First, bullets kill by stopping blood flow. To create a wound channel large enough to kill by removing large portions of the critter requires many times the energy needed to cleanly kill the animal. I have a 385 here somewhere that has been thru one side of a rib cage, the diaphram, paunch, and liver. It was fired over 100 grains of P at about 85 to 90 yards. I witnessed the shot, trailed the animal, and recovered the slug myself. It is about the size of a quarter. It destroyed three square inches of liver on it's way thru and then hit the flank skin on the off side that stretched and stopped the bullet from exiting. It destroyed plenty of tissue to very quickly bleed the animal out. An arrow that hit the same place and exited would result in a deer that ran 50 yards and bedded down. Since it did not exit, there was no place for the blood to escape in this case. The blood had to fill the abdomen, come back thru the diaphram, and then reach the hole high in the chest wall before it could leave the animal. A deer that I found hours later after I had bumped into it in the dark. It was on it's feet still and it was a very dark night. If the bullet breaks thru the flank so the blood can escape, the deer is dead very quickly and likely within sight of the shot.
A roundball placed properly will make a deer run like it's tail was on fire for about 25 yards and then they pile up. If it exits, you will have a decent blood trail to follow if things are thick. The 385 placed properly either drops them in their tracks from the massive shock wave it creates, or they run like their tails are on fire for 25 to 50 yards before they pile up!
The conical has several advantages. It is hard to get a 385 to stay in a whitetail. The instance I mentioned is the only case I have ever seen or heard of with the 385. Because of today's high deer numbers in a lot of places, following by tracks is pretty much impossible unless you are a very good tracker. And I mean very good! In the case I described, there were about 9 deer in a line slipping up a ditch. At the shot, deer flushed like a covey of quail and went in several directions at once. Without finding the first blood, there was no way to track the deer at all, or even to know which direction it went in. Please remember that you often can not see the game for a couple of seconds right after the shot with black or Pyrodex. Since they almost always exit, conicals produce good blood trails pretty quick. Roundball produces good blood trails, but they often don't start for about 35 yards or so.
That is the one big advantage to conicals for deer. They almost always exit and they produce good blood trails. That is important if you hunt public areas where quick recovery is required if you are going to tag your game. That is important in areas where the numbers are high and the deer trails are heavily used. That is even more important with a newcomer that is going to be excited and because of the smoke may not even be able to tell me which direction the deer fled.
I use a conical in a beginners gun every time I set someone up. That just helps me find the blood trail easier if the deer isn't down within sight. I am the tracker when things don't go right a lot of the time. I use a conical when I plan to shoot at 100 yards or better. That part is a no-brainer. My slug barrel will put the Lee target Minnie right where I want it way out past where I would shoot at game.
If I was going after Elk or Moose and I was paying for the trip of a lifetime, I would want the conical because it raises the chance of my expensive hunt being successful. Also, I have never hunted critters that big, so the beginner thing applies to me in that case.
Mostly I have a roundball loaded over 70 grains of powder in one of my roundball guns. Why? Because I shoot them all year. I go to gatherings where I shoot them in crazy ways that require that I know my gun and the load forwards, backwards, and sideways! I simply know pretty much exactly where the ball is going to hit on most shots when the gun goes off. That is more important on deer than what hits them. Even a 385 expanded to the size of a quarter is not a sure kill and retrieve bullet if it does not hit where you wanted it to.
Round ball is more pleasant to shoot because of the recoil. Round ball is cheaper to shoot. It is all you can shoot at most gatherings. It is perfectly capable of harvesting any animal that walks this continent. Only at longer ranges where wind drift asnd such become critical with round ball does the conical actually have an advantage for deer sized game in the killing department. I can't say about the larger critters because I don't have the experience to say.
A roundball placed properly will make a deer run like it's tail was on fire for about 25 yards and then they pile up. If it exits, you will have a decent blood trail to follow if things are thick. The 385 placed properly either drops them in their tracks from the massive shock wave it creates, or they run like their tails are on fire for 25 to 50 yards before they pile up!
The conical has several advantages. It is hard to get a 385 to stay in a whitetail. The instance I mentioned is the only case I have ever seen or heard of with the 385. Because of today's high deer numbers in a lot of places, following by tracks is pretty much impossible unless you are a very good tracker. And I mean very good! In the case I described, there were about 9 deer in a line slipping up a ditch. At the shot, deer flushed like a covey of quail and went in several directions at once. Without finding the first blood, there was no way to track the deer at all, or even to know which direction it went in. Please remember that you often can not see the game for a couple of seconds right after the shot with black or Pyrodex. Since they almost always exit, conicals produce good blood trails pretty quick. Roundball produces good blood trails, but they often don't start for about 35 yards or so.
That is the one big advantage to conicals for deer. They almost always exit and they produce good blood trails. That is important if you hunt public areas where quick recovery is required if you are going to tag your game. That is important in areas where the numbers are high and the deer trails are heavily used. That is even more important with a newcomer that is going to be excited and because of the smoke may not even be able to tell me which direction the deer fled.
I use a conical in a beginners gun every time I set someone up. That just helps me find the blood trail easier if the deer isn't down within sight. I am the tracker when things don't go right a lot of the time. I use a conical when I plan to shoot at 100 yards or better. That part is a no-brainer. My slug barrel will put the Lee target Minnie right where I want it way out past where I would shoot at game.
If I was going after Elk or Moose and I was paying for the trip of a lifetime, I would want the conical because it raises the chance of my expensive hunt being successful. Also, I have never hunted critters that big, so the beginner thing applies to me in that case.
Mostly I have a roundball loaded over 70 grains of powder in one of my roundball guns. Why? Because I shoot them all year. I go to gatherings where I shoot them in crazy ways that require that I know my gun and the load forwards, backwards, and sideways! I simply know pretty much exactly where the ball is going to hit on most shots when the gun goes off. That is more important on deer than what hits them. Even a 385 expanded to the size of a quarter is not a sure kill and retrieve bullet if it does not hit where you wanted it to.
Round ball is more pleasant to shoot because of the recoil. Round ball is cheaper to shoot. It is all you can shoot at most gatherings. It is perfectly capable of harvesting any animal that walks this continent. Only at longer ranges where wind drift asnd such become critical with round ball does the conical actually have an advantage for deer sized game in the killing department. I can't say about the larger critters because I don't have the experience to say.
