50 or 54?

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I wouldn’t hesitate for two seconds to shoot an elephant with a .490 round ball.
i saw video of cape buffalo being dropped in their tracks with 54 cal ML (Shockey) (unless it was 58cal??).. I remember it because i have friends that killed a number of cape buffalo (on video) & never saw one hit the ground that fast!.. (& they were using centerfire!). I remember one of them had noticed the larger diameter bullets "hurt em" more... I had noticed myself over the years, that when i got up to 45 cal (with centerfire rifles), animals started dropping in their tracks with double lung shots.(ie 45/70, 458 mag).. Thats why i bought 54 cal for hunting this fall. 100 yds is an extra long shot in my woods & i'm hoping for "no tracking" with my "no excuses" 54 cal bullets.. Also on accuracy, Idaholewis shoots some awfully good groups with his 54 t/c,...
now if my backordered powder will ever come in, i can start testing too.!
 
Energy is energy, and a 500 grain slug out of a .45 has just as much as a .50 cal 500 grain slug, traveling the same speed. I would hunt anything, in North America, very confidently, with either. The .45 just extends your range a little. Less wind drag equals more speed which equals more energy.
I think bigger diameter hole has something to do with "stopping" power too... it's not just energy. (in my opinion and experience shooting deer). Yrs ago my buddy with the 45cal t/c shot a nice whitetail, had time to reload & shoot it again (he thought he had missed the 1st shot by the deers reaction) ... the 45 (balls) did not exit & when we found them, they looked like coins.. round and flat.. I also noticed some states require 54 cal + for elk.. It's no telling what logic they used for that requirement however?? but that's why bought a 54cal a while back to get back in the ML game.. (my 2 cents);>)
 
I think bigger diameter hole has something to do with "stopping" power too... it's not just energy. (in my opinion and experience shooting deer). Yrs ago my buddy with the 45cal t/c shot a nice whitetail, had time to reload & shoot it again (he thought he had missed the 1st shot by the deers reaction) ... the 45 (balls) did not exit & when we found them, they looked like coins.. round and flat.. I also noticed some states require 54 cal + for elk.. It's no telling what logic they used for that requirement however?? but that's why bought a 54cal a while back to get back in the ML game.. (my 2 cents);>)
Guy over on the Muzzleloading Forum, Howie1968, who says he has shot a lot of feral hogs in Texas, & used to be a trapper there, says that the .570 patched round ball from either of his two, Thompson Center Big Boar, .58 caliber rifles, drops the big, 300-plus pound hogs that he likes to hunt, faster than anything else he has used, to include modern weapons.
 
The 54 is a roundball gun. Hard to beat on all counts. Best served up with a slow roundball twist.

The 50 is for conicals. The choice is much greater and the ballistic coefficient is better. Handles the longer conicals best with a fast twist. Should work good with sabots too.

That's not to say that a 54 can't be made to shoot conicals well or that the right 50 won't do well with roundballs. They will; but horses for courses.
 
The 54 is a roundball gun. Hard to beat on all counts. Best served up with a slow roundball twist.

The 50 is for conicals. The choice is much greater and the ballistic coefficient is better. Handles the longer conicals best with a fast twist. Should work good with sabots too.

That's not to say that a 54 can't be made to shoot conicals well or that the right 50 won't do well with roundballs. They will; but horses for courses.
Know squat about horses but theres a sayin , about assuming and it rimes with (ASH) and that"s a bigun you made/Ed
 
It would've helped 25 years ago, when I got into this, if someone had explained it so clearly. That way I wouldn't have spent as much $ on fast twist 54s.
 
Someone once said " Caliber is all to the ball"
If ball is your primary, go with the .54. As far as conicals, there really is no advantage to the. 54 to compensate for the recoil.
I just got a .54 flintlock Renegade that will most likely be a ball gun for our after Christmas flintlock season.
But! She is capable of launching quite a chunk of lead too. In case I run into any Tyrannosaurs or mastodons or some such.
Both of my .50 calibers like the Lyman Plains 400 grainers. My shoulder? Not so much. Anyway, she'll tell me what she likes best.
 

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