Deer b.p. setup- traditional

[Palladan44]

Lyman great plains rifle, kit build about 7 years ago. Cap lock. Ive take 3 deer with it in the last 7 years or so. 50 cal

I shoot .10 thickness patches lubed with TC bore butter. I fire Hornady .490 round balls. I use CCI magnum #11 caps. I use about 90 grains of FFF
Tripel seven powder, and from a bench can shoot 3 shots on a playing card at 50 yds (the furthest id shoot or can even see from my tree stand for that matter)

I love the traditional style gun, although often wish i got the Lyman deerstalker, a much shorter version of my Great Plains rifle, which is very long. Not very point friendly when a deer is coming in close. Double set trigger which has spooked a deer off on me more than once. Im very careful with how i double set these days.

Does anybody use a similar setup or similar components with good results? I love it. Frankly never discussed it with anybody before.

 

[Gordon]

I use a Lyman Deer Stalker .50 for hunting. I use 90 grains of FF Goex black and the same type balls but much prefer a lead Deer hunting bullet in it with 80 grains . It is not as accurate as my big 32" .50, but a far better hunting gun for deer .ect. and plenty accurate enough to 100 yards.

 

[Armored farmer]

I like the sum of my ball/patch combo come out about .005 over mybore diameter.
Example: .440 ball+.015 patch = .455 in a .45bore.
The tight load shoots cleaner and more accurate (i think).
The same in my .54 t/c Hawken. Patch / ball = .545 over 90gr 3f real black powder. I dont shoot substitutes. (They are my emergency reserves)

 

[Thomasss]

Got a Great Plains Rifle in both .50 and .54 Love them both. Has the set trigger spooked them or cocking the hammer. The hammer is easily. Hold the trigger back all the way, until the hammer is back all the way back and let the trigger go. That will cock the hammer without the familiar click. I also added Lyman peep sites to both rifles which allow for fast aiming. If you want better accuracy, go visit
blackpowderrifleaccuracy.com I graduated in 2006, putting 5x4X in the bull at 50 yards.

 

[Palladan44]

Just double setting. Im able to cock hammer quietly. If a deers in close i just skip double-set.

 

[WestKentucky]

I shoot a T/C .45 hawken and I have tried multiple combos, but I settled on a similar setup to what your using. .451 balls with a single bore buttered patch of pillow ticking. It’s a hard starting combination but it does swage down and make for a very tightly seated projectile. 70 gr of pyrodex makes for a pussycat on the shoulder and I have let my nephew shoot that load when he was 10 years old and about 65 pounds. It is soda can accurate out to about 70 yards reliably and I can get hits a lot further out but it does open up quite a bit from 70 on out. I would not trust it beyond that anyway. So far it has not filled a freezer, but it has filled a couple dog bowls with squirrel and rabbit. The only time it has snapped a cap on a whitetail it misfired and the young man who I had taken hunting missed out on his first deer because of it, but I’m certain that if I had brought a fresh tin of caps he would have brought that doe home.

 

[.38 Special]

I like a patch/ball combo that just fits the grooves, ie. if I have .450 grooves I like a .440 ball with a .005 patch, or a .430 ball with a .010 patch. This combo loads easily and is as accurate as a "hammered down the bore" combo in most of the rifles in which I have tried it. Some rifles do require a tighter fit, but I have gotten so annoyed with such things that I've traded most of them off.

 

[Loyalist Dave]

I do a lot of "living history" and in my area if it' ain't American Civil War...., it's colonial stuff at places like Mount Vernon, etc. (I literally live half-way between Mount Vernon and Gettysburg) SO..., I use a flintlock long rifle, and a single trigger. OH they had set triggers at the time of the Rev War, but the average rifleman likely didn't have one on a Colonial built rifle.

I use a Cabin Creek Pennsylvania Mountain Rifle in .54, and use 70 grains of 3Fg to launch a .530 ball with pillow ticking for a patch. I use the 3Fg for both main charge and in the pan of the lock. It hammers deer out to 110 yards (farthest that I've shot)



LD

 

[entropy]

Mine's a Traditions Deer Stalker .50 Hawken. I use 83 grains of either Goex FFG (perferred) or Pyrodex (P) (I use a .50 AE case full of FFG for my measure) with a HBHP 385 gr. conical or 60 gr. FFG with a .490 Hornady round ball and .010 patch lubed with Bore Butter. (BTW, .490 + an .010 patch equals .510 in the bore-the patch is on both sides of the ball.) Haven't taken a deer with the round ball load yet, but I got a doe at 125 yards with the conical.
The only picture I have of my rifle is one with a bunch of other BP guns. My friend Mark and I did a BP weekend up at his cabin some years ago:


My Traditions is the rifle on the bottom (left) ; top (right) one is Mark's Lyman Great Plains .50. The other pic is my "Civil War" posed photo with the Walker I wish I still had.

 

[Fyrstyk]

For my cap lock deer rifle I use a Browning Mountain rifle that i had re-bored to .58 with a roundball twist. I use a .575 ball in a mink oil lubed .015 patch over 120 grains of 2f. This gun has a single set trigger, so depending on the situation I may or may not set the trigger. For my flint lock, I have a T/C Renegade with a barrel re-bored to .58 with a roundball twist. I use the same load in this gun also. Most of my shooting is less than 60 yards, and both guns will do 2.5" at that range if i do my part. Deer do not go far when hit with that big ball. I shoot to break both shoulders which really drops them in place. The laurel is so thick where i hunt, that even a mortally wounded deer that can go 100 yards would require 4 hours of crawling on hands and knees to recover. I'm getting too old for that, so I am willing to sacrifice some meat so I don't have to trail a deer.