 54 for hunting. I have been using 100 to 110 grains of powder but since joining here I think I may be overloading everything I have read people are using a lot less powder some almost half as much looking for your thought's thanks. I am using FFFg powder

I shoot 90 in my 54 and 80 in my 50. These are hunting loads. Extra boom doesn’t seem to increase killing power much at all but it does flatten the trajectory some..

 

[Bushfire]

I shoot 120gr 2F in my fast twist 50 cal hawken, 90gr 2F in my 62 smoothbore and 100gr 2F in my 54 flintlock slow twist. I'd go either lower or higher if need be, but that's where I get best performance.

 

[morehops52]

I used to use 90g 3f in .50 , 110g in my .54. After reading here and experimenting I now use 80 g in my 50 and 90 in my 54. Please note that i use Maxis and not PRB.

 

[Snake Pleskin]

If you need more than 50- 70 grs I think that is a problem! The deer won't know the difference but your shoulder will!