Shooting the 54

[deermanok]

There was some discussion last week about the 54 cal. round ball.
I happen to have a 54 that I don't seem to shoot very much, no special reason but it just kinda sits in the closet.
Mine is an older CVA Missouri percussion gun that appears to be a copy of the TC Renegade as best as I can tell.
I went up to the range early this morning, got there before 7:30, as it was gonna be a hot one here today.
Loaded up with 10 grains volume of 3f Goex and 60 grains 3f T7 under the 530 ball.
I have shot this gun a few times and I'm pretty amazed how well it shoots. It will put every ball in pretty much the same hole at 25 and 50 yards.
I guess I have a new candidate for deer season.

 

[edmehlig]

Try 70 gr of 3 F, or 80gr of 2F

 

[deermanok]

Try 70 gr of 3 F, or 80gr of 2F

I think for hunting, the 80 grain charge of 2f Swiss will be what I will use. I'll have to do more testing.

 

[smokepolehall]

I spect most anything from 60 to 90 will work well from a .54. Now i would say with those groups you have your load ready to rock n roll. Good shootinh for sure.

 

[Hanshi]

I agree with smokepolehall, about any charge from 60 grns to 90 grns works well in my .54. I never hunted much with it because it weighs 10.5 lbs. It does have deer to it's credit and I do respect the .54 caliber.

 

[Bushfire]

My hunting load for my 54 is 100gn Swiss 2F. I wanted the most precise and flattest shooting load I could find. That's what it took for this gun.

Any photos of her?

 

[bronko220002]

deerman I'm curious as to why you're using 3F then T7 on top. Seems like an awful hassle. I bet if you played with just the 3F or 2F you would equal your accuracy without loading 2 different powder every time. But whatever trips your trigger. I never played with dual powder loads but to each their own. If it makes you happy so be it.

 

[deermanok]

deerman I'm curious as to why you're using 3F then T7 on top. Seems like an awful hassle. I bet if you played with just the 3F or 2F you would equal your accuracy without loading 2 different powder every time. But whatever trips your trigger. I never played with dual powder loads but to each their own. If it makes you happy so be it.

My thought was to avoid any misfires just using the T7 in the side lock. From posts that I've seen, it seems that some guys have misfires, some don't. I pretty much only shoot black powder in my guns, except my inlines.
I'm just trying different things and experimenting.
Next time out, I'll skip the duplex load to see how I do. T7 seems to be a lot cleaner burning than black powder.

 

[deermanok]

My hunting load for my 54 is 100gn Swiss 2F. I wanted the most precise and flattest shooting load I could find. That's what it took for this gun.

Any photos of her?

No, but I'll post a few tomorrow.

 

[edmehlig]

What bullets are you shooting?

 

[deermanok]

What bullets are you shooting?

.530 round ball.

 

[Saxtonyoung]

I keep notes when shooting my sidelocks and one of my TC's is prone to misfired when using T7 while others do just fine. I'm sure there It is most likely a burr in the fire channel during manufacturing but since I have no desire of removing the breech plug I just use black powder with this particular muzzleloader. Every muzzleloader is different.

 

[deermanok]

Here's a picture of my 54 caliber CVA Missouri.