When I first tried muzzleloading back in about 1990, the most popular caliber was the .54 cal. Now that I have gotten back into it, the most popular by far is the .50 followed by the .45. No one ever even mentiones a .54. You see used ones for sale and nobody buys them. I don't even think they are sold new anymore?

Many of us still have and use a 54 caliber. I have several. In a traditional rifle that shoots round ball, I prefer them.

I think .54's are cool, I have one.

Honestly though, I personally can't ever remember .54's being the rage...seems (to me) that .50's have always been it. They certainly seemed to have more popularity a while back. I would like to get a .45 someday also.

Actually about thirty years ago, all you ever saw were the .54 and the .58 caliber. But remember, there were no inline rifles then. When I first got into the sport most of the .50 calibers you saw were custom jobs. Actually there were a lot of military rifles and muskets back then also. But when I went to purchase my FIRST rifle ... I had a choice of a .54 Renegade or a .54 T/C Hawkins. I took the Renegade because it was cheaper.

A .54 is still the most popular with traditional sidelock hunters using a PRB.

Inlines it's definitely the .50. More because of more bullets are available than anything else. Ballistically, the .45 is a better choice.

I'm assuming you are talking about traditional side hammers...

I started with a .45 flintlock back in 1977 then made a .54 caliber flintlock in 1988...I then converted the .45 to a .40...

In inlines, everyone I know has a .50...

[QUOTE=nchawkeye;3921762]I'm assuming you are talking about traditional side hammers...
QUOTE]



Most of the Knight MK-85's where .54 cal at least here in Washington. In fact one of my buddies still hunts with his MK-85 .54 that he bought when they first came out. Even he says thats what everyone used back then.

I've always used a .50 and an occasional .45 (traditionals) But after being on this forum for a while now, I got myself a 1:70 twist GM percussion barrel in .54 to shoot PRBs and found that it is extremely accurate and very lethal. It is beginning to become more and more my favorite.

I have a passionate love affair going with the .54 and patched balls in sidehammers. For me it's the "bestess".

But I have no desire for a .54 in-line. If you're going to shoot pistol bullets and sabots, the .50 makes more sense to me, or even the .45 with the right twist and bullet. But I believe success in an in-line is easier to achieve with the .50 simply because of the pretty much standard 1:28" twist and the availablity of a variety of components.

I like .54 inlines in part because they allow for firing .50 conicals with sabots.
I think that they have a dedicated following, so I wouldn't say that no one buys them. If someone were going to hunt some of the largest game animals on the continent then I think that they would like to use a .54.
Folks are still buying the Lyman .54 Plains pistol and .54 rifles, especially with a round ball twist.
Maybe .54's are not as popular as they were, but folks still scoff up the .56 Renegade smoothbores.
Another popular model, the Remington 700ML was made in .54 too, and they may be worth more than a .50.
pluckit recently bought a Traditions .54 Deerhunter kit. It shoots saboted bullets really well and he seems to like it a lot.