.54 cal TC Hawken Flintlock Hunting Load?

[Jkrem]

I have a new to me TC Hawken flintlock in 54 caliber. I have Goex FFg and FFFg propellant powders, and FFFFg powder for priming. I also have .535 diameter 230 gr round balls. Barrel length is 28”. Can someone share their preferred charge for whitetails? Previous owner used 90grs of FFg. My Lyman manual shows charges from 40-120gr. Suggestions please. As far as I know this is 1-48 twist. Thanks.

[badwolf]

Between 90 and 100 grs 2f

[Nobade]

Patching material will also be a variable to experiment with. TC barrels have pretty shallow rifling, and usually prefer big balls and tight patching. Your .535" will be a great start, don't be afraid to try different thickness of patches to find what your barrel likes the best. And as for powder charge I'd expand that from 70 to 100. Just try things and see what it likes.

[jim 44-40]

Keep in mind that a follow up shot in case you need it,will be a pain with a patched roundball that is hard to load.For hunting I use a patched round ball that just fits without extreme force to get it down the barrel.

[Loudenboomer]

I harvested many deer with that exact combo. 90 gr of FFG was my favorite charge. If I recall a .535 ball and a 10 thou. patch was ok but a .530 ball and a 15 thou. patch was better. I reamed my flash hole slightly for a little faster ignition. A half pan full of 4F is faster than a Full pan. The 54 cal. round ball is a very efficient killer. Happy hunting.

[birddog 6]

According to an old T/C manual 80 gr of ffg yields 1654fps and 1397 ft. lbs energy. 90gr ffg equals 1761 fps and 1584 ft lbs energy. 100gr ffg equals 1855 fps and 1758 ft lbs energy. This is all with a 230gr round ball and 4f priming powder in 54 cal. flint lock.

[HWooldridge]

My .54 Uberti Hawken liked a .530 ball .010-.015 pillow ticking patch over 90 grs FFg. Other combinations were only so-so and not as accurate. It would produce one ragged hole at 50 yards and under 2” at 100 yds - although I think my eyes were more at fault than the rifle.

[LAGS]

This info is good to know.
Remember,
I am building that Hybrid rifle that is aTC .54 Renegade barrel that is set up for both Percussion and Flintlock.
The only difference with my barrel is it was a TC .50 that I had Hoyt rebored it to .54.
It has the 1:48 twist , but the rifling is much deeper than the TC shallow rifling.
I use a .535 round ball also on my other .54s with a .010 patch.
I think the deeper round grooves would work better with a .015 patch

[HWooldridge]

This info is good to know.
Remember,
I am building that Hybrid rifle that is aTC .54 Renegade barrel that is set up for both Percussion and Flintlock.
The only difference with my barrel is it was a TC .50 that I had Hoyt rebored it to .54.
It has the 1:48 twist , but the rifling is much deeper than the TC shallow rifling.
I use a .535 round ball also on my other .54s with a .010 patch.
I think the deeper round grooves would work better with a .015 patch

Mine also had a 1-48” twist. People used to tell me that it would only shoot slugs but I always wanted to use a PRB. Counter to common assumptions, it shot patterns instead of groups until I reached 60 grains, then it kept getting tighter until I hit 90 grs. Anything over 90 didn’t help and groups began to open up again around 110.

[HWooldridge]

Double post.

[indian joe]

Mine also had a 1-48” twist. People used to tell me that it would only shoot slugs but I always wanted to use a PRB. Counter to common assumptions, it shot patterns instead of groups until I reached 60 grains, then it kept getting tighter until I hit 90 grs. Anything over 90 didn’t help and groups began to open up again around 110.

I would prefer less twist on a round ball barrel
for 1:48 - 90 grains of FFg would be about top load I think
1:66 would shoot ok with 120 FFg but theres a point of diminishing returns in there someplace and top end loads proly gain from longer barrel
I have a 54 half stock flinter half built - green mountain barrel is 1:72 I think, barrel is 38 inch and I will be looking at those top end loads (120 grainsFFg )

[DaleT]

Kind of late to the party but if you live where there is snow you can load up and shoot over fresh snow and you should get some indication of unburnt powder on the snow in front of you if you are using too much.

[indian joe]

I have a new to me TC Hawken flintlock in 54 caliber. I have Goex FFg and FFFg propellant powders, and FFFFg powder for priming. I also have .535 diameter 230 gr round balls. Barrel length is 28”. Can someone share their preferred charge for whitetails? Previous owner used 90grs of FFg. My Lyman manual shows charges from 40-120gr. Suggestions please. As far as I know this is 1-48 twist. Thanks.

If its a 48"twist you may do better with moderate charges -- I would prefer a 66 twist (or even slower) for a 54 for hunting - then you can really load up

[Good Cheer]

There's basically two ways to go about it, to either create a hunting load or a plinking load.
For a hunting load select the power level suited to your circumstances and then make it accurate.
For a plinking load select your materials and adjust the powder charge (usually downwards) until it is accurate enough.

With that said, I've seen the hunting load method followed with round ball in a .54 Renegade to create a very accurate maximum powered hunting rifle. It took a hard loading tight good quality patch material and protection over the powder charge to make it come together.

[scattershot]

As I recall, that was my load back in the day.