.58 ball or mini?

[TommyKid]

I'm sure it's a matter of what shoots best out of the gun. I plan to use the Navy Arms Harpers Ferry for whitetails here in NJ. I've hunted for years with a TC .50 using Hornady Great Plains bullets with good success. I'm new to the .58, so just wanted to get some general opinions. I'm sure it won't make much of a difference with a double lung shot, but thought I'd ask regardless. I have some Hornady round balls and TC minis, by the way. Bore is 1 in 48".
Thanks,
Tom

 

[roundball]

A .570" / 279grn patched round ball will take most anything on the NA continent.

You'll also enjoy the flatter trajectory, reduced cost, and reduced recoil compared to huge conicals.

As a side note, the round ball is the traditional hunting projectile associated with Flintlocks so it makes for an all around great package.

:thumbsup:

 

[TommyKid]

Ok, a thumbs up for using round balls by "roundball"?? That's just too predictable :haha:
Thanks,
Tom

 

[Tumblernotch]

If that particular rifle has fairly deep rifling you want to use a roundball. The Minie was designed for wide, shallow rifling in a barrel with 3 to 5 grooves. The Minie is designed to upset (obdurate) into the grooves and deep narrow grooves allow blow-by.

The service charge used in a rifle-musket firing a Minie is 60 grs. of musket powder (ffg). The recoil is not bad with that charge, but the muzzle velocity is only about 960 fps. You can up the charge and speed things up but at the expense of accuracy and recoil. The velocity if you use it in a flintlock will be less. You'll get much better results with a round ball in that rifle.

 

[poordevil]

Something I have not seen mentioned here is, with Minnie balls, it has been my experance that everything I have shot, be it rabbit(I know! :idunno: ) to deer to buffalo, the enterance hole is dry and the exit is very wet even jucey for lack of a better word. I think the hollow base acts like a suction and pulls fluid and innerds out the exit. Making it a very deadly round.

I just got my first round ball rifle last year. A .54cal EVR from TVMuzzleloading and hope to get so game with it soon

P

 

[BrownBear]

I shoot a lot of both out of my three 58 cals. No reason not to use whichever suits your rifle best, but I gotta say YOU will enjoy the RBs a lot more.

Either one is going to perform great on mice to moose, but by the time you move a 58 caliber conical up to 1400 fps or so for flatter trajectory, it's not much fun to shoot. Think along the lines of 3" slug loads in a 12 gauge.

Hunting loads with 58 cal balls are recoil-less in comparison, yet still kill like crazy. And if you're not casting your own, you'll go broke buying conicals rather than balls. Last time I looked the cheapest conicals were pretty close to 5x the cost of balls, for which you get a whole bunch more recoil and no improvement on North American game. Easy math in my book!

 

[tg]

I would use the PRB as it is plent oy projectile for the game you are hunting and I also prefer using traditional projectiles they just seem to go with the traditional guns.

 

[fyrfyter43]

Another nod for the round ball. They've been killing deer for hundreds of years, and often from much smaller bores than your .58.

BTW, whereabouts in NJ are you?

 

[sundog]

I have a Navy Arms 1803 Harpers Ferry. I use PRBs with 75 grains of 3F most of the time.
I have tried different Minie's in it and the one my rifle likes best is the Lee Modern Minie Target Design with 60 grains of 3F.
The recoil difference between a PRB and that Minie is considerable so I rarely shoot the Minies.

 

[morehops]

I have a .58 and wanted to shoot minies. While the gun shop recommended .577 conicals, I found them way undersized for my bore. I had to try various styles and diamaters to make it shoot well. Very expensive and time consuming. Point is that with a RB you can adjust the patch thickness much easier and cheaper.

 

[TommyKid]

I have a Navy Arms 1803 Harpers Ferry. I use PRBs with 75 grains of 3F most of the time.
I have tried different Minie's in it and the one my rifle likes best is the Lee Modern Minie Target Design with 60 grains of 3F.
The recoil difference between a PRB and that Minie is considerable so I rarely shoot the Minies.

Have you ever used 2F in your 1803? I've never used 3F before. Can you explain the benefits of using it? Thanks,
Tom

 

[TommyKid]

Another nod for the round ball. They've been killing deer for hundreds of years, and often from much smaller bores than your .58.

BTW, whereabouts in NJ are you?

I'm in Hillsborough. I have hunting spots in Milford and Hackettstown. I used to do a lot of archery 3-D shooting at a club there in Bloomsbury.

 

[TommyKid]

Ok, it seems to be a landslide. I have to agree that I like the idea of using the round ball as it just fits with the rifle. Thanks for all the opinions!
Tom

 

[kherring]

I killed a lot of deer with a 1861 springfield and minnie balls before I switched to flintlocks only for hunting. I have since killed lots of deer with .50 cal round balls and even a .40 cal round ball. Figure it as a 100-125 yard gun and round balls will harvest anything in north america. They fed us until pointy bullets and cartridge rifles too over

 

[tcsmokepole]

I've shot deer with roundballs in my 's. They usually don't even quiver.

 

[tcsmokepole]

I meant to write " in my 58's". My bad.