Talk to me about the new powder and more.

[Muddydogs]

I got back into big game hunting 3 years ago after a 10 year break to hunt waterfowl, what got me going was a fall fishing trip during muzzy season where I hardly saw anyone hunting. In Utah the general deer and elk rifle season tends to be a sea or orange. So 3 years ago I decided I wanted to get back into muzzy hunting but since my .54 TC New Englander has such nice wood I decided to pick up a used Knight 54 cal off the local classified. I already had a few pounds of Pyrodex so I'm just shooting 100 grains of Pyrodex RS under a 300 grain stick on wheel weight .45 cal slug in a sabot lite off by a 209 primer. First couple deer I shot with a Hornady .45 XTP and was not impressed with the exit wound so I switched bullets and was impressed with the damage done to a cow elk this season.

I have been looking at getting a new Muzzy as the old knight has some barrel pitting and well I just want one. Doing some research on muzzys I have come across some info about the new to me powders like Blackhorn and Triple 7 that indicates these powders push the bullet faster, true? What are you guys finding with these powders? I would prefer to stay with loose powder and not the pellets.

It seems that the old .54 is going the way of the .58 and I understand why but I would sure like to find a good .54 inline muzzy that's easy to cap just because I have stuff for .54 caliber. I do want to get something that will shoot flat, far and fast so if a .50 fits the bill better then I will go that route. Before guys get worked up I'm not looking for a 200 yard muzzy and I try to stay under 100 yards but sometimes in the open country it would be nice to push 150 + yards. This years cow was a 120 yard off hand shot with a 1x scope and I put it where it needed to be but I also knew I needed to hold a little higher on the body which I didn't forget in the heat of the moment.

 

[rodwha]

If you are looking for a brand new one I'm not aware of anything in that caliber. It seems they've all gone to .50 cal.

Maybe a sidelock rifle might suite you well. You could change out the nipple if you wanted to. I'm not aware of many non custom rifles, but I do know that Lyman's makes a stainless Deerhunter with shallow conical/sabot grooves with a 1:48" twist, and a blued Great Plains Hunter with a 1:32" twist.

I have a blued Deerhunter and tried a 320 grn .50 cal Lee REAL and at 50 yds without really working on a load (70 grns 3F Olde Eynsford or Triple 7) I had 2 that were nearly touching. I had to use a felt wad as my grooves are deep and meant for a ball.

Triple 7 is a synthetic powder that produces greater velocity than most standard powders. Blackhorn 209 is very similar with similar results but has a higher ignition point which pretty much requires you to need a 209 primer. Swiss and Olde Eynsford are true black powders that give the same results as the above mentioned powders (same volume). It takes less powder to achieve what say standard Goex or Pyrodex would use.

Triple 7 seems to form a "crud ring" when used in inlines. I don't know if this is due to a 209 primer or a heavier charge. I don't see any in my .50 cal rifle when I use a 70 grn charge, and there are others who don't see it either. There's very little residue left unlike Pyrodex, which I hate. I used it to break in my weapons as my father gave me several cans.

 

[phonejack]

I dropped my charge down to 80 grn and as long as I run a spit patch down after each shot I don't get the crud ring any more.