.54 cal mould choice suggestions

[barnabus]

I am getting a .54 TC New Englander soon to hunt pigs with and deer second.What would be a good mold for me to buy to get this up and running with good accuracy?thanks

[ShooterAZ]

I bought this one for my 54 Cal Lyman Deerstalker. Mine has a 1/48 twist, and this boolit has been incredibly accurate over 85 grains of Goex 2F.
http://www.accuratemolds.com/bullet_...=55-430M-D.png

[waksupi]

Good ol' round ball. I find .526 works well in many rifles, others use .530

[swheeler]

I use TC 410 gr Maxi ball mold # 301 90 grs 2f Curtis and Harvey and sometimes 2 or 3f Goex

[Good Cheer]

barnabus,
This year my brother hit a hog of about 300 pounds with a less than 400 grain 45 caliber cast bullet that was going too fast and expanded too much. Because of that it didn't penetrate the gristle shield armor. Big pig went and rolled in the mud and got on with his life, which still happens to be digging up my brother's yard in the middle of the night when he feels like it. Got a suspicion that situation is fixing to be rectified.
Any how, just saying sometimes more lead doesn't help if you're shooting big ones.
Best wishes and best of luck. And post some pictures!

[OverMax]

My suggestion start with a ball. When hunting with a fresh clean barrel. I've always thought my first shot is my most accurate shot so I purposely load a tight fitting patched ball. (.535 ball w/ .010 ox-yoke & Wonder Lube.) There after .530 w/ .015 Ox-Yoke patch for ease of reloading.
54s 2-FFG Gorex charge remains the same under both balls. (90 Volume measured)
1750 fps at muzzle with 1600 ft lbs energy is allot of punishment to unleash on a thin skinned rib cage of a 130-150 lb animal. Feral pig. I've never hunted.

[barnabus]

I bought this one for my 54 Cal Lyman Deerstalker. Mine has a 1/48 twist, and this boolit has been incredibly accurate over 85 grains of Goex 2F.
http://www.accuratemolds.com/bullet_...=55-430M-D.png

could this bullet be lubed with liquid alox and be shot instead of something like bore butter?

[mooman76]

There are allot of lubes out there, home made or factory but BP lube is designed to keep fouling soft and alox does not do this. I also recommend just using a 54 RB with a stout load and if you do your job, you could take down an elk or moose with that.

[swathdiver]

It's best to slug or measure your bore and see what size it is. The barrel may like the .530, .535 or the .526 with certain patch thicknesses.

Bore butter will foul the powder it comes in contact with, use something more dry, like a tallow and beeswax mixture or one of the recipes from Dutch Schoultz's "The System"; best $20 you'll ever spend on shootin'.

[ShooterAZ]

could this bullet be lubed with liquid alox and be shot instead of something like bore butter?

While I have used alox on certain cap & ball conicals, I have never tried it in a rifle, and probably never will. Contrary to what some might say, bore butter will work just fine. I use a blend of bees wax and olive oil.

[Ithaca Gunner]

LEE round ball mold. Simply the best ball mold on the market that I know of.

[rfd]

i agree on the lee ball moulds, good stuff. i used to use lyman iron and jeff tanner brass ball moulds, but the lee is just better, lighter, faster, just as accurate, and includes the sprue cutter. currently using .45, .50, .58 and .62 balls, all with lee moulds.

[bubba.50]

Lee R.E.A.L. mould in the heavier of the two weights offered. for the staggerin' sum of 19 bucks at Midsouth you can have all the power & accuracy you'll ever need from yer New Englander.

[725]

Many mistakenly underrate the .54 RB. Delivered on target, it's awesome. My second choice is the Maxi-Ball. Both work very well. It really depends on which one is the most accurate out of your particular rifle. Experimenting is the only way to tell. Either, however, will give more than adequate performance and accuracy.

[triggerhappy243]

the RB would be my choice for Deer. Miss Piggie???????? MAXI-BALL STYLE w/90 gr. of the BP of your choice. The heart of a pig is further down than most other critters. So, if you are aiming where a deers heart is, sure, you are gonna p*** him off.

[Good Cheer]

Bigger bores offer greater displacement.
When we were young'uns we discovered you could launch a turtle sitting on a sand bar by hitting under it with a .54.
Brought a whole new meaning to precision shooting.

[rfd]

Bigger bores offer greater displacement.
When we were young'uns we discovered you could launch a turtle sitting on a sand bar by hitting under it with a .54.
Brought a whole new meaning to precision shooting.

like barking skwerls off a tree limb.

[Good Cheer]

Just received a set of Lyman blocks #533476 without a base plug.
This is one good looking boolit. Might get a plain base plug for it.
If anyone wanted a real serious flat point for hunting with a .54 this mold could certainly be worth looking at for paper patching.

[Newtire]

Just a "theory" (partially) answer. In theory, a big .54 round ball would have no trouble at all killing any deer or any sow hog out to 100+ yards. In theory also, the armor plate on a big boar may be trouble.

One of our members made up some .30 cal Conicals with a soft point poured into the mould first (pure lead), followed by some harder wheel weight metal for the base. With this, concoction, he made an expanding slug with which he successfully slew a big coyote.

So, why not try this approach of the bi-metal boolit only pour in the hard alloy first, followed by the pure lead for the base? This way, you have a point that would pierce the big boar hog shield and then all the weight behind to keep the boolit moving on thru. Anyway, that is just my .02 centavos worth. For a deer, round ball in .54.

[451whitworth]

Just received a set of Lyman blocks #533476 without a base plug.
This is one good looking boolit. Might get a plain base plug for it.
If anyone wanted a real serious flat point for hunting with a .54 this mold could certainly be worth looking at for paper patching.

I have two of those #533476. One I opened up the driving bands to .541" and it shoots well in every .54 I tried it in (4 total). The Lyman #542622 is very accurate but needs sized down a little to fit some rifles