gandilamont

How far do you think a .54 cal. ball will drop from 50 yards to 100 yards?

cayugad

This is taking for granted that you are sighted dead on at 50 yards.. correct?

The BC of a .530 round ball is .061 and the average fps speed with moderate powder charges can be figured at 1700 fps. I ran a ballistics program and if sighted dead on at 50 yards it claims it will drop -4.2 inches. In my shooting I find the actual distance closer to -3 inches.

What I do is take a 2" bull and at 50 yards sight in so all the roundball pack the top of that bullseye using a true 6 o'clock hold. Then I know at 75 yards the balls will be hitting almost dead center and at 100 yards they should be in the bottom or just under that bullseye. Then all you have to do is creep your hold if you are on a target range to make dead center shots at long range.

This way on deer I aim dead center of the lungs and if the deer is 100 yards I am still assured it will hit the heart and possible the bottom of the lungs. If the deer is closer I should take the top of the heart and cut the bottom of the lungs off. At 25 & 50yards I aim for the top of the heart area and it lungs them perfect.

http://biggameinfo.com/BalCalc.aspx There is a ballistics calculator for you to plug in those numbers. Remember, they are only numbers and you still need to test that on the range. Your powder charge, patch and even ball can all effect these numbers. My .54 like 90 grains of Goex 2f a wonder wad and a moosemilk patched roundball. If the target is 100 yards or closer, I will hit that with that combination.

Good luck with your rifle.

lemoyne

In order to give an accurate answer have to know the velocity or load and the barrel length.
my .54 with 36 inch barrel and 130gr RS is about 2.5 high at 50yd on at 100yd and 3 inches low @ 125yd and about 7 low at 150 yd. I built it to shoot long range for the Hawken match at Friendship and it has a step notch sight with the first step at 100 and the second at 175yd. Lee

roundball

My deer hunting load is:
90grns Goex 3F
Oxyoke wonderwad
.018" prelubed pillow ticking
Hornady .530

50yd zero, drops 3" at 100yds

Dave at Work

How much would a 435 grain Maxi Hunter drop from 50-100 yards if it's sighted in dead on at 50.

435 Maxi Hunter
54 Cal. Thompson Center Renegade
100 grains of FFg Black Powder.

cayugad

http://www.handloads.com/calc/bal.htm

according to a ballistic calculator that will figure the BC for you when it is an unknown variable, it says that sighted in dead on at 50 yards produces a -4.87 inch drop at 100 yards. All I can tell you from shooting R.E.A.L. conicals out of my .54 caliber Renegade. I use the 300 grain ones with my own lube and a wad under them. They are sighted in for 50 yards and when we were shooting one afternoon at clay birds set up at all distances, I kept shooting about three inches low at theones far out there. I would have to aim over the birds to hit them. This time the calculator might be right. Those big conicals drop pretty fast.

Dave at Work

Cayugad,

Thanks! I always wanted to try the REAL conicals, but all I ever see is the molds. Where do you buy them?

cayugad

I cast my own R.E.A.L. conicals for both .50 & .54 rifles. Now that I lucked out and got a nearlife time supply of free lead, I can start casting big time again.

I would have advised you to get them from http://www.blackjackhill.com/ but I learned yesterday that his wife passed away suddenly the other day, without warning, and he is kind of in limbo right now. He was telling me that if I had any orders with him (which I don't because they shipped last week) that it might be a long time before I got the bullets... So some information to others that might have an order with Bill Davis right now.. Judy passed away the other day and he will not be getting orders out for a while.

I am sure there must be some other casters out there that make R.E.A.L. conicals. I will see what I can find for you.

Dave at Work

Cayugad,

Very sad news about his wife.

Thank you once again. Have a good weekend.