.54 caliber anyone???

[bigted]

does anyone still use a 54 anymore??

ive been away from blackpowder for some time and when i used to hunt and shoot with black, i used my 54 cal hawkin from t/c and fell in love with it.

recently, with all the political hoora, i came back and dug out my ol soot burner and remembered the fun and mystic that happens when i wait for the smoke to clear to see what iv missed...ha

cruizing thru here i read very little about my fav cal and wonder why and what changed to make those lil 50's the hot rod thing. [ scratch cant have been so far off in the rocky's.

ive got to start from the begining with this ol girl [ i built it with me own hands from a kit ] , its a t/c hawkin with 15/16 barrel. the twisty things are suppose to be 1 in 48. it realllllly likes the long heavy boolits but cant seem to get any thang to group with r/b. tryed thicker patchs and diff dia balls but she dont like those lil balls at all.

i get decent groups with 80 gr ff out of the 430 maxi [ around 4 inch at 75 steps] and i shoot with a peep and the smaller bead out front.

somebody has to still be throwing 54 lead down range and id like to hear from some of these die-hard's if you wouldnt mind reasuring this ol coot that there is still a place for my old 54 in this new world

[ktw]

I use a Lyman Great Plains Rifle in 54 caliber (percussion, 1 in 60" twist).

The inlines account for the popularity of 50's. In a traditional, roundball twist sidelock a 50 is just a heavier gun with less power than a 54.

-ktw

[madcaster]

I have a Lyman GPR .54 and a .54 flintlock,they compete for my favor against a .40 flinter....my 2 favorite calibers!

[oldhickory]

I have a custom made early style Pennsylvania rifle made by Earl Williams of Tennessee in .54, I wouldn't settle for anything less.

[Gunfixer]

T/C LH New Englander 48 twist 75 gr T7, .530 RB , .015 patch. 3 in a quarter @ 50 yds, opens up to 1 1/2 @ 100. Love it!!!
Oh yeah, T/C peep rear and Fiber optic front

[9.3X62AL]

Another 54 caliber shooter here, my T/C Hawken in 54 survived my recent "purge" of blackpowder revolvers and rifles. It stays, for sure. The factory 1-48" barrel sees little use, although it is accurate enough with the elongated projectiles. I would opt for this tube if elk and blackpowder ever shared the same hunt. 90% of my shooting is with RBs in a 1-66" barrel, and it is one accurate critter, from 50 to 90 grains of 2F.

[dubber123]

I have 2, the 21" carbine is my favorite. Using Triple 7, (yeah, yeah, I know), it pushes a 450 gr. Plains boolit to 1,425 fps, and shoots great. 430 Maxis are even more accurate.

[Underclocked]

http://www.gmriflebarrel.com/productdetail.aspx?id=930110

http://www.gmriflebarrel.com/productdetail.aspx?id=930115

;)

[scb]

A t/c scout & 700m remington

[mooman76]

Believe it or not 54 is one of the few calibers in BP I don't have. Nothing against them, just haven't ran across any when I was looking to buy a ML. You're right it is kind of an odd caliber in the fact that it never caught on as much as the others. Through a mistake on my part I did buy a 54 RB mould and the only reason I keep it is because a friend of mine has that caliber and isn't set up to cast o I do it for him.

[Gerry N.]

I had an Investarms .54 "Hawken" sold under Cabela's brand. I liked it fine, but sold it to finance a .40 cal. custom drop in for my T-C Seneca. .40 cal. is minimum "Deer Legal" in WA while maximum "Squirrel Gun Legal" at most Mountain Man Rendezvous'. It's also MUCH easier on both my pore ol' arthritic self and my pocketbook. Compare a .220 gr .530" RB and 65 gr. 2F to a 90 gr .390 RB and 40 gr. 3F. Since I'm not defending myself against Griz or Crow war parties, the little .40 does great. That and the Seneca with a .40 barrel in it only weighs 6 pounds and a few ounces. Again, a sop thrown to my broke down old carcass.

Some guys scoff at my pretty little Seneca, but the little thing fits me as if it grew there. First time I picked it up, I fell in love with it.

Well, as much as I can love anything that can't or won't love me back.

Gerry N.

[nicholst55]

I prefer .54 over .50, myself. No particular reason, except that not everybody and their brother shoots one I guess.

I too have a Lyman GPR (percussion) in .54, what used to be a T/C Renegade flintlock .54 (now all it uses is the T/C stock), and a Lyman GPR flinter in .54. All shooting PRBs, though I flirted with a fast-twist barrel in the Lyman percussion gun for a while.

[Charlie Sometimes]

I love my percussion T/C Renegade in 54! Looks good and shoots great!
I feel the same as you do though- seems 50 is all you can find, or everyone is pushing a 50 out of an in-line, these days. I am a traditionalist when it comes to muzzleloaders- real BP, and side locks only, either flint or percussion.
Used to be EVERYONE had a 45, and 50's were hard to come by- now the 50's are everywhere, and 45's are hard to find, but the 54's are still holding there own!

I'm keeping mine.

[6pt-sika]

Well at the moment I have four inlines ! Three are 50's and one is a 45 .

But in the "other" stuff that I shoot is a TC Renegade with it's original 50 cal barrel and a recent addition 40 cal GR barrel . Strangely I am getting slightly better groups with the 50 then with the 40 !

I also have an original halfstock percussion Pennsylvania rifle in 36 caliber that shoots very well for a 150-175 year old rifle [smilie=1:


But I really really really have my heart set on getting a 54 caliber longrifle from either the "Sheetz" school of Virginia rifles circa 1790-1820 or one of the pre 1780 rifles built in the Virginia style of "F.Klette" of Culpeper Virginia !
This would be mostly for deer of course !

For some reason in the past 6 months I've gotten astrong desire to hunt deer with flintlock longrifle :drinks:

[frontier gander]

http://www.biggamehunt.net/stories/Colorado_Muzzleloader_Cow_Elk_Hunt_01250912.html

[Mtman314]

I have a lyman trade 54 cal and another 54 cal off brand.

[FL-Flinter]

Here's a couple of .54's I built for myself, both with 1:66 twist & 0.010" deep single-point cut rifling.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v474/markkw/Cracker54cal/cracker54right.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v474/markkw/Cracker54cal/Cracker18.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v474/markkw/Cracker54cal/Cracker16.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v474/markkw/Pistol/rightfullwalnut2.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v474/markkw/Pistol/rightgripwalnut.2.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v474/markkw/Pistol/leftgripwalnut.1.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v474/markkw/Pistol/forecarving.walnut.jpg

0.535" before & after
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v474/markkw/Pistol/535ballhog.jpg

[defib]

Mine is a 54cal lyman trade rifle. Sad thing is you've got a better chance of not being hit if I use my remington 700 in 270 win at 100 yards if I'm shooting at you. The 54 and I are deadly with 80 grains of FFg a spit lube patch made of ticking and a .535 round ball. :mrgreen:

[Joe Bob]

I've got a T/C Hawken caplock in .54. Also have REAL bullet mild and T/C Maxi-Hunter Mold, some Pyrodex "Rifle Powder" and some cast boolits and all kinds of stuff. I can't shoot it any more because of a bum shoulder. I never shot it enough to be any good with it. I got it for Elk hunting, but after eating Elk for the first time, I never went hunting. It's just taking up room in my safe

[missionary5155]

Good morning
I have a 54 Cabela flinter I got at a police sale. Never fired , just struck a few times. I like the caliber ! Short 50´s for years and 58´s. Sold the 50´s then cane across the 54 and alsmost did not buy it ($75)... but I did and am glad I did. It is a 28 " hex barrel and a joy to drag about the Illinois river bottoms. I hope to get a shot one day at the cougars the game people turned loose to "control the deer"... make a nice rug !

[northmn]

The 54 has been a very popular rifle in the traditional world. It performs very well on larger game, and is much easier on the pocket book than the bigger bores like the 58's and 62's. Consider that it uses a 220 grain ball which is in the ball park of many of the saboted 50 loads, at a higher MV and using pure lead and it will perform better than most of the "modern" loads. It is one of the best combination target and hunting calibers as it is at a recoil threshold where it can be still be shot accurately several times and not tear the shooters up.

Northmn

[Geraldo]

My first muzzleloader was a .54 Renegade, which I still have along with a .54 Hawken and .54 Renegade flinter. If I get back into more traditional rifles, first on the list is an early Lancaster with a swamped .54 barrel.

[freedom475]

Here is the results of my 54 this year.
54cal Pedersoli, Jaeger

.535 hand cast PRB, and my own hand knapped flint.

75 gr. 3ff grafs, been loaded in the rifle for two weeks.

85 paces, off hand.

He was facing allmost straight on...the ball went in just between his shoulder and throat, traveled the whole length of his body and stopped at the offside rear leg against the femar bone

[waksupi]

I have an English Sporting Rifle in .54. I don't shoot it much, as it is a percussion ignition, and I much prefer flinters.

[oldhickory]

Well, I hadn't really paid attention to what sells and what don't over the years, I just know what I like and I've never had a problem aquiring either guns, or components in .54. Maybe it's because I live in PA and we have had very strict rules about our muzzle loader season in past years, (they're allowing a special in-line/percussion season 1 week a year now). It started out, you had to use flintlock only and round ball which made the larger calibers the most popular, and .54 was the dominant large caliber amoung most makers.

[R.M.]

Looks like there's lots of .54 shooters here.
Mine is a Lyman GPR flint. Awesome shooter.

[StarMetal]

I have an English Sporting Rifle in .54. I don't shoot it much, as it is a percussion ignition, and I much prefer flinters.


That doesn't make sense Ric. Why not enjoy the gun? If you hate percussion that much, why not sell it and buy/build another flinter?

Joe

[waksupi]

That doesn't make sense Ric. Why not enjoy the gun? If you hate percussion that much, why not sell it and buy/build another flinter?

Joe

Didn't say I hated them. Just said I don't have much use for them! :)
The one I have is a custom made rifle by one of the better builders. As it sits in the safe, it gains value faster than a 401K!

[jhrosier]

I had both a Lyman GPR and a custom target rifle in .54 when I last shot BP some 20 years ago.
The Lyman was sold to a friend for his son's first hunting rifle.
It was scarey accurate and won me quite a bunch of stuff at the blanket shoots back then.

The other rifle started as a smoothbore Renegage with a one-in-a-thousand presentation grade walnut stock. I couldn't see letting that one get drug through the woods in deer season and all beat up. I replaced the factory barrel with a H&H 30" slow twist barrel and fitted a hooked buttplate to it. It would put them all through the same hole @ 50 yards.

I still have the target rifle but have not used it in more than 20 years.
Maybe some day I will get interested in the front loaders again.

I liked the 54 caliber because it was a lot less affected by the wind than smaller bores, and with the right load I could still shoot it all day. I had found that 65-70 gr of fffg shot well and fouled very little in the 54.


Jack

[big boar]

Fl-flinter, really nice guns, very impressive. BigTed, if you shoot patch and ball, you can't beat a 54. If you're into sabots and inlines, I think most guys go for the 50's. Personally, I really like the patch and ball road. More "omph". I'm still amazed at how much fun it is to shoot a caplock, a design going back almost 200 years, using black powder, going back several more centuries. Doesn't make sense when you look at all the technology around, high velocity bullets shooting into the next county using a scope capable of seeing a flys nosehairs a 400 yds. Still, it's a lot of fun.

[Razor]

Here's my .54 :bigsmyl2: 534 gr boolit & 110gr FFg...Lotsa fun..

[jh45gun]

I have two 54 cal both I made a sidelock fullstock from parts not a kit with a left handed lock since I am left handed and with a green mountain barrel with a slow twist for ball shooting. (don't remember if its a 1 in 70 or 72 twist but its one of them) and a underhammer lock of my design that I made fullstock that also has a green mountain barrel carbine length and it is fast twist 1 in 28 for shooting conicals.

[kycrawler]

i have an abused tc renegade cap lock that i rescued at a gun show for $40 and a new traditions 54 hawken flinter on the way

the renegade has a beat up stock the entire bore is pitted and there isnt much rifling left for about 3-4 inches at the muzzle but the danged thing shoots lee real bullets and the old t/c break o way sabots pretty well

[shdwlkr]

Well I have a .54 Renegade, .50 hawken, 2 cherokees.32 caliber, 2 senecas .36 caliber and looking for a hawken in .54 and .58 caliber that I can afford and yes they are all TC's with 1:48 twist. I shoot nothing but 3F anymore unless I come across some 2F that I stashed someplace.
My load for my .54 is 80-90 grains of 3F with .15-.18 pillow ticking and .530 round ball or maxi-hunter or maxi-ball. In the .50 it is 75-85 grains of 3f with .15-18 pillow ticking and .490 round ball or maxi-hunter or maxi-ball. In the smaller ones I use most often 30 grains of 3F, .15-18 pillow ticking, in the .32 ball size .300-.315, maxi-ball and in the .36 a .330-.350 round ball and maxi-ball.

[mooman76]

I have 3, 32's, ones a Dixie, one is an old original BP from the 1800's era that weighs a ton and a CVA. Two 45's Kentuckys one a CVA and one similar to that. A 45 Kentucky pistol, a 50 inline CVA, a 50 CVA Mountain rifle and 50 CVA Deerhunter. A Cabelas Hawkins 50 with a 58 interchangeable barrels. Two Navy 36's and a Walker 44. I'm probubly missing one or two. Have thought about getting a 54 but just too many now, I don't have time to shoot what I have now.

[Cracker]

I have used a .50 drop on barrel for my mossberg for the last several years and finaly decided to commit to the BP hunt this year. Last week I picked up a T/C Renegade in .54 with a Lyman peep sight and some real pretty wood. I have pyrodex a T7 and I am going to play with PRB and Lee REAL boolits. Several folks on other forums have posted good results with the 300 but not so many with the 380.

[Joe Bob]

I just looked at the T/C site, and it looks to me like all they make, now, in traditional style, are Hawkens. And only in .50 caliber. Did I miss something?

[jhrosier]

I just looked at the T/C site, and it looks to me like all they make, now, in traditional style, are Hawkens. And only in .50 caliber. Did I miss something?

Yep!

A lot of us started shooting muzzle loaders when the TC Hawken was still a new product, and some even before that.

I have watched the modern inline muzzle loaders take over the market with total disinterest.
A traditional side lock like the Lyman GPR, in .54 caliber, is and always will be, the best thing ever made for hunting or target shooting.:drinks:

Jack

[Joe Bob]

That was probably before my time.

[shdwlkr]

Yea I think that is all that TC makes now in traditional black powder firearm is the .50 caliber and then they want around $700 dollars for it and I don't think they as good as the old ones.
I started shooting black powder almost 45 years ago, where did the time go and I don't like the inlines and never have. So I guess I need to take real good care of my side locks so they last until I am done with them.

[cwskirmisher]

I shoot an original M1841 "Mississippi" rifle-musket. Original bore was too far gone, so had it re-lined with shallow rifling to accept a 415 grain .540 minnie over 60 grains 3F black powder for hunting, and over 45 grains 3F for target. Shoots a ragged hole at 100 yards from the bench. Offhand I can hit a 6" plate all day at 100 yds.

[shdwlkr]

cwskirmisher
Now that is getting life out of a rifle something like 168 years young. Now if i could only last that long and be useful.

[Charlie Sometimes]

T/C wil still honor the lifetime repair on any of it's current of past products.
I sent the lock off of my Renegade back to them for repair- the sear had broken.
Returned good as new and at no charge- some things are still American made and honored appropriately.
Thanks T/C!

[shdwlkr]

The only thing with TC's lifetime warranty is as I understand it they are not making any new parts they are just working off parts they have on hand. This may have changed since S&W bought them but just something to think about.

[kjg]

its reall nice to know that there is others of similar kindred especially for 54 shooters, but seems there is a small scaterring of us who built ours not from a kit but from scatch, except barrel and a scattering of parts my 54 is a 1750-60 virginia rifle except i went with a 6" shorter barrel and full octagon use mine in competition, and have one may of a blue ribbion and a gold with it one awsome flinter

[shdwlkr]

kjg
I don't have the skill to work the wood that well yet and when I get my shop I just might try to do one from parts and see what I end up with. I am so amazed that you have something that is that old and still working. I don't care what you have replaced as that doesn't matter as it is the fact that something from our early past is still alive and well. More then I can say about our country right now.
I have family that has been here since the beginning of time and others who came later when things got heated up in the 1770's so I am one of the really old Americans as I can not turn my back on what my ancestors fought to give us and it is up to us to keep the trust they left us.

[SWIAFB]

You guys are putting the hurt on my wallet. After all the posts about the .54, I had to stop by and check out the local GUNs for sale places. Guess what I found on one of the racks ? Brand new Lyman Great Plains Rifle, cap lock ,1 in 60. Beutiful wood. I've got two .45's and one .50, so I guess they need a .54 to keep them in their place. SWIAFB

[shdwlkr]

SWIAFB
Look where being on site forum got me!!! All I can say is this site is habit forming

[SWIAFB]

Well shdwlkr when you already have a .530 round ball mould what can a person do but buy a firearm to use it in. The wife told me to sell all the molds that I don't have firearms for because the safe is FULL. I've also got a wedding to take care of this summer.So I see her point. SWIAFB

[shdwlkr]

SWIAFB
My wife tolerates my firearm acquisitions as long as the bills get paid and lately they have really been a pain. I will most likely get 3 more firearms and then am done for life. You can only have to so much fun with firearms. But there is one I am looking at for someone that is really into the one I have so I just might pickup a second and put his name on it so when I am gone he can remember the old guy who really liked his taking care of the wife's daughter. His own family has kind of treated him like an out cast sad as he is a good guy and knows what is important in this life. Only catch is I will also have to get him a gun safe as he just can't afford one. Would love to see the look on his face when he opens it and sees that there are some toys already in it. Will most likely set me back a few big ones but the expression will be priceless.

[Gray Fox]

A question for some of you tinkerers; I too have a Great Plains rifle in .54 caplock and a TC hawken .54 that is also caplock. Years ago I found an in-the-box TC flintlock lockplate at a store that was clearing out junk cheap. Would it be possible to get a drop in a slow twist .54 flintlock barrel from Green River or some other place and just swap out the lock plates?

[docone31]

It was routine, back then, to take flintlocks and convert them to cap lock. The issue I see is where the bolster is.
On the Hawken styles, you might have to drill and tap the barrel, or find a breechplug/tang assembly that will also work.
It should be fairly simple, if you have the parts.
Dixie Gun Works has about everything you might need.