lymandeerstalker

[octwhitetail]

have a lyman deerstalker that i recieved as a gift quite a few years back and now am interested in hunting with it. could anybody tell what would be the best load for this rifle?its a 54 cal. thanx

[cayugad]

I shoot a Lyman Trade rifle in that caliber. It will shoot .530 or .535 ball. I am testing both ball right now to see which one shoots best. Last year I was hunting with a .530 ball, .018 patch, and 90 grains of Goex 2f. Mine is a flintlock, so shooting black powder is very necessary. If you do not think that load has some power, last year at 52 yards I shot length way through a deer and the ball even had enough powder to break the back leg as the final insult before it dropped the deer where it stood.

I would guess that the Deerstalker would shoot 80-100 grains of Pyrodex RS, or Goex, or any of the sub powders well. I would start with a lubed .015-.018 patch and a .530 roundball. If you find loading too easy, then go to a thicker patch or a larger .535 ball.

[arcticap]

You can start at around 60 grains and work your way up in 5 grain increments to find out when you start to lose too much accuracy with patched round balls.
This willalso help youdetermine your best target load & hunting load with them.
If thatbarrel hasa 1 in 48 inch twist, you might want to consider trying different types ofprojectiles too.
Then you could work up an optimumload for each projectile at a common hunting distance for your area, say 50 or 75 yards, and then move it out to 100 yards to seeits actual long rangetrajectory.
You may want to consider trying outa sabot with a mediumlength bullet of about 240 - 250 grains. Sabots canproduce excellent 1st shot accuracy out of a cold, clean barrel. Then you'llprobably needto load more powder like cayugad mentioned, but you shouldswab the barrel between shots when testing for best accuracy and to simulatethe barrel's condition when hunting.
My son's 1 in 48 inchtwist, .50 caliber, 24 inch barrelshoots TC Break-O-Way sabots with a 240 grainplain lead hollowpointreally well loaded with 90 grainsof Pyrodex P.
Patched round balls should work well too, but you want to check for 1st shot consistency with a heavier powder charge out of the 24 inch barrel.