.54 Rifle Loads

[Jerry]

Would like to see some favorite .54 rifle Rice rifle barrel loads. Thanks, Jerry

[Bigmon]

I been shooting a 54 cal 38" B weight Colerain since 1996.
Tried all kinds of load variations.
Always go back to 75Gr FFG Goex, .530 or .535 round ball with .018 pillow ticking.  Lubed with moose milk for just shooting, or use a grease lube for hunting.
It is a sure fire shooter and has brought in a lot of venison.  A couple times out around 150+ yards.  But mostly 50 yds and closer.
And it will cut the same hole on paper if you can see well enough.
That leaves me out.
 

[john bohan]

 mine shoots well with .535 ball, 018 pillow ticking patch. 80 grains of 2f swiss or 90 grains of goex, mink oil patch lube.

[HSmithTX]

I use the 90 grain mark on my measure, never weighed to see what it actually is, of 2F and a .530 swaged ball, .020" patch with all the mink oil I can get in it. Prime the pan with 4F. I started at 70 and went up 5 grains at a time until it shot a tight group at point of aim, that happened at 90 grain mark and I haven't deviated from that load since. 

[Prairie dog shooter]

Would like to see some favorite .54 rifle Rice rifle barrel loads. Thanks, Jerry

My 54. Rice barrel has square bottom groves.  I load hand cast 530 balls with pocket drill patching.  The most accurate powder charge is 90 grains of 3-f or 100 grains of 2-f.  My target load is 70 grains of 3-f which groups just as tight as the other loads with less recoil, and poi is two inches lower at 100 yards. 

[Kurt]

Green Mountain barrel 80 grains 2F a .530 ball and .018 patch lubed with dish soap for targets and bore butter for hunting.

[Not English]

54 swamped Colerain 42" barrel. I've never worked up a load. I bore sighted it on a picnic table when building it. First time out, I loaded it with 80gr of 3fg because that's what I had at the time.It shot dead on with a 535 spit patched ball. Hunting, it's a 530 with a greased patch. All patches are .018 pillow ticking. It's a really great tack driver and shoots better than I am capable of using.

[Daniel Coats]

My .54 GRRW guns all liked the same thing. .018 greased patch 80 grains of 2f by measure not actual weight and.530 ball for the first shot and.526 ball for the follow up shot which was almost never needed. Target shooting I never bothered with other than preseason practice for hunting and that was off hand mostly.

Yeah yeah I realize the question is about.54 rice barrels but today I would still start with .018 and 80 and .530.

[Daryl]

Would like to see some favorite .54 rifle Rice rifle barrel loads. Thanks, Jerry

Jerry, you didn't note whether your barrel had rounded rifling or what is normally referred to as square.
In either, I would start with a .535" ball and 10 ounce denim, roughly .021" thick. For hunting, Track's mink oil or Neetsfoot Oil.
For plinking, any water based lube, ie: water soluble oil and water, about 10:1 will work well.  I also use WWWF plus a bit of
Neestfoot Oil as it will not freeze.
WWWF is winter windshield washer fluid - about 12 ounces of fluid with 1 ounce of oil.
A back usually outlasts the winter season, so the oil is to reduce the evapouration when shooting in the summer. This concoction
shoots to the same point of impact, as straight saliva, which also works as well in the spring, summer and fall.
As far as powder charge goes, from .50 on up, my first load tried is 85gr. 2F. I go up from there to find the accuracy load. That will not be the
same with a water based lube, as it is with the oil or grease, normally.  Only in my .69, are the impacts and accuracy loads the same with each lube.
In no other calibre did this happen.

[MuskratMike]

I have two .54's that I shoot regularly. I shoot 75 grains of Goex 3F (about 92 grains of 2F equivalent) a .530 round ball with .018 ticking patch. I lube the patch with a 50/50 mix of TOTW mink and pure neatsfoot oil. Haven't had to track an elk, bear or Russian boar as they all dropped on the spot.

[Pukka Bundook]

When I had a .54 it was a Hawken type, and for target it shot awful well with 60 grains of 2F.

For hunting I just doubled it. (120 grs 2F) and it still shot awful well, just 2 inches higher at 100 yards.
We have some open country here in Alberta, but not shot a muley past 145 yards with that rifle.

These loads worked so well I never altered them.

Patch was Irish linen pillow case  you couldn't hardly see the sun through, lubed with deer tallow.
Ball was a .530"

[Hawg]

I don't have a Rice barrel but I have a Douglas and a Green Mountain. I use 90 grains of Swiss 3F with a .530 ball and a 0.10 canvas duck patch crush measured. I'm not sure what it measures with just a contact measure. Hunting lube is olive oil. Plinking lube is water and Dawn dish soap.

[Daryl]

All my patches are 'crushed' before measured, with either calipers or a mic. There is absolutely no value in an noncrushed measurement.
I measure 10 ounce denim at .021" now. A few years back, the material the store had listed as 10 ounce, measured .0225". These both work
in the same rifles with the same balls .010" to .005" under bore size.

[RobertLosekamp]

My Colonial Rice barrel likes a .530 cast, .018 cotton drill, spit or Frontiers Bear Paws lube on 80gr of 3f Scheutzen.

50 yard target before touching the sights. I'm confident the gun is more accurate than I am.

[recurve]

hoyt barrel iikes sw 3 f 70 grns .20 denim with tallow lube

top 1st shot clean barrel (load workup) next 3 touch than moved sights to hit center

[PEARL DRUMS]

Mine shot nice with an .018 patch. But, even better with a .020. .530 ball with 80 grains 3F Schuetzen.

[Darkhorse]

For over 25 years my goto load in my colrain .54 barrel has been 80 grains 3fg, .018 pillow ticking patch, and the much hated, much maligned bore butter for the lube. I started shooting the bore butter with a previous .54 with good success. It shoots just as good with the colrain and won't rust the barrel when kept loaded.
FWIW, my .40 Rice doesn't get the BB treatment.