.50 Calber for Elk?

[Urban Coyote]

I've killed 15 deer using a patched round ball over the years using .45, .50 and .54 caliber guns but I've never killed an elk with a muzzleloader. I've hunted elk using
.54, just never got a shot.

A state I hunt adopted it's first muzzleloader big game season, traditional and not this modern muzzleloader crap. Suddenly many from my annual camp have become interested in hunting with traditional smoke poles. I've a pretty fair collection of percussion rifles I could sell and some have expressed interest. Most of what I might sell are .50 Thompson Center guns, a mix of Hawken and Renegade models. Should I sell these .50 caliber guns elk would be on the menu for these folks.. So my question is have any of you killed elk with a .50 caliber rifle and if so what was your experience?

Thank you.

 

[William Lincoln]

50 Caliber will Take Elk, Bear and everything smaller than Africa's big five. It
sounds like you have some good pieces for sale etc. If you post those a few
at a time you will sell them here. To your first question, the key to get the Elk
is a shot in the Chest slight up and back of the shoulder- in the vital area. You hit
the big vessels,cardio & lungs--but you must plan the hunt. I like Wyoming
and Montana. Check the laws & conditions etc. as for your offerings I am
interested in possible other items like fowlers , shotguns. We will see more
"Traditional Muzzleloader Seasons" since the in-lines are now equal to
modern firearms in killing ability & function. In-lines should be treated as
a modern--just my view. Sorry but muzzleloading season should mean
traditional muzzleloading season--as it was first intended.

 

[GoodRabbitPilgrim]

By a state you hunt you're referring to Montana?

I've killed buffalo with 50 cal so elk should be fine.

 

[hanshi]

Where legal, a .50 prb will do you just fine.

 

[Crow-Feather]

PRB will work but I would prefer a slug as the rifles have 1:48 twist.

 

[mooman76]

I'd also prefer bugger but 50 will do the job if they do their part.

 

[sdhunter]

Haha, just watched a episode of western hunter on YouTube and he killed a nice 6x6 bull
At about 50 yards with a .50 Lyman Great Plains rifle and PRB. Seemed to do the trick just fine. He mentioned in the video that he did not feel comfortable past 75 yards with the combo, so take that for what it’s worth. I can’t speak from experience, but it seems conicals or maxi balls would be a great choice in the .50 if the twist rate was 48 or faster.

 

[Walkingeagle]

Well, I have gotten a few elk (several in fact) all taken in the hills and river valleys of western Alberta (fur trade and exploration areas in history) with bow, modern unmentionables, mid to late 19th century moderns and pre civil war muzzleloaders. It’s all projectile placement. Nothing more, nothing less! My muzzleloading elk have both been 1:48 and faster twist percussion, and I was shooting 90gr Pyro P under a self cast 370gr maxiball.
Walk

 

[Walkingeagle]

Oh, and within 60 yards.
Walk

 

[josie wales]

Just because you can doesn't mean you should. Elk are very hard to put down and I shudder when I see/hear people not using the right gun for the job. Whitetails are one thing Elk is a different story.

 

[Beerd2]

State with it's "first muzzleloader big game season" sounds like Montana.
9 day season starts this weekend. The elk have already been chased around for 3 months of archery & general firearms season, so it will be a hunt.
As stated above a 50 will do well within it's range. Just be willing to pass up a shot.
The cost of a non-resident elk tag being what it is, why not rebarrel a TC to 54 and be "loaded for grizz"?
..

 

[William Lincoln]

Getting close enough is the issue. Who wants to crawl for an hour like
Native Americans? In cold windblown snowing terrain. Back at the cabin,
how about a coffee and cuddle with Moma? Running down Elk with a
snowmobile or herding Elk with your drone is a NO NO.

 

[Ames]

A cuddle with mama still requires planning and crawling up on her for an hour.

 

[grndhntr]

I took a nice bull in Co in 2012 with a .490 PRB and 80 grains Pyrodex P. Shot was 35 yds. Ball got to the far skin and was recovered. Bull went 100 yard in seconds and died in sight. Colorado doesn’t allow this load anymore but it will work on an elk with a broadside shot (think archery).

 

[hanshi]

That is truly an awesome elk!

 

[Robby]

I prefer to have a little leeway in my decision making while hunting and would opt for a .58. Oh, I know beyond even a shadow of doubt a .50 will do the deed, its' just too limiting for me.
Robby

 

[Matthew323]

Doc White told me a story about a newcomer to Rendezvous that was walking around a camp back in the late 80's, early 90's.

Seems he had a new Hawken in either. 54 caliber, or .58 caliber, I can't remember which. He was showing off the rifle to anyone that would listen, and exclaiming how great of an elk killer it was going to be once he got to hunt with it.

He accosted one of the Gray Beard Old Timers, and asked him if he elk hunted. The man said yes. The Greenhorn then asked the man what he thought about his new rifle. The Old Timer told him that it was a nice rifle, and how he allowed that it would surely kill an elk.

The Greenhorn then asked the Old Timer what he hunted elk with. Mind you now this was a man in his late 50's, that had moved to the western United States as a young man in his early 20's. He had elk hunted every year that he had lived in, if I recall Doc's story correctly, Colorado.

The Old Timer reached into his shelter, and pulled out an Eastern-style longrifle in .50 caliber. He handed it to the Greenhorn, and asked him to count the number of notches located below the cheekpiece of the rifle. The Greenhorn did so, and when the Old Timer asked him to state out loud how many notches that there were, he replied, "There are 21 notches!!"

The Old Timer then proceeded to tell the Greenhorn, that it wasn't the size of the ball that mattered, so much as it was how close the hunter could get to the elk, and where he placed the shot.

 

[Robby]

"The Old Timer then proceeded to tell the Greenhorn, that it wasn't the size of the ball that mattered, so much as it was how close the hunter could get to the elk, and where he placed the shot."
Well, from one old timer to another, that would be true no matter what you hunt with.

 

[pamtnman]

On his “Meat Eater” show, Steven Rinella shoots a Colorado bull elk with a .50 caliber modern plastic contraption thingy, probably at 100 yards. It goes down, gets back up, and he loses it. One of the reasons Rinella is respected by so many consumers of TV hunting shows is he shares his failures and successes equally. In his final analysis of why the beautiful elk got away wounded, Rinella does not question the power / ability of the .50 for elk in general or at longer range. Because of this longstanding question, the percussion rifle I had made for elk hunting is a .62 caliber. I would feel a lot more confident with that. By the way, GroundHunter, that’s one dandy lifetime elk you got there. And at 35 yards no less. Congratulations! I’m tempted to poach your photo and post it every time I see a story or video about how a 36X scoped stainless steel .500 Magnum Nuclear Blackout Shockwave caliber is needed to assassinate elk from a mile away to qualify as a “real hunt.”

 

[Old Hawkeye]

It's not so much the caliber as it is what projectile you use & it's velocity that determine terminal performance. A 50 cal round lead ball weighs about 180 grains. 50 cal conicals weigh from about 270 to 420 grains. A mature bull elk weighs 700 or more pounds. This ain't rocket surgery. When hunting BIG animals use BIG, HEAVY bullets. I wouldn't shoot an elk with a 50 PRB past 50 yards. Round balls shed velocity quickly & become anemic at longer ranges. With a heavy conical, 100 yards or slightly more would not be unethical, if one is capable of placing the bullet in the vitals at that range. Just food for thought.