Well instead of the Cabelas Hawken I asked about (and thanks again for all the info) my wife asked if that was the rifle I realy wanted or if there was another one I would rather have I said the Lyman great plains hunter in .54, well it's under the tree! Now I have to go back through the old posts and look up recomended loads,powder,ect. The only problem with this is the evil nasty woman wont even let me open it up to take a peek till Christmas.

The Great Plains Hunter is a 1-32 twist and is set up to shoot conicals and sabots. Start your loads at 80 grains and a .54 caliber maxiball and see what happens. Some other loads you might want to try are Great Plains Conicals, Powerbelts, and some No Excuse Conicals. The rifle should shoot one of them well. Also if they are flat based you might put a wonder wad under them.

You better keep that wife, when they buy guns like that they are few and far between...

You have a great rifle, although, IMO, it would be better if you got the Great Plains Rifle with the slow twist roundball barrel. I like shooting roundball and admit I am biased in that respect.Many newcomers underestimate the accuracy and killing power of roundballs. A .54cal roundball will take almost any North American game you are likely to hunt. The great thing is that you can buy a slow twist barrelfor your rifle, so take some time to get used to your rifle and then, in the future, I would urge you to consider getting a slow twist barrel and see how well it will shoot roundballs. Youmight even be able to shoot a patched roundball reasonably well from your rifle if youuse a tight ball and patch combination and keep the powder charge downaround 50 grns.

right.. if down the road he wants to shoot roundball, he can get the barrel and they are very reasonable.