What load combos for Pedersoli 54 cal?

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BE Wild Willy

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My first flinter should be on its way, a Pedersoli Frontier in 54 cal. Pedersoli's website shows a recommended ball size of .535 with a .010 patch. What do you guys use in your Pedersoli 54s?
 
Mine's the Perd. 1803 Harpers Ferry .54, it was suggested to use a .530 with a .015 patch. I found this to be... difficult. As stated elsewhere, putting rotten wood tent stakes in permafrost wld be a treat by comparison.
I have since switched to .010 patches, but have been unable to make to the range to test this theory.
Aside from that, it states that a standard charge of 80 gr. 2FF as a basic charge, which I wld guess means a max "heavy charge" wld be rough about 120 2FF, but as of yet I havent found the time or need to do this.
 
i would try a smaller ball with a thicker patch. thin patches can rip and burn easy, expecially in new guns.

EX: a .530 ball and a .015 patch

if its a little tough to load in the beginning i wouldnt worry to much. after a few hundred rounds it will break in and the combo will fit easier. my pedersoli 50 cal started out being a tight fit with a .490 ball and a .015 patch. it would not fit the .018 patch without a hammer. now the .490 ball and .018 patch fit with a simple palm slap and the .015 are almost too easy.

note: all patches mentioned are ox-yoke wonder patches.

-matt
 
I agree with Matt85..., I had a .50 so used a .490 ball and an .018 patch..., won two matches with that over 70 grains of 3Fg.

When I went to a .54 with a Colerain barrel, I tried 70 grains of 3Fg, and have harvested many deer with that load.

Word of warning..., sometimes the Pedersoli barrels are cut pretty sharp, SO closely check your patches for cutting, especially if you go with thinner patches.

LD
 
Start by measuring the land and groove diameters.

My rifle is a Blue Ridge version of the Frontier. It has a land dia = .538 & groove dia = .549.

A .538 land does not leave a lot of room for the patch with a .535 ball.

I ended up using a .530 ball with a .012 to .013 patch to make it easy to load and still shoot suprisingly good. (1.5" at 50 yds from bench)
Had to use the set trigger. The regular trigger has a pull weight of 10 to 12 lbs and is not much good for anything.

Somewhere in my surfing the Pedersoli website I found the max charge for this 7/8 wide barrel to be 80 gr Swiss 2F.
 
OK, now I'm definitely leaning towards starting with a box of .530s as I cut my own patch material out of some .016 ticking that I have.

Has anybody shot .535s out of their Pedersoli's?
 
In mine I use a .530 and .015 patch. Works really well. Mine also shoots Buffalo Ball-ets and Hornady Great Plains equally well despite the slow-twist barrel. Best with 90 gr FFg in my setup. Yours may vary.

Very good shooting gun accuracy wise. Trigger pull is way too heavy. Have to use the set trigger.
 
I've been using Speer .530 round balls and a .010 greased patch without much in the way of problems in my .54 Pedersoli Jaeger and about 75 grains FFG. It is a fairly accurate load for me at 50-75 yards.

The Doc is out now. :thumbsup:

PS: I should add, you should clean the barrel about every 3 shots or so to aid in reloading.
 
I
In mine I use a .530 and .015 patch. Works really well. Mine also shoots Buffalo Ball-ets and Hornady Great Plains equally well despite the slow-twist barrel. Best with 90 gr FFg in my setup. Yours may vary.

Very good shooting gun accuracy wise. Trigger pull is way too heavy. Have to use the set trigger.
In the Pedersoli Mortimer is a single trigger. How would you remedy the stiff trigger pull? Thanks, Jerry
 
i would try a smaller ball with a thicker patch. thin patches can rip and burn easy, expecially in new guns.

EX: a .530 ball and a .015 patch

if its a little tough to load in the beginning i wouldnt worry to much. after a few hundred rounds it will break in and the combo will fit easier. my pedersoli 50 cal started out being a tight fit with a .490 ball and a .015 patch. it would not fit the .018 patch without a hammer. now the .490 ball and .018 patch fit with a simple palm slap and the .015 are almost too easy.

note: all patches mentioned are ox-yoke wonder patches.

i would try a smaller ball with a thicker patch. thin patches can rip and burn easy, expecially in new guns.

EX: a .530 ball and a .015 patch

if its a little tough to load in the beginning i wouldnt worry to much. after a few hundred rounds it will break in and the combo will fit easier. my pedersoli 50 cal started out being a tight fit with a .490 ball and a .015 patch. it would not fit the .018 patch without a hammer. now the .490 ball and .018 patch fit with a simple palm slap and the .015 are almost too easy.

note: all patches mentioned are ox-yoke wonder patches.

-matt
Matt, Is your Pedersoli a Mortimer or Jaeger? Thanks, Jerry
 
I too have a Zoli Harper's 1803 and a Peder. Mt. Rifle. Sometimes mfgr's. specs are not what we find in "real life" usage; muzzle loading should be called, Muzzle Tweaking at times!
 
My first flinter should be on its way, a Pedersoli Frontier in 54 cal. Pedersoli's website shows a recommended ball size of .535 with a .010 patch. What do you guys use in your Pedersoli 54s?
All ML rifles are trial and error projects.
Start with 1 grain of powder per caliber ( .54 caliber / 54 grains of powder, ) and work your way up from there.
 
I have 2 Pedersoli Frontiers. One in 50 and one in 54. They both like 90 gr of Goex 2f, a .490 or .530 ball and a .15" patch. With either on a good day will shoot 3" group at 100 yards. I do cast my own ball and weigh them in groups to within 1 grain of each other. If my eyes were better I could probably do a 2" group with them. The 50 also likes the 250 LEE Real and the Hornady PA conical with the same powder load. I havent shot the 54 yet with the 300 REAL but my other 54s like it well.
 
My first flinter should be on its way, a Pedersoli Frontier in 54 cal. Pedersoli's website shows a recommended ball size of .535 with a .010 patch. What do you guys use in your Pedersoli 54s?
I have a Pedersoli Mortimer .54. I have never had any reason to shoot anything other than 80 grs 2fg. I couldn’t imagine better accuracy with any other load. Jerry
 
Good advice. That’s exactly the load combination I use in my Pedersoli Mortimer.54 cal. Jerry
 

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My first flinter should be on its way, a Pedersoli Frontier in 54 cal. Pedersoli's website shows a recommended ball size of .535 with a .010 patch. What do you guys use in your Pedersoli 54s?
I currently have 2 rifles in .54 calibre. Though I’m looking to add a Kibler WoodsRunner to the mix, soon enough.

The mighty .54 is by far my favorite calibre for hunting big game, and it is amazing for elk in particular.

I use a .530 soft lead RB, wrapped in pillow ticking and 90 to 95 grains ffg powder. Each gun has their particular preference. For punching paper, 55 grains to 62 grains of ffg or fffg does the trick…gun specific.

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Here are the girls…the top gun started life as a DGW Tennessee Mountain Rifle in .50 calibre. Lock was replaced with a large Siler Lock, and the barrel was swapped to a .54 calibre and shortened to 36”.

The lower gun is a custom built fullstock plains rifle with a 34” barrel in .54 calibre. Both guns have Corlerain barrels and both are tack drivers.
 
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My first flinter should be on its way, a Pedersoli Frontier in 54 cal. Pedersoli's website shows a recommended ball size of .535 with a .010 patch. What do you guys use in your Pedersoli 54s?
Some good advice from previous posters @BE Wild Willy 👍. Your rifle will tell you what it likes. Both my Pedersoli 54's like a .530 dead soft ball and a spit patch of pillow ticking. For target work I use 60gns FFG Wano, and for hunting, either 75 or 80gns of the same powder. I have toyed with a lubed wad over the powder, but accuracy tells me that an overthrow of semolina does the same job. Experimenting is half the fun! I went thirds in a .535 mold with a couple of my mates who have .54 Pedersoli rifles, and we all found that ball difficult to load, unless we used a very thin patch. That mold gathers dust, as we all stick with the .530.

Enjoy your .54! It's a wonderful calibre for medium sized and larger beasties.

Cheers, Pete

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