54 caliber balls

I have a box of .54 cal. balls made by Hornady. Most of the muzzle loaders advertised are .50 or .45 caliber rifles.Who makes a .54 muzzle loader?.I have a .50 Remington Genesis that I shoot saboted bullets with but was looking to try a round ball to shoot.
The box of .54 was in a box of 200+ lbs of misc lead pieces that I bought at a yard sale for 2 bucks.
If anyone can also recommend where I can get info on lead pots and bullet molds please reply.

Thanks

I'd look at a Lyman Great Plains rifle. I believe Midway can handle all of the shoppin needs you asked about. IF I had a 54 cal rifle I'd be willin to let ya borrow the thing only all I have is 50 cal.

If you're thinkin about an inline in anything over 50 cal I haven't a clue who would make one. The thing about round ball is they pretty much have to get larger to carry energy down range or kill larger game. With the inlines there is no need to get larger IE 54 cal + because the twist rate allows the use of elongated bullets which carry energy down range better than a round ball. For instance a 50 cal round ball is about 177 grains the typical conical is 250+ and the typical sabot is 220+.

This would be a good round ball shooter.

http://www.midwayusa.com/eproductpage.exe/showproduct?saleitemid=537001

While this one should do ok with round ball and ok with conicals IE TC maxi balls or CVA Powerbelts, it's a bit fast for round ball and a bit slow for conicals a compromise that apparently works ok. My flintlock is a 1-48 twist rifle.

http://www.midwayusa.com/eproductpage.exe/showproduct?saleitemid=306887

This one should be better for conicals and sabots but shouldn't be good for round ball.

http://www.midwayusa.com/eproductpage.exe/showproduct?saleitemid=515851

While something like this is supposed to be good for sabots and not so good with conicals but apparently works pretty good with conicals as well since it seems lots of people use em and are plenty accurate.

http://www.midwayusa.com/eproductpage.exe/showproduct?saleitemid=115146

.54 caliber Muzzleloaders use to be very popular in the days when everyone shot sidelock percussion and flint rifles. Folks liked the big knock down.

The advent of inlines has pretty much pushed the .54 out of the picture. They are still popular with those that choose to shoot the old style guys.

Almost every ML manufacturer and custom maker made a .54 and you can still find one new or used.

As far as bullet casting supplies. do a Google search for "muzzle loading supplies" and you will get lots of choices but a good one is always, Track of the Wolf.http://www.trackofthewolf.com/(S(202ohtmni02a2o55ltshurn1))/index.aspx

.54 Caliber

I have a Thompson Center .54 Renegade, 1:35 twist, cap lock. It has been fun to shoot. I've always used bullets for hunting instead of balls and it has been pure poison on whitetails.

I bought mine used for $125 about 25 years ago. I plan to take it to the range after this season and give it a go with some patched round balls just to see how it does.

I moved up to an in-line .50 that I bought from a fellow Woodyite and have been very happy with it. I will be using it for the first time this season.

I have two 54 cal muzzle loaders for sale, a knight, and a TC Renegade. Check them out if interested.

Check with Nugefan. I think his rifle is a 54.

Mine is a Hawken made by CVA..See Avitar.....

nicknamed : Thumper !!!!

Mississippi rifles were .54cal and .58cal during the War of Northern Aggression.

I occasionally shoot my .58cal 1855 Springfield rifled musket

Does anyone here use a .50 roundball for whitetail? I have been using TC cheap shots and can group them in a 3.5" circle at 100 yds with 100 grains of pyrodex pellets and took my first big buck last year with the same load.
I'm looking to cut some cost's related to my hunting/shooting addiction and a box of round balls are cheaper than any saboted bullets.
Thanks for the info guys

Yep, .50 PRB will do the trick if you can shoot it well. You may limit your range to 75yards or so as if you push them too fast, they seem to lose their accuracy. At 50yards I can flat out destroy the 10x circle on a target.

My max load for .50 PRB is 75gr of Pyrodex or Black Powder

Nicodemus said:

Check with Nugefan. I think his rifle is a 54.

Click to expand...

I'll take the .54 cal off yer hand if you aren't gonna melt em down for your gun .....

Thanks Nick .....

With either my plains percussion rifle, or Gabriel, my flintlock, both 50s, a deer better not give me a 125 yard shot when I have something to rest on. If it does, it`ll go home with me. All I shoot is patched round ball and true blackpowder.

Never underestimate a well made traditional rifle. They`re as good as one of them inlines, probably better.

So far I haven't been lucky enough to shoot anything with my flinty. BUT I'd shoot a deer at 75 yards anytime with round ball and not hesitate a second. Before rifling and bullets came about round ball killed every land animal on the planet.

I got about 12 different projectiles to try out, most of them I got on sale at the end of the season, but so far I haven't shot anything but round ball.