54cal. renegade load

[tanoose]

I will finally get a chance to shoot my renegade in a couple if weeks, its a 54 caliber and i am using hornady 425 grain, great plains bullets. I have some loads ready of 90 and 100 grains of FF black powder.I will be hunting black bear this fall from a ground blind with shots 20-40 yards. Will these loads be good , or should i work up to the max of 120 grains of powder?

[Lawful Larry]

I have an Investarms Sportized Hawkens in .54 cal.  I ended up with using 75 grs. of 2f and the same Hornaday GP bullet.  I actually found the lower charge to be more accurate and less damaging to my old shoulder.  I think if you research it, you will find that in this case less is more.  Try the lower charges next time you go to the range.  At the distances you are talking about, I don't think you will be disappointed.

You may want to try the Maxi-Hunters and Maxi-Ball bullets.  They shot extremely well in my gun. 

[TNrifleman]

I have two 54 caliber Renegade rifles and love them. The Great Plains bullet over 90 to 100 grains ( or even 80 grains) of FFg is plenty for the type of hunting you mentioned. I also agree that you may want to try the T/C Maxi Hunter and Maxi Ball conical bullets. My rifles shoot both quite well. Good hunting.

[Will Bison]

Yes, by all means try some of the different bullets. Me thinks you may want to back down from the 90-100 grain loads. Consider that the .45-70-405 is more than enough gun for Black Bear.

[jlbeebe]

I have a .54 hawkins my dad bought from dixie gunworks many moons ago. We found that the maxi ball over 90 grains of ffg to be just the ticket. I have only shot deer with set-up but I believe it would put a big hole in a bear as well. I used this rifle to kill my first muzzy deer with 60 grains of ffg and it put a hole through her and kept right on going to who knows where.

[Lawful Larry]

I used this rifle to kill my first muzzy deer with 60 grains of ffg and it put a hole through her and kept right on going to who knows where.

Exactly the point I was trying to make.  It is not necessary to power stuff these front loaders with large amounts of powder.  60 to 70 grains of 2F will do just fine under most conicals or PRB's.  No sense in blowing out your shoulder just to prove a point that you can handle it.  Don't believe me?  Try doing some penetration tests and see for your self.     

[caverun]

I will be taking my .54 renegade to Colorado for an elk hunt this fall. Decided to work up a load for the maxi-ball that I cast from a mould I got for a good price off Ebay. I am using a TC hunting tang sight with the original post front sight. I have had the rifle for 20 or more years and have always used 90 grains 2F with round ball. Very accurate and pleasant to shoot. The maxi-ball weighs 405 grains-I have a 2 grain tolerance. Just got back from the range a couple of hours ago. My load for this bullet is 110 grains of 2F. The bullet is lubed with a really cool lubing tool I also found on Ebay-I use TC Bore Butter Bullet Lube (comes in plastic jar and is thicker than bore butter in tube). This load shoots one ragged hole at 25yds, about an inch and a half group at 50 yds and about 3-4 inch groups at 100 yards. I chronographed the load today with an average of 1350fps. With a 100 yard zero, bullet impact at 25yds is about an inch high and at 50 yards is about 3 inches high. Recoil is tolerable for me, but I shoot alot. Also noticed I can shoot several shots without cleaning and there is no effect on accuracy or loading difficulty.

I also tried 120 grains of 2F to see the difference in velocity and recoil. Added 75 fps (to 1425) but it was a painful 75fps. No need for this in my opinion. 

[tanoose]

Thanks for all your help , a few others mentioned to me also  that the lighter grain loads would work.I'll see how the 90 and 100's shoot and give the lighter loads a try. I guess the 120 grain loads would be for longer range or maybe even for elk. Thanks again Tanoose

[wickerbill]

I only have one thing to say for 120 grains of ffg and a gp bullet in a Renegade, ouch.   By all means, drop that charge.
Bill

[Lawful Larry]

I only have one thing to say for 120 grains of ffg and a gp bullet in a Renegade, ouch.   By all means, drop that charge.
Bill

I agree, and oh yeah -- it is also a big waste of powder.

[tanoose]

I shot the .54 this weekend and shes a pleasure to shoot. I shot both the 90 and 100 grain loads . Next time out i will try some lighter loads. The only problem i had was that i wanted to sight her in around 2" high at 50 yards and with my T/C peep rear at its highest elevation i could only get 1"low at 50. But when i came home i found i had a spare front sight from my 45 Hawken that is alot lower and i'll use it next time out and that should fix my problem, and if not iI could always try the lighter 360 T/.C maxi ball, with a higher velocity of the 360 should put me right on. I do have one question though i am using 2f black powder can i try 3f or should i stick with the 2f.

[Lawful Larry]

It amounts to 6 of one half dozen of another.  But just remember that the 3F powders runs higher on the pressure factor.  Back off on the 3F, say start at 70 grains and work up from there.  This would be a good time for you to see that less is more.  Check out the ballistics with less powder.  This may prove to you that you don't have to stuff large and copious amounts of powder to get the same results. 

[tanoose]

Again thanks for the info on the lighter loads i am going to try them my next time out as a matter of fact i loaded up some loads last night in my speed loaders some 70-90 grain  and i just had to try some 120 grain loads i loaded up 3 of them. I did something different as i am trying Pyrodex RS , this will be the first time i didn't use Black Powder. I'll report back in a couple of weeks . Tanoose

[Gregory]

I plan to use my 54 Renegade with a 338 gr "Ball-et" over 100 gr 2F Goex for this years NY late ML season.  Black Bear is a possibility.  This load is very accurate at 40 yds, I need to test at longer range before the season opener.

 

[Paleface]

From my experience 90 grains of ffg is about the 'just right' amount of powder. I used this load with several diffent muzzloaders, from 50's with 1-28 twist to round ball in a 45, and and a 54 with a 1-48. Grandpa swears by 90 grains with a lee real bullets he casts that is 250 grain. He has a t/c renegade 50. Less fouling is another plus of this load. I have tried pyrodex pellets and powders and prefer real black powder.

[rex6666]

this year i put a Green Mt. 1-28 twist on my T/C Hawkin 50 cal, been shooting 450-460gr
conicals, have arrived at about 87gr of FFFG Goex. don't ask how i got their, was shooting
back and forth 85-90 gr just decided to split the dif. and BAM their it was 4" group about
1" high at 100yds. just goes to show you. i had started with 100gr FFFG and backed off that
rather sudden, think i have the Medicine for those N.M. elk come Oct.6th

[buzzy]

  I shoot a 54 renegade for deer.  I have never been able to recover the lead from any deer I shoot with a 540 grain maxi TC conical with 90 grains of hodgman RS as I have always had  the deer go right down with complete pass thru of the the 540 grain maxi. I guess my point is if this heavy slug drives thru the deer how much powder do you need?  This load however is a killer on my shoulder & cheek when shooting at the range. It seems 90 grains works best in my gun for any wt. maxi. I have not ever tried shooting sabots in this gun so can't make a comparison