splattergun
Member
Shot on target. A ball powered by a 70 gn load that hits where you want it to hit is far better than a 100 gn load that misses by 6 inches.
There's your answer..Well, one last note. I had this rifle out with Black MZ, FFG and FFFG. It shoots well to excellent with any of these powders as long as I stick to the magic 70 grain charge.
Well, one last note. I had this rifle out with Black MZ, FFG and FFFG. It shoots well to excellent with any of these powders as long as I stick to the magic 70 grain charge.
I went up to 90 grains with generally poor results.
I hunt with a .50 Lyman Deer Stalker with a short 25" barrel and use 70 grains of 3x Swiss with a lubricated felt over powder wad . Chronographed it one time a few years back and got almost 1600 FPS at 20 feet from muzzle. In the small coastal deer here that weigh at most 175 pounds for a bigun the ball has all passed thru leaving a quarter sized hole . I also carry with me a Lyman .50 Plains Pistol which I chronographed the same day with the same ball and wad but with the 55 grain maximum charge I use in it which prints to the sights at 25 yards and got 850 FPS at 20 feet . I use that gun as a "finisher" incase the first shot doesn't do the job completely. At close range the ball still goes thru but with a 1/2" exit hole. I would Imagine my longer 32" barreled Hawken might hit 1700 FPS with the 70 grain charge.
I think the 70 grain .50 charge in a rifle is a good deer charge and other ML hunters in the area (and a warden) agree , out to 100 yards or a touch further with a good lethal hit. The pistol probably could hunt to 30 yards or so. If I was going after bigger deer or elk then a .54 or bigger and alot more powder would certainly make me happier!
Oh and I have shot more pigs than deer with those MLers , I never shot one over 70 yards but it worked fine at that range , seemed like a .44 magnum hit to me in reaction like the years spent hunting with a .44 Magnum Ruger super blackhawk over dogs .
out of my t/c 50 cal hawken i use 95 or 100 grains of tripple 7 ffgI was fiddling around with my 50 cal TC Hawken that I put a Green Mountain slow twist 32" barrel on. I haven't shot it enough to quite know what the optimal load is, but I was very impressed with how it shot roundball with 70 grains of FFG. Don't know if I will hunt with this gun this fall or go with the 58 I need to shoot, but it is a possibility. I will try bumping the charge up and see how it shoots, but is 70 grains enough to cleanly take a 150 pound mule deer out to 75 yards? The doe I shot last year with a 54 round ball was a small white tail and that ball had a lot of powder behind it (gun liked 110 grains best).