Round balls

[Haxton]

How many of you use round balls for hunting elk?

 

[CoHiCntry]

I do now. Finally made the switch to PRB. Was shooting big conicals before.

 

[lonedave]

I do. .595 ball over 90 gr Goex through a .62 caliber Green Mountain barrel rifled 1:72 by Ed Rayl in a TC Hawken.

 

[fishslap]

I do. I’ve taken two bulls. Accuracy is great with the right ball, patch, powder combo. Getting the powder volume right made the biggest impact to accuracy. I have a 54 now and getting a 58 built.

 

[Runningwater]

One more here. .54 in a TVA Virginian flintlock.

 

[Kobuk]

I drew a cow moose tag and was thinking of using my 54 cal percussion. I can shoot it good. I would rather have a 58 but this is what I own. Has anyone used their 54 on a large elk or moose? I'm wondering on what kind of penetration you got with your prb? I am hoping to get complete pass through out to 50-60 yards?

 

[Runningwater]

IMO you'll have no issues with pass through with a .54 rb (or 58 ftm) at that range. .58s are cool - but often if you don't get a heavier barrel the increased mass you get with the 58 you lose on the velocity, so it can end up as a push. I'd say the 58 wins say under 60 and the 54 just from shooting flatter maybe from 60-100. Just a guess.

 

[Feurhand]

I have a .54 T/C with 1:48" twist barrel and it shoots PRB very well. Went elk hunting last year using PRB, but didn't get a shot so no info on how well it works. From what I've read, round ball is underrated these days but traditional ML hunters are going back to it more and more.

If you want to shoot PRB and conicals a .58 makes sense, but if PRB is your focus I would step up to the .62.
Check out James Forsythe's book "The Sporting Rifle and its Projectiles" for great info on PRB hunting.

The Sporting Rifle and Its Projectiles : James Forsyth : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive

Book digitized by Google from the library of the New York Public Library and uploaded to the Internet Archive by user tpb.

archive.org

 

[idelkslayer]

2 cow elk with a .530 RB and 100 grains FFG Swiss black powder. First cow, small cow, 50 yards, bad shot on my part as she turned away, entrance in the hip, broke femur, passed up into stomach but did not puncture diaphragm, finishing shot to the head/neck junction. Second cow, large cow, broadside, 30 yards, ball broke a rib on the way in and broke a rib on the opposite side and stopped; she went down in 20 yards.

I would have expected a pass through on the second cow if she had been a little farther away. The higher impact velocity up close makes for faster expansion and less penetration, to a point. I briefly looked for the ball in the soupy mess of her chest cavity, I regret I didn't look long enough to find it to see how much the ball had flattened.

 

[William Sublette]

I drew a cow moose tag and was thinking of using my 54 cal percussion. I can shoot it good. I would rather have a 58 but this is what I own. Has anyone used their 54 on a large elk or moose? I'm wondering on what kind of penetration you got with your prb? I am hoping to get complete pass through out to 50-60 yards?

Most of the mountain men used rifles that were .50 to .54 cal.

And they lived on buffalo.

 

[Kobuk]

Most of the mountain men used rifles that were .50 to .54 cal.

And they lived on buffalo.

First, thank you for all of the responses. I was also thinking about casting some balls with wheel weights to help slow down expansion and as I said before, I'd love a bigger bore rifle! As far as buffalo, i am just imagining them out on the open plains where after you shot one and it ran off you were able to track it or just watch it drop. Not so much in the thick crap I'll be in. My hunt isn't a muzzleloader hunt but I haven't been able to draw one of those tags. I just think it would be pretty special to shoot one with a PRB. I'm just trying to decide if it would be worth the risk vs using my 375 knowing that it is the better tool for the job. I'd hate to loose an animal just because I wanted to do something different. I don't seem to find many muzzleloaders for sale up here, especially in a side lock. I'm not interested in an inline.

 

[30338]

I've shot 3 large whitetail and mule deer bucks and 2 antelope in the last 4 years using patched roundballs from 54 and 58. They kill very emphatically. I would have 0 issue shooting a bull elk with one under 100 yards.

If you may shoot past 100 or want to take steep quartering shots, a 375 H&H affords more leeway for sure.

 

[Haxton]

Good information- Thanks for the input!

 

[William Sublette]

First, thank you for all of the responses. I was also thinking about casting some balls with wheel weights to help slow down expansion and as I said before, I'd love a bigger bore rifle! As far as buffalo, i am just imagining them out on the open plains where after you shot one and it ran off you were able to track it or just watch it drop. Not so much in the thick crap I'll be in. My hunt isn't a muzzleloader hunt but I haven't been able to draw one of those tags. I just think it would be pretty special to shoot one with a PRB. I'm just trying to decide if it would be worth the risk vs using my 375 knowing that it is the better tool for the job. I'd hate to loose an animal just because I wanted to do something different. I don't seem to find many muzzleloaders for sale up here, especially in a side lock. I'm not interested in an inline.

We wouldn't be here if soft lead roundballs weren't effective.

 

[87TT]

We kill them with arrows all the time. Just be able to pass the marginal shots. I would not be afraid to use a round ball from my .50. But I love my bow too much. Save the flinter for deer.

 

[Kobuk]

I guess in theory that it should work just fine. I'm not one of those guys that wonder if my (fill in the blank small rifle) is sufficient for a T Rex! haha That just seems dumb to me. I've seen quite a few large animals shot with several different calibers and it is very apperant on which calibers work better than others in the field. I know that dead is dead but there is dead, eventually and dead now. I want to make a clean kill where I can find the animal right away which is why I am asking so I wont' be That Guy! It's hard for me to compare what happened to a smaller animal like a deer or elk to a moose. I'm all excited now but I would sure be mad at myself if it goes south. I guess like with anything, you won't know until you try! I'll also be hunting with a partner and he will have his rifle if I am not able to get within 75 yards. We live on fish and game for the year so I am definetly a meat hunter first.

 

[Kobuk]

Boy, it amazes me how effective a cutting tip arrow can be on an animal. It's just not in the cards for me. I think it would be to brushy and it is another hobby I haven't gotten into.

 

[Haxton]

thanks everyone