.54 Hawken or inline for elk?

Elkduds · Jan 2, 2015

Been doing what hunters do in the winter, shopping. I have a Lyman Deerstalker in .54, which I like pretty well. It has Lyman aperture sight, and I'm good w that setup out to 120 yds. I'm in CO, so I am limited to iron sights, no pellets and no sabots. This one does OK w powerbelts. I use it mostly for elk.

Any informed opinions about why I should consider converting to inline?

FrontierGander · Jan 2, 2015

great rifle for elk. An inline only has modern style conveniences such as a modern rifle stock feel, fiber optics, inline ignition. Its nothing huge that throws your hands up in the air and praise you as being a holy sniper because you have an inline.

Your rifle should have a 1:48 twist which will do great with conicals or patched round balls. My first elk I killed at 140 yards with 80gr pyrodex rs and a .530" round ball.

I'd suggest either the 338gr platinum powerbelt or the 348gr lead flat point powerbelt.

Many other conicals like the maxiball, great plains bullet for your rifle.

Salmon · Jan 3, 2015

For over 20 yrs I have used the 54 cal T/C New Englander with 120gr of 2ff blackpowder and the Maxi-Ball. Have never had a elk get away and have killed quite a few from cows to 6pt bulls. Think you will be fine.

TripleSe7en · Jan 4, 2015

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Any informed opinions about why I should consider converting to inline?

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Ignition improvement and much better weather-proofing are reason-enough.

FrontierGander · Jan 5, 2015

LAST EDITED ON Jan-05-15 AT 02:05PM (MST)[p]ignition improvement is only if you using #11 caps with low grade black powder subs... like t7

Keep that stuff for 209 primers.

Water proofing is easy to do with a sidelock as well. In fact my round ball SEALS the bore. A conical or sabot do not.

Whiterock · Jan 15, 2015

I hunted for years with a T/C Renegade 54 cal. left hand. Took many animals with it.Never had aproblem but as I got older I bought a newrifle for the reduced weight. The Renegade was heavy for me for a mountain hunt.

Elkduds · Jan 16, 2015

Deerstalker is 41" long, weighs 7.5 lb. Easy to carry up and down, through the trees, all day long. Thanks for the thoughtful replies so far!

HuntMuch · Jan 19, 2015

I shot a .58 Hawken for elk for a long time and switched to inline for the simple facts of weight and ignition certainty. I don't get a lot of shooting time and I feel the inline has a slightly flatter trajectory. Plus I've ruined few fingers, ramrods and hunts digging loads out in bad weather. Haven't had the need to since switching to inline.

TripleSe7en · Jan 19, 2015

I did similar... sold the sidehammers and only use inlines now.

TripleSe7en · Jan 19, 2015

>I shot a .58 Hawken for
>elk for a long time
>and switched to inline for
>the simple facts of weight
>and ignition certainty. I don't
>get a lot of shooting
>time and I feel the
>inline has a slightly flatter
>trajectory. Plus I've ruined few
>fingers, ramrods and hunts digging
>loads out in bad weather.
>Haven't had the need to
>since switching to inline.

I did similar and only shoot inlines nowadays.