New rifle, Pedersoli Hawken

[peter72]

Evening all.
First time poster, long time lurker.
Names Pete from New South Wales, Australia.
Have a Euroarms 2 band Enfield .58 and have just today picked up my first PRB rifle.
A Pedersoli Traditional Hawken .54 percussion.
Not sure why it's listed on the site as a target rifle but I loved the look of it and the price was right.
Hope to spend a lot of time at the range getting to know the ins and outs of shooting it, but my long term goal is hunting with it, we have the usual ferals here, rabbits, foxes, pigs, goat and a few species of deer(kangaroos too, if you have the requisite permits).
So besides patch round balls, I'm thinking into the future a bit after I've done a lot of prb shooting, of using either REAL's, Minnies or maxi's.
I know each rifle is different, but If any one has some thoughts they'd like to share on the Why's or why nots if these 3 projectile types, I'd love to hear it.
Pete

[sav300]

Hi Pete,and welcome from another new wales welshman.

[Anonym]

Hello Pete. I love my 54 caliber, but mine is a slow-twist and isn't the friendliest with conical bullets. I do shoot them from time to time, and have a Maxi mold that I use. I haven't tried the others, but they all seem to have their following. Most will nod to the Maxi for accuracy. I've heard you have to be careful with the skirt of the hollow-base designs, which may be something to consider when hunting. REAL's seem to be the lightest and the Minnie's the heaviest with Maxi's in the middle. You may be best to sample some of each and see which shoots the best and does what you want it to do before investing in a mold.

[starmac]

Seems to me like the patched round ball is about as perfect as you can get for all the game you listed.
What twist is your pedersoli?

[peter72]

Seems to me like the patched round ball is about as perfect as you can get for all the game you listed.
What twist is your pedersoli?

1:48.
A bit of a compromise from what I've read but should be on for round balls, I'm hoping.

[starmac]

My Cabellas hawken is 1 in 48 and round balls work as good as I do. lol
When I first bought it, I was brand new to muzzle loading, with no mentor or internet, so I bought every kind of boolit I could find. I had an elk hunt coming up, and the boolit I stuck with wound up being the 435 grain TC maxihunter. There likely is others that do as well, but these worked out the best of everything I tried.
I can't claim 1 in groups at a hundred yards, but they group as good as I am capable of shooting if that makes sense. In other words these shoot better than I do, and are plenty capable for hunting reasons. I did try several that were downright terrible, one hollow base buffalo boolit comes to mind.
When I first got into it I thought I needed more weight then the balls were for hunting, but with the 54, even if I was going after moose, I now believe a ball is all I need, for the ranges I wil shoot with iron sites.

That TC boolit did have quite a bit of oomph to it, but I never got to test it on an elk.
Oh Yea WELCOME to the forum and madness. lol
I am betting the balls will work out well for you, and they have plenty of killing power for most game

[Hanshi]

Welcome, Peter72. I shoot nothing but prb in my guns and never needed anything else. Conicals will raise pressures and burn out nipples fairly quickly and the gain is about zero.

[mooman76]

With a 1/48 twist should shoot conicals ok but PRBs probably better. Only shooting will tell.

[TCLouis]

A listing of critters that should be perfect for PRB and that rifle.

Hope you can find real Black Powder.

If only Pyodex, go with the P grade treat it like slow igniting FFFG..

[peter72]

Have been taking this out and practicing a fair bit lately.
Using 70gns 2P under a .530 and I'm very happy with how it shoots.
I've installed an aperture and that makes it so much easier.
Here's my 5 shot group at 50m from this morning.
http://tapatalk.imageshack.com/v2/15/03/03/361f565a67c1ffa83816f5b2c4fdc6d9.jpg

[koger]

.535 would RB would probably do better. A 1-48 twist will shoot conicals great, I have had nearly the same gun, and TC rifles, all with 48 twist, that if glass bedded, and worked up a load, would astound you with their accuracy, scoped. I like the TC Maxi Hunter, Hornady Great plains or Lyman Plains Maxi, which is 450grain! I used a under the powder wad, and about 110 grains of 2FFg in my .54's, but the ones I hunted with had a shotgun type buttplate.

[bubba.50]

every time I get on anywhere the talk turns to muzzleloaders, someone always refers to the 1 in 48 twist as a "compromise twist". the fact is a lot of real Hawken rifles were 1 in 48 twist & most of the projectiles propelled from them were likely roundballs. I've never read or heard of any instances where they were considered inferior or inaccurate because they had the wrong twist. about every T/C I've ever owned would shoot awesomely accurate with either r/b or conicals such as maxi-balls or lee reals.

[fouronesix]

Good deal. There are many range trips and much enjoyable experimentation ahead. My experience with Pedersoli MLs is limited but they seem to be very good guns.

If yours is 48" twist, it could shoot a variety of PRBs and conicals well. If you stumble upon one, the Lyman 533476 Minié mold would be well worth grabbing. I've had exceptionally good results with that Minié out of 54 cal 48" twist rifles.

While some solid base conicals seem to do well with heavier charges and base wads, the true Miniés usually respond best to moderate charges.

[ejcrist]

Welcome aboard Pete. I only shoot prb's in all my flintlocks so I can't comment much on conical's. I have two Pedersoli's, a 32 and a 45, both with 1:48. I'm guessing the 54 you have will shoot probably shoot prb's better with that twist. I've shot with guys at the range who were trying maxi balls in rifles from 45-50 caliber with 1:48 and the accuracy wasn't all that good. That doesn't mean they won't shoot satisfactory in yours though. Just my opinion, but if I were you I'd stick with prb's because a 54 lead ball will be extremely effective on anything you'll hunt with it.

[Wooly]

I foolishly shot a deer with a maxi ball once. Never again. Destroyed a lot of meat. The round ball from a 50 or larger will drop most big game just fine. Twice the lead does not kill twice as well, IMHO.