Got out my Plains rifle...

[Jim]

... and cleaned it up today. Got my shooting bag in order, made a new ball starter from local Hickory, cast up a bunch of .535 RBs and made a powder measure. All period correct, of coarse.
Might take it out Monday and shoot it. Been about 5 years since I pulled the trigger. Think it's about time?

[docone31]

Yeah, it is time!
Perhaps it is good we did not connect. You need to put some balls down that tube!
I just got my wife a Dietz, in .54. Getting a R.E.A.L. for her next week for that piece. I just finished rebrowning the rifle, the previous owner ROUGH sanded, and blued the rifle. Back to Brown.
I think it is about time you got to know that rifle again!
I am grateful for the offer though.
I might be interested in a ball starter, and period measure though.

[222]

I just traded for a .54 took it out and shot it. Wow I like it now need to find a load it likes and sight it in (file down front sight). Old friends take time to grow so never neglect one.
222

[mooman76]

I have a pile of them I haven't shot in awhile. I nned to get them out too!

[HWooldridge]

I have a .54 Uberti Santa Fe Hawken and it is very accurate with 90gr FFFg and patched round ball. In fact, I shot a "best group" with it a few years ago; sat down at the bench one afternoon and fired three shots using the same sight picture but did not walk down to the target until I was done. There was only one hole in the target so at first, I thought I'd hit it once and missed the target completely with the other two. I then went digging into my bullet dump and found three balls stacked one on top of the other. My .45 is a better offhand rifle but I've always felt the .54 is one of the best sizes for manageable recoil combined with good killing power and ability to buck wind. Have fun with yours!

[northmn]

I ran into something similar. I had a few ML's laying around for years that I did not shoot as I got burnt out building them for others. Still only work on them when in the mood. Recently started shooting them again and enjoy it. My thing is that deer hunting also lost its appeal after quite a few years. Shooting a deer with a scoped 270 is about as exciting to me as the yearly beef butchering ritual I used to have. Its fun now to hunt with a weapon that limits your opportunities. If the big buck gets away then he can breed and create more big bucks. A fat 2 year old is a trophy in the skillet.

Northmn

[NoDakJak]

A couple weeks ago I pulled my .50 caliber Lyman Plains rifle off the rack and off to the range we went. 68 grains of Goex XXXF, Old Gunslick, cotton cleaning patches lubed with fifteen year old bore butter and fifteen to eighteen year old CVA Caps yeilded a one hole group at 25 yards for the first four shots without wiping the bore. Round number five was tough to seat due to fouling. Upon firing the group opened to about six inches. Te patch was found midway to the target and was badly blown. Cleaning restored the accuracy. It is evident that I have forgotted most of the very little that I knew about shooting muzzleloaders.
What really galls my butt is that my shooting partner was practicing with his Navy Arms 20 gauge muzzleloading shotgun. He had installed a crude rifle sight and using the left barrel and round balls shot a four shot, one hole group at 25 yards. I guess that I had better practice a lot more but dad blast it, he does the same thing with his 25.20 versus mine. Must be the rifle! Yeah, thats it for sure! I just know that I have to be a better shot. Neil

[R.M.]

Get yourself some new patches. Chances are they've deteriorated over the years. That should help get rid of those fliers.

[docone31]

I love those old closet specials!
What I do, is to bring some valve lapping compound to the range. I first fire off a couple of R.E.A.L.s to loosen things up. This is after cleaning, and making sure no nests in the barrel. Especially when I find an old forget me not at a gun shop that no one wants.
The R.E.A.L.s scrape the bore going in, leave a little lube on the bore walls.
I then get regular sized balls, put a little lapping compound on the patches and run them into battery. I do about five of these. Then I fire in regular fashion. I do this with new ones also.
After a firing session, at the sink, the patches go in and out smoothly. No rust visible on the patch.
I just got my wife a .54. I scrubbed the bore the other day, and lubed it. At the range, we will do the lapping thing. So far, I have had good groups at 100yds. Definately not one holers as I am miserable with original sights and bifocals, but close groups. When we first fire, we do not even bother to put up paper. There is usually a bowling pin or two at the range and we try to make them move.
I do not know why the grease in the lapping compound does not crud the barrel. We do not use much, but enough to produce resistance loading the ball. Easier at the bottom though.
I have put lapping compound in the grooves of the R.E.A.L.s. Almost seems like a waste useing that much. Much less on a patch.
We use pillow ticking that we wash before useing.