50 cal hunting bullet

[teflonhunter]

Looking for recommendations for a 50 cal conical for hunting. Rifle is an early TC Hawkin. I already cast bullets for other rifles so a mold recommendation is fine too.

 

[deerstalkert]

lee real with a felt wad over the powder.

 

[TDM]

TC Maxi Ball and as @deerstalkert said the Lee REAL. The Lee molds/moulds for the REAL are fairly easy to find.

 

[Spikebuck]

When shooting conicals, I always had the best luck with those that have a hollow base. I found I could dispense with the wad between the powder and bullet since the explosion seemed to flare the skirt enough to seal without adding a wad component.

I shot the Hornady Great Plains in .54 (now only made in .50) and my wife used the Buffalo Ball-et, which would be the same as the Hornady Pennsylvania (PA) Conical, with exceptional results...no wad.

https://www.midwayusa.com/product/1002235363
https://www.midwayusa.com/product/1002234681
While I have not used these, others have reported great results with No Excuses muzzleloading bullets.

https://www.muzzleloading-bullets.com/
Good luck in your search.

 

[chorizo]

It depends on what you are striving for. 125 Yards or less...100 yards or less? Deer or elk?

No Excuses gives you a range of weights and diameters to ty to see what shoots best so that would be nice to fit bullet to bore and to game. I, as other here, recommend a felt OP wad.

For deer under 125 yards I have found the Hornady Great Plains 385 HP-HB is accurate in my faster twist carbines.

 

[Christophero]

I dearly miss the original style T/C Maxihunter mold I lost in a move. That was a tack driver of a design and killed many deer for us from 20 to 175 yards. I should buy another one when available.

Thing is, though, I've rarely seen animals drop dead right there with a roundball, heavy conical or a 425 ounce 12 gauge slug. They were lethal hits, but the death run was the expected result. Even with a 420 grain WFN 45 caliber traveling faster out of a 45/70 the DRT factor is hit and miss. Dead, yes. Dead on the spot, eh, only twice. I'm a firm believer in a dandy chunk of soft lead on medium and big game, just realistic from experience about how they perform. Someone equates Blackpowder firearms, the traditional type we use, to being archery on steroids. Yep, that is a good description.

My thoughts on the Maxiball type of conical is that it works, but not much expansion on deer size game animals. Been told that they mushroom out better on elk and the like, which makes sense. Those with wider, flat noses (WFN) impart far more trauma for the lighter beasts. A small hollow point doesn't hurt, either. I've drilled a few noses with a 1/8" bit to help facilitate expansion for hunting deer. Didn't hurt accuracy or terminal ballistics.

Those suggestions above are stellar. Hope you get it dialed in and make meat readily.

 

[teflonhunter]

It depends on what you are striving for. 125 Yards or less...100 yards or less? Deer or elk?

No Excuses gives you a range of weights and diameters to ty to see what shoots best so that would be nice to fit bullet to bore and to game. I, as other here, recommend a felt OP wad.

For deer under 125 yards I have found the Hornady Great Plains 385 HP-HB is accurate in my faster twist carbines.

I should have stated the hawken will be used for deer and hogs. I have muzzleloader hunted in the past. I'ts been a while since and I was wondering what is popular today. Shots will be 100 yards and less.

 

[chorizo]

Yeah, the Hornady Great Plains 385 gr HP-HB with around 90 to 100 gr of FFG should give you around 1300-1400 fps depending on what powder you use.

Plenty good enough for deer and hogs under 100 yards, no matter their size.

 

[teflonhunter]

lee real with a felt wad over the powder.

Thank You Sir. I bought a mold , cast and lubed the REAL bullets and put over the felt wad and get one oval hole groups at 50 yards.

 

[gpsd55]

Under 200 yds- no big deal shoot a 300 gr Hornady .452 XTP with 45 grs AA5744 and MMP short black sabot. It is a factory recommended load, it is cheap, and it is very effective. I have tested this load in with either the 250 gr XTP or the 300 gr XTP in about 12 rifles, and it always shoots to the factory accuracy guarantee of 3 shots - 1 1/2 inches. I do not feel the 250 xtp is the best bullet choice as penetration occasionally can be an issue, but that is resolved with the 300 gr version.

Over 200 yds- I vote with Tar12- Barnes Original (BO) .458 300 gr. Semi Spitzer, 60 grs N120, Black Harvestor crush rib sabot. MV 2250-2280 sight in 3 in high at 100, dead on at 200, and 18 inches low at 300. It has been the most consistent long range killer in the 50 cal of which I am aware. A good shooter with a rifle set up right can keep this load under 2 moa at 300 yds. This load has many kills in excess of 250 yds. A few years back we kept a score board of deer killed with the BO on this board, and we had over 100 deer reported. Interesting thing was that out of over 100 deer killed, we only had 1 bullet recovered. Reason for this is that regardless of angle, deer size, or distance out to 300 yards, the BO almost always gets complete penetration.

 

[chorizo]

Under 200 yds- no big deal shoot a 300 gr Hornady .452 XTP with 45 grs AA5744 and MMP short black sabot. It is a factory recommended load, it is cheap, and it is very effective. I have tested this load in with either the 250 gr XTP or the 300 gr XTP in about 12 rifles, and it always shoots to the factory accuracy guarantee of 3 shots - 1 1/2 inches. I do not feel the 250 xtp is the best bullet choice as penetration occasionally can be an issue, but that is resolved with the 300 gr version.

Over 200 yds- I vote with Tar12- Barnes Original (BO) .458 300 gr. Semi Spitzer, 60 grs N120, Black Harvestor crush rib sabot. MV 2250-2280 sight in 3 in high at 100, dead on at 200, and 18 inches low at 300. It has been the most consistent long range killer in the 50 cal of which I am aware. A good shooter with a rifle set up right can keep this load under 2 moa at 300 yds. This load has many kills in excess of 250 yds. A few years back we kept a score board of deer killed with the BO on this board, and we had over 100 deer reported. Interesting thing was that out of over 100 deer killed, we only had 1 bullet recovered. Reason for this is that regardless of angle, deer size, or distance out to 300 yards, the BO almost always gets complete penetration.

Need to read the rules: We don't talk, post, nor do sabots of any type in this forum.

Rule #9
https://www.muzzleloadingforum.com/threads/forum-rules.108881/

 

[Dave91]

Similarly, I also hunt with an early T/C Hawken (Renegade). I shoot 320 grain T/C pre-lubed Maxi-Balls with 90 grains of Hodgdon Pyrodex. That load shoots great out of my gun and I've easily recovered every whitetail on which I've made a halfway decent shot. Those bullets come in a variety of grains so it should be easily to play around and see what shoots best. All of my shots have been inside of 100 yards.

My most recent kill with that gun was early this month and it's the only time I haven't had a pass-thru shot. The shot was only 30 yards and the deer was angled towards me. I shot just inside the front shoulder and it ran about 80 yards with almost no blood trail since there was no exit wound (however, the internal bleeding was extensive). It was just before sunset and luckily I saw that tell-tale white belly on the ground as I walked in the direction it ran off. That's the only time things got a bit sketchy with this gun/load. Every other time it's been an easy recovery with great blood trails.

 

[Dobegrant]

My .50 is an in-line so not comment on.50, but my .54 Lyman really likes the the TC maxi ball prelude bullets 365 gr in a .54

 

[64Springer]

Word of the day: Prelude. Loading powder and ball is the prelude to shooting or hunting.

Not to be confused with: Prelube. A greasy/waxy substance applied to a bullet. Sometimes yellow with a minty fresh scent.