.54 cal Deer - mission accomplished.

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My 2014 goal was to harvest a deer using real black powder and patch & ball. Well opening morning I shot this doe. The gun is a Thompson Hawken in .54 cal. I used 230 grain ball, .015 patch and 80 grains of FFFG.

Congrats, Thats an accomplishment!!

Well done and that is a real nice doe. Congrats

Good job man . Love the traditionalists myself . Have a .58 cal Zouve . Lots a fun .

congrates on a nice doe , same gun i used to shoot my bear this fall

Nicely done! Congratulations.

Congrats...Nice kill.

Did you get intersting info from the autopsy ? Was the shot a thru and thru, what distance, how much damage etc etc. ??

Nice...........

Thanks everyone.

MikePal....the shot was about 40 yards. The ball hit a rib and there were 3 or 4 small holes on the opposite side of the chest wall but not thru the hide. Maybe the ball broke apart or they were bone fragments?? I looked for the ball inside but could not locate it. To me it looked like all the energy was impacted in the deer and the damage was extensive. I concluded that the load was good for deer, but if I was moose hunting I should increase the powder charge to say 100 grains.

Thanks...looking at the carcass is how I evaluate a bullets performance...paper targets provide you squat info..it tells you where the ball is going...but totally misses what it's doing. :)

Chances are the ball will still be inside, just a little misshapen. It may have even rolled back into the center cavity and went out with the gut pile.

Yes I would think a .54 would handle 100grs easily. Give the ball a little more enery.

Good job. I'm told they flatten on impact and leave a hole like a saucer sinking in water.

Congrats! that is a really sharp looking rifle!

nice. those guns go boom alright!

Nice. Congrats. I have the exact same firearm, in .58 cal, and hope to do the same some fall.

My brother has been shooting a thompson centre for over 30 years in 54 calibre.He shoots the maxiball that is 430 grains out of this gun with open sites and has killed deer everyyear.Thompsons doesn't make the maxiball in 54 calibre anymore but he was fortunate enough to get an origanal thompson mould and he made 600 bullets this summer.I guess as long as the gun holds up he will have plenty of bullets for many years to come.

AWESOME !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Way to go hollywood!:thumbup:

I used 100gr 3f last year for mine with the 54. My Lyman has a bit longer barrel though. I think it's so cool listening for the deer to run because you can't see it through the smoke. lol

Congrats once again!!!

HA