54 Cal Muzzleloader Bullet

[idcwby]

Just figured out Hornady has quit making their 54 cal conical. What has everyone gone to? I can’t seem to find anything in stock that is pure lead, thanks Idaho. My TC has a slow enough twist that it doesn’t do well with bullets over the 420gr range.

Never shot anything with round balls, would they be effective on elk at 100 yards?

 

[JimP]

I've been loading my .54 with TC 430 grain maxi-balls.

I purchased a mold for it long ago and have a good supply of pure lead. I have shot a couple of elk with it and they do quite well at 100 yards or less. I wouldn't even think of shooting a elk with a round ball.

I just did a search on them and didn't come up with anything. Midway shows them to be discontinued. I found some for my .50 caliber barrel a few years ago but they were a bit too large to fit into the barrel of my TC Renegde so I planned on just melting them down for my .54 since I don't have a mold for the .50.

Looking around I found this supplier.

Maxi Balls

Exceptional quality black powder rifles, shooting bags, powder horns and muzzle loading accessories

www.octobercountry.com

To lube them I use the lube tube that Thompson Center had that screws onto a tube of Natural Lube 1000 I got my last one off of Ebay.

1 Thompson Center T/c Pre Luber 54 Cal Blue No 7319 NOS for sale online | eBay

Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for 1 Thompson Center T/c Pre Luber 54 Cal Blue No 7319 NOS at the best online prices at eBay! Free shipping for many products!

www.ebay.com

 

[idcwby]

How’s the terminal performance with the maxi-balls? Just sucks there isn’t very many options out there now. Any molds better than others? Like the luber on eBay, looks like it works good.

 

[JimP]

I had to play around with my loads until I found one that the bullet liked. I started out shooting 100 or so grains of Pyrodex and while it shot fairly well I was missing animals with it. I finally settled on 90 grains of Pyrodex and it started shooting a lot better.

I learned that those big old maxi balls didn't like going as fast as I wanted to send them. As for molds, I haven't looked for any ever since I purchased mine from T/C. I believe that Lyman makes one. But as I mentioned I tried some maxi balls that I purchased online in my .50 barrel and they were too big to even get started, but they may of been alloyed with some tin to make them harder which would make them harder to start. I do know that T/C barrels are on the tight side of the caliber. I just measured one of my cast bullets and it came out at .544.

On a side note the .50 ones that I purchased from a dealer besides T/C measure slightly less than the .50 T/C maxi balls but looking at them they are not tarnished which tells me that they are not pure lead, they are still fairly shiny after 5 or 6 years.

So when it comes down to it you have to make sure that the bullet is sized properly for your barrel and or made out of pure lead. I have no idea of how you would figure that out besides trial and err.

On the bullet lubber they do work great. Just screw it onto a tube of 1000 and push bullets through it with a little squeezes to get the lube all around it. A lot better than trying to use your fingers.

 

[JimP]

Here is a mold on Ebay right now, it ends Sunday

Thompson Center 54 Caliber Maxi Ball Cast Bullet Mold

Thompson Center 54 Caliber Maxi Ball Cast Bullet Mold in Sporting Goods, Hunting, Reloading Equipment, Molds | eBay

www.ebay.com

Here is some more things to check out that I came up with on a search

Molds - 54 Caliber

thea.com

 

[idcwby]

Here is a mold on Ebay right now, it ends Sunday

Thompson Center 54 Caliber Maxi Ball Cast Bullet Mold

Thompson Center 54 Caliber Maxi Ball Cast Bullet Mold in Sporting Goods, Hunting, Reloading Equipment, Molds | eBay

www.ebay.com

Here is some more things to check out that I came up with on a search

Molds - 54 Caliber

thea.com

Thanks I’ll keep an eye on it.

Casting difficult or pretty straight forward?

 

[JimP]

It is a temperature type of thing. I use a Colman stove and a old cast iron pot to melt the lead in. Then the first few bullets that you make you dump back into the melting pot, they are just to warm up the mold. Then once you get to where you are getting clean shinny bullets with no lines or cracks in them that you can see you are good to go. I use a old towel to drop my cast bullets onto to help keep them from getting damaged.

To get started you would need a stove to set up outside, some mold handles, and a ladle to dip into the molten lead to poor into the mold.

But it is like everything where you are working with something that is very hot you have to be extra careful or you will get some good burns on whatever the lead gets on.

On the Hornady bullet, you can do some searches and see if you can find a mold that replicates it. It is too bad that the .54 caliber muzzle loaders are going away, it is a great caliber and packs as punch. I actually purchased a .50 caliber barrel to go onto my TC Renegade's stock just because .50 caliber bullets were so common.

 

[idcwby]

Sounds easy enough. Ya, I had just bought another 54 before learning Hornady quit making the bullets. Guess I’ll have to look at getting a 50 cal barrel also or start casting bullets. The real discouraging part is the lack of molds out there. Figured I’d call Hornady Monday and talk to them also.

 

[JimP]

Lyman has a small selection of molds. I usually do a search for ".54 caliber bullet molds" A lot of the results that come up will only be for .50 caliber but if you weed through them you can find some different .54 ones.

Here is a .54 plains bullet, I know that the picture says .45 but if you put in the .54 option it comes up but it is out of stock. But they are getting costly.

https://www.lymanproducts.com/brands/lyman/bullet-casting/bullet-moulds/black-powder-moulds

What rifle are you shooting? I picked up a used barrel off of Ebay for my Renegade that drops in perfectly. I did make sure that the .50 barrel was 1 inch across the flats and wondered if it would work until I got it and found that it was a drop in for me.

 

[JimP]

If you would like I could ship you some of the ones that I cast and then you can try them out to see how your rifle shoots them if you don't want to jump right into casting them yourself.

The ones that I have don't look too pretty since it has been a while since I have cast any but I can lube them up and send them to you. They weigh out at 430 grains.

 

[idcwby]

I got a left hand TC Renegade and just picked up a TC Thunderhawk. I’ll have to look into other barrels also for the Renegade.

I appreciate the offer, but I’m probably going get into casting because I like the 54 to much to go away from it. Have you seen any hollow point molds? I’ve been googling and trying to sort through stuff. Thanks for the help.

 

[JimP]

I can't remember seeing a hollow point mold, I have seen them for pistol rounds but not rifle that I can remember.

I know that the last deer that I shot with my .54 I blew out half of his rib cage on the off side. This was with the 430 grain maxi ball. I was surprised when he made it about 50 yards.

With a left handed rifle you are going to be very limited in trying to find a barrel. Green Mountain Rifle barrels may be your only out on that, and they get a little bit spendy. They used to make replacement barrels for muzzle loaders but looking at their site I don't see any.

 

[idcwby]

Ya, it’s sad that the traditional muzzleloader is going away. Never thought it was something that would happen with all the seasons out there. Have you tried the powerbelts?

 

[JimP]

I haven't but I have a friend who uses them in his. 50 cal and likes them on elk..I've heard mixed reviews from others who have tried them on elk, they say that the jacket is too thin

 

[idcwby]

After talking to Hornady and Powerbelt today, it seems Powerbelt will be the only one offering a pure lead 54 cal. Looks like casting my own is going to be the only option. Thanks for the help Jim.

 

[kzkammo]

I started using No excuses this year granted this is my second year muzzleloader hunting and I shoot a .50 cal but I was really impressed with the performance after I found the right load for them. Last year I used the powerbelts and liked them a lot. They do make .54 Cal bullets as well.

 

[idcwby]

They look like it could be a good bullet. I wish they were a little lighter cause I’m not sure if my Renegade would be able to stabilize them.

 

[kzkammo]

I am shooting the CVA wolf northwest .50 Cal 420 grain with 75 grains of FFG. hitting the pie plate at 200 with open sights.

 

[JimP]

idcwby,

What is your powder charge with the lighter bullets? I know that with the TC 430 grain maxi balls I had to drop my charge down to 90 grains to start getting great groups.

 

[idcwby]

90-95 grains of T7 FF. Never really pushed past there because it shot so good.