GPR: .50 or .54?

[Oohrah!]

Decided to pull the trigger on the Lyman Great Plains ML (percussion 1:60). I'm thinking .50 cal, I have no idea why.

Might use it for hunting white tail, otherwise just for fun.

So, comments? Reasons?

 

[Crawdad1]

Great hunting rifle. You'll love it. Most of my friends who hunt with theirs do.

 

[nettlle]

I had one in .50 caliber. Extremely accurate with patched round ball. .50 is more than enough for deer.

 

[WestKentucky]

If your stopping at whitetail then go .50 as it's easy to find a variety of bullets that will work well. Jumping up to the less abundant .54 severely limits the ability to find bullets. If you want to go beyond whitetail then go .54, find a big heavy junk of lead that it shoots well and buy in bulk.

 

[Panzerschwein]

A 1 in 60" twist is meant for roundball.

Personally I'd go .54. The mains reason is it'd be a bit lighter towards the muzzle end of the rifle, making it handier to pack, and it's a Hawken style rifle... .54 is more appropriate. .54 balls aren't expensive, and are a lot of fun to shoot and you can hunt anything from black bear on down and they'll work handily for deers of all shapes and sizes.

 

[CraigC]

I like .54's, got four of `em.

 

[Jimster]

I've built 3 of the .54 kits and I must say that I wouldn't want the barrel any heavier. I would get the .54.

 

[Panzerschwein]

.54 all the way, and a true Mountain Man caliber, at that.

 

[Malachi Leviticus Blue]

WestKentucky is right about the availability of ammo. That is a variable worth considering. It's not a factor for me, but could be a big deal for some folks. You can get .50 cal projectiles darn near anywhere. 54. cal you may have to order, not that that is hard to do, but if you want to be able to stop at Walmart and grab some ammo, you likely wont find any .54.

I would still go .54...

 

[Jimster]

Oohrah, I wouldn't base your traditional style muzzleloader decision on Walmart's product availability. Online vendors are the black powder enthusiasts best friend and making your own stuff is also fun. Don't limit yourself. You can get any projectile in any caliber you want.

 

[jaguarxk120]

With a set of 54 mold blocks and you will have a endless supply of balls.

Nice thing about the GPR is that it can be loaded to any level of performance, form light to heavy.

 

[rodwha]

For my first muzzleloader I bought a .50 cal Lyman Deerstalker. I, too, noticed the plethora of .50 cal projectiles and accessories and felt a .50 was more than plenty for medium game with conicals/bullets an option for larger game. I also thought the ball had a slightly flatter trajectory over a .54 but with slightly worse wind drift.

Were I to do it today I'd have gone for the .54. I cast so balls and conicals aren't a big deal. The only difference would be bullets and sabots, but then you're looking at a slow round ball twist. I also shop mostly online as well for the things I don't make myself.

 

[Oohrah!]

Shoulda mentioned I will make my own balls. I'm already casting for my pistols.

And yes, I picked the 1:60 to use roundballs. .54 it is!

Thanks everyone.

 

[frontiergander]

If you plan on hunting, the .54cal with round ball will be a much better choice for longer 100+ yard shots.

 

[Patocazador]

Shoulda mentioned I will make my own balls. I'm already casting for my pistols.

And yes, I picked the 1:60 to use roundballs. .54 it is!

Thanks everyone.

Good choice. One other thing, if you tire of it, it will hold its value better than a .50 cal. However, I doubt that you will tire of it.

 

[4v50 Gary]

Whitetail? 50 cal is good enough. It's all about shot placement.

 

[Shanghai McCoy]

54 is a good caliber for north American game.

 

[Jimster]

OOHRAH! Oohrah. Good choice in caliber. And this is from an old corpsman. You might want to replace you're set adjustment screw with a longer one to adjust your trigger pull. The factory screw is too short for any serious adjustment.

 

[Delawarean]

I have a Lyman Trade Rifle in .54

I like that it is noticeably lighter than the .50

Plus it is just neat having something >.50 caliber.

 

[david58]

I figger all muzzleloaders to be heavy, with not so much difference between 50 and 54 (shoot, some of those custom 54s I can hardly hold). 54 will be the best caliber if you decide to hunt elk with roundball, and will only eat your lead supply a bit more than 50. Your bbl twist is for roundball, so all the discussion about projectile availability is rather moot - you will likely not have much luck with sabots or bullets due to the long twist and deep rifling.

The GPR is a good looking gun! I covet one, even though I have an armload of custom guns or guns I built. I don't have a 54, so I may go that way if I can't find that Browning floating around needing a new home. I would pour a pewter nosecap, and might brown the bbl and furniture or leave it all in the white. But a nice rifle.

 

[loose noose]

Well I've got just about everything in muzzleloaders, all the way from .32 caliber on up to .54 and a couple of 12ga. shotguns. I bought the .54 caliber percussion quite a few years ago as I was about to go on an elk hunt up in Colorado (Black Powder). Managed to go but never got a shot at a legal elk. I do remember the recoil was rather stout with the load I developed, but I figured once I got her dialed in it should only take one round to do the job. Note if remember right that muzzle loader would hold a 3-4" group at 100 yards.

 

[Oohrah!]

I'm looking forward to sighting her in, and developing loads.

 

[david58]

Didn't read the thread well, so you landed on the roundball 54. Good choice (says the die-hard traditionalist).

My wife hunted with a 54 Renegade this past week, elk in NM. No shot at a legal bull, but she spent about five weeks working on the load and her accuracy with a rifle that is a big cannon for a little lady. She used the Lee REAL 380 grain bullet, with 90 grains of 3fg pushing it down range. A Pachmyer slip-on recoil pad, with a PAST pad on her shoulder, made bench work tolerable. Tough to do with the GPR curved buttplate, hopefully you can shoot offhand as much as possible to help with the pain. Just remember that the hawken is designed to be shot with the butt on your ARM (just above the bicep), not your shoulder, with the rifle across your body. Keeps the pointy parts from digging into your chest (ouch).

Enjoy your rifle! I am hoping for a kit for Christmas, I need an elk rifle that isn't a flinter (it actually does rain in NM, usually inconveniently when hunting).