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Round Ball performance story and question

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my only flintlock buck was with a 45 cal patched round ball over 70 grains of 3f goex. the shot was 125 lasered yds. the ball clipped the near side shoulder blade (half the ball diameter) both lungs and penatrated the off side blade and was found under the hide. buck was found about 30 yards away.
so my take is a 45 cal patched round ball will do the job every day of the week if you do yours
A lot of deer have been killed with a .22 rifle but I don't think it is a good idea . A lot of times it will fail. The same results will happen with any cal. but I will lay odds that it will happen more often with a .45 cal. than a .58 or .54 cal.
With all the options out there there is no excuse for not moving the cal. up for deer hunting.
 
An article in the May/June Muzzleloader magazine shows photos of a long-hunter era bullet mold. No way near concentric! And, the sprue is almost as wide as the ball itself. Actually a hand-carved mold. An older book on the Appalachian mountain guns and way of life shows hand-carved molds, also. We are lucky to able to access such precision stuff and have it delivered to our doors, whereas the old-timers experienced life-or-starvation with the crude equipment they had. Best of luck to all. BTW, the word 'sprue' gets red-lined when I type it here; maybe the modern computer type guys never heard of a cast bullet with a sprue? Am I nuts or not? Sprue is a real word, no?
 
I have experienced similar results with a .45 and even the .54 PRBs when loaded heavy and ranges were close (under 50yds). perfect broadside shot opportunity no problem, penetration is adequate, change the angle just a little and a SLOWER ball or a HARDER ball will give better penetration. I'm still shooting pure lead...just paying more attention to shot angles. I am considering trying a 30/1 or 40/1 lead/tin mixture to avoid deformation on elk. don't believe it's necessary for deer.
 
A lot of deer have been killed with a .22 rifle but I don't think it is a good idea . A lot of times it will fail. The same results will happen with any cal. but I will lay odds that it will happen more often with a .45 cal. than a .58 or .54 cal.
With all the options out there there is no excuse for not moving the cal. up for deer hunting.
I don't fault the 45 hunters and surely not the 50 hunters. Most of my deer kills have been with 50 PRB. And I don't think we all need to move up to bigger bores....... but I have. 😀
 
I don't fault the 45 hunters and surely not the 50 hunters. Most of my deer kills have been with 50 PRB. And I don't think we all need to move up to bigger bores....... but I have. 😀
Yeah I had figured 50 would be just right for deer. Both deer I shot were in 225 to 250 pound range. The bears get bigger for sure, and I'd expect a 250-350 pound black bear this spring.
 
I've never killed a bear but many who have say they aren't very tenacious.

My last deer with a 50 was a lasered 78 yards with a 50 cal Traditions Deer Hunter (24" barrel). Shot was broadside and double lung with an exit. Mature mulie doe. Went about 30 yards in full view.
 
Hey all,

I'll try to keep things somewhat concise but I do need to lay down some details.

Three years ago I set out for my first white-tail hunt with my Pedersoli Tryon. I had practiced with this rifle a fair bit over summer and really got familiar with its behavior and had the sights set well for 50 yard shots. I would be hunting from a stand for morning and evening, and still hunting the woods during the day. I had been loading the rifle with 100 FFg and a 495 Hornady ball with patch.

At least that was the plan. I busted deer in the morning heading into my spot. I sat anyway for a bit and only saw a doe. I knew I had blew the deer out of there so I slipped away. I entered again late afternoon for a typical evening sit and sure enough, right around 5:15pm a nice old mature buck came sauntering in. I waited until he stopped, which happened to be about 15 yards. I settle the sight just inside the shoulder and fired. The buck dropped immediately and I could see something was strange. He was kicking legs and trying to drag himself off, but expired very quickly. It looked as though it were a spine hit, but that seemed odd considering where I had aimed. But a dead deer is a dead deer and it hadn't moved more than a couple feet.

That said, during field dress and field autopsy, I was curious about the performance of my first round ball hunt. Broadside shot, slight decline from the stand and I jusr clipped the scapula. The ball flattened like a quarter piece, deflected and clipped the spine. There was very minimal penetration and I thanked my stars it all worked out.

I had been reading previously about hunters getting full pass through on deer and what not but I certainly did not experience stellar performance. Instead I had experienced over-expansion, and no penetration of even slight bones like a scapula.

The next year I tried a different ball, using a Buffalo 490 and 90 grains of FFg. I had a nearly identical hunt. This time I stayed clear of any shoulder, the ball broke two ribs on entry, passed both lungs, broke one rib on opposite side and the ball stayed there, inside the hide. That deer wandered about 40 yards and died quickly. The scary thing was I was worried about the previous years performance and I saw almost no blood trail. It was a tough recovery because of the October foliage and zero blood to follow.

I'd like to hunt a black bear this spring, going out for a first sit this weekend. Do you think a load like 100 grains FFg and 490 ball is enough gun for the old black bear? If not, how do 1:48 twist barrels shoot conicals like the TC Maxi ball?

Thanks for your time and thanks for reading.
I have shot 8 black bears and none were over 15 yards away. 5 were with bow, 2 with ML'er, other with "newer" made "Smoothbore". You will want to lower your powder charge down 60-70 grains is plenty for a bear at normal bear ranges at least where we hunt.
 
This will seem counterintuitive, especially if the majority of your experience has been with suppository guns. But, 100 grains under a 50 caliber ball at close range can give those kind of results. It's sort of analogous to a soft bullet at close range from a high velocity centerfire.

And believe it or not, that shot would have had a good outcome even with a 60 grain charge.

Finally, DRT is good, so.........
Yep I was thinking 100 grains was a bit much. With that setup and round ball I woulda loaded about 70 grains.
 
Shot placement is critical in my opinion.

While not a grizzly bear, there are folks out there with blowguns using hatpin sized darts with small broadheads on them getting pass throughs on deer and killing black bear and hogs. All comes down to knowing your quarry’s anatomy and shot placement.
 
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Where's that legal?

There's also folks out there shooting there own pets over bait in a pen.

Do I need to run a list? Who's the worst Nugent of them all.

Some already rich and famous with no need to prove anything. There sitting pretty to begin with and they hunt like ka kaa.

Not bashing anyone but them.
 
A lot of deer have been killed with a .22 rifle but I don't think it is a good idea . A lot of times it will fail. The same results will happen with any cal. but I will lay odds that it will happen more often with a .45 cal. than a .58 or .54 cal.
With all the options out there there is no excuse for not moving the cal. up for deer hunting.

Your results are not unheard of, and as several others have suggested, you may be a bit overcharged, for pure lead.

I have a .54 and have gotten several pass through shots with a mere 70 grains of 3Fg and a .530 ball, and some were at more than 50 yards.
So I'd not go more than 80 grains on deer this year, and see what you achieve.

You might also consider working up a load with a lead alloy round ball instead, especially for the objective of penetration, and on a large bear. Harvesting some spent lead bullets from the local pistol range should give you enough alloy. Just remember that when cooled that alloy round ball will be a bit larger than it would be if it was all-lead. So you will likely need thinner patching material. Some fellows using such a load will then add some cornmeal on top of the powder charge between the powder and the alloy ball with the thinner patch to protect the patch. You should get much better penetration due to the lesser amount of deformation.

LD
 
I use a .54 cal. for deer. A .45 will take deer but it isn't the best choice for large game if using a ball.
I use to work in a sports shop when the owner needed extra help. I can't count the times I have heard the story," I know I hit that deer but he ran and I never found it" ? most were using .45 or .50 balls ? I thought for some time that it didn't take much to take a deer . I had no problem with a 226 grain ballin my .54 but even it needs good placement to be effected. I can't recall any of them say they were using conicals? All small calibers should use conicals if deer hunting. Conical will work in .45 cal. rifles.
👍
 
I've seen the results of conicals on elk and I've gotta say it was very impressive. When hit right, no tracking needed . And when field dressing, massive damage to bone and tissue with no bullets recovered. Those elk had no chance. My kind of odds!
“NoExcuse” makes some really nice conicals. Use to shoot them in my Gonic but concluded I may as well shoot my 06. Trying to figure out what makes my TC .56 sb work. It’s funner😊
 
“NoExcuse” makes some really nice conicals. Use to shoot them in my Gonic but concluded I may as well shoot my 06. Trying to figure out what makes my TC .56 sb work. It’s funner😊
I use a shop made .545" mold (I made it myself) round ball with .015" - .020" wonder lubed patch over 70-75 grains of 3f goex in both of mine fist sized groups at 100 yards and as Teddy said big medicine I wouldn't be afraid of using it on even bears at that range
 
I use a shop made .545" mold (I made it myself) round ball with .015" - .020" wonder lubed patch over 70-75 grains of 3f goex in both of mine fist sized groups at 100 yards and as Teddy said big medicine I wouldn't be afraid of using it on even bears at that range
Thanx! I wouldn’t take a shot over 50yds and since i’m north of 70 and hunt alone no big bucks for me. The load sounds perfect and will try it out soon.
Next step, find a mould. Awhile back, found a guy in UK who makes rb moulds in any size you want varying sizes by .001”. Not cheap so I didn't get involved. Will start looking for a mould.
 
Thanx! I wouldn’t take a shot over 50yds and since i’m north of 70 and hunt alone no big bucks for me. The load sounds perfect and will try it out soon.
Next step, find a mould. Awhile back, found a guy in UK who makes rb moulds in any size you want varying sizes by .001”. Not cheap so I didn't get involved. Will start looking for a mould.
there are occasionally TC ones for sale on broker or ebay or buy a 54 cal round ball one and pay to have it reworked at your local machine shop very affordable
 
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