Ammo advice for a newbie

[jacj6389]

Hello folks,

Hoping someone out there can help me out. I am fairly new to muzzleloading but am interested in hunting with one. I am unsure about what about ammo can be used in my Thompson Renegade .50 cal muzzleloader.

Of course I know I can use round balls and patches, but I am also told that the pre-lubed maxi-balls are great for deer hunting. Can these be shot with my muzzleloader? What powder load would you advise for shooting a 320 gr maxi-ball?


Appreciate your helping a newbie.

Thanks,
Jim

 

[nwtradegun]

stick with the round ball. its been killing deer for hundreds of years and won wars. get the lyman black powder book. it has all the info you will need.

 

[rodwha]

My Lyman's Deerstalker with a 1:48" twist does quite well with the 320 grn Lee REAL when using a wad and 70 grns of 3F powder.

Do you/would you cast?

 

[palonghunter]

For deer, I dont think there's any real advantage to using conicals over patched round balls. All they do is produce more recoil.

Work up a good load with a patched ball,and you're good to.

 

[Patocazador]

I have killed a bunch of deer with a Maxi-ball in my T/C Hawken. They sometimes get knocked right down but they never go far if they don't drop in their tracks.

Round balls don't have the mass and can result in a long tracking job. In my opinion and experience, a big "conical" is superior to a round ball.

 

[sidelock]

I have killed around 25 whitetails with the maxi. Everyone was a pass thru but everyone ran a long way (except one which went 20') I think too much power. The PRB is better (IMHO).

 

[Loyalist Dave]

I have to agree. I'd suggest a .490 PRB, with a .015 greased patch, launched with 70 grains of 3Fg.

The only time I've gone with a Maxi-Hunter was when I went for moose. So with some applications, one can "up" the size of the big game harvestable by using a conical, when the use of a patched round ball at medium to long range is questionable. For example the moose hunting mentioned above, and also my .390 round ball is probably best used at 50 yards or less on deer, but with an accurate conical bullet, it should be fine out to 100 yards.

Concials were designed for a fast, military reload. As late as 1867 big game hunters in Africa and India were using very large, patched round balls, though the minnie ball of several different shapes was well known to them. Forsyth rifling was developed to shoot a very heavy patched round ball, at a high velocity.

My opinion based on my experience is that for deer, you aren't going to get "quick" second shot, so all you're doing is bruising your shoulder... and maybe developing a flinch because of it.

LD

 

[Bob J]

70 to 90 grains 3f blackpowder with patched roundball or 70 to 90 grains 2f blackpowder with a maxi-ball. Maxi's have been known to slide back up the barrel, creating an unsafe condition, so recommend checking on this if using maxi's.

 

[Walks with fire]

Well this is just my experience but I have found the patched ball to be the best option for my whitetail hunting. This comes from starting out with the patched ball because it was mandatory here in PA when I started flinting to using just about every type of projectile (including the unmentionables) that would shoot from 1/28, 1/48 and 1/66 twist barrels to harvest whitetail deer. If your hunting something bigger I can't comment on that.

The ball has very good trajectory with reasonable loads, light recoil, outstanding accuracy, plenty of shock and power to drive thru bone and vitals, low cost and high availability. The ball does everything I need and it's a natural. I won't debate the value of more power from a heavy conical or flatness of trajectory from some of the new fangled things that go down a muzzleloader barrel.

The ball works and works well and I myself don't need more, better, faster. A ball belongs in a flintlock that I use and I enjoy using these rifles much more for hunting than I do any other type of firearm. I suggest you give that ball consideration, learn to shoot it and it will treat you well.

 

[daniel collums]

if you really want to know what your rifle will shoot besides a prb the answer is just about any chunk of lead you can get down the barrel. the powder charge according to the t/c loading chart max's at 100grs ffg for a 370 gr. maxi-ball or a 355 gr. maxi-hunter, a charge of lower grs. might be a lot better. i have used both with renegade and hawken and found that they will work but like most others say and out of my t/c's the prb has the best accuracy and works best, with a soft lead ball.

 

[Walks with fire]

Another thing I wanted to say about using an un-patched conical bullet is this; if your going to use them check them often to make sure it has not weaseled off the charge. If your new to using a muzzleloader you may not be aware of the danger of a conical bullet being fired that has moved off the charge.

The first time you discover that one has in fact moved off the charge it should cure you forever of even considering using them again. Patched balls don't move but conicals have. Good advise even if it is free.

 

[rodwha]

Which is why I like a REAL. Or paper patched...

 

[Rifleman1776]

check them often to make sure it has not weaseled off the charge

Wise advice. Happened me the first,and only, time I tried using a conical (TC Maxi balls). Didn't shoot but I haven't/won't try again.

 

[will5a1]

I have killed whitetails with both PRB's and the Horandy GP conical bullets, and now think that shot placement is much more important than the bullet; either will kill quickly with a well placed shot, a massive charge of powder with a conical won't make up for a poorly placed shot, just my opinion.

 

[longcruise]

I killed a bull elk at 130 yards with a 370 gr maxi and .50 TC. Also a good sized buck with the same load. Both animals stayed on their feet for a good minute. Lucky the bull milled about and then dropped. Had he run, he would have gone a good long ways! The buck walked two hundred yards and lay down but needed a second shot to finish.

So, that big hole kills but a bit slowly for my taste.

I'm not one of our PRB evangelists, but will agree that the ball will do the job. A plus with the maxi is that finding a good load involves fewer variables and therefore is simpler and faster if the season is near upon you.

And, as others have pointed out, they can move in the bore

 

[Spikebuck]

Having killed about 20 deer over the last 15 years with muzzleloader, about 1/2 with some kind of conical and 1/2 with a patched round ball, I don't see a difference. I have had deer DRT to 80 yard runs with both and probably in about the same proportion.

I'm not a PRB bigot, but the advantages I see are no leading in the barrel, lower cost, flatter trajectory (gr for gr of powder), and less felt recoil.

As far as powder charge, only you can determine what shoots best. I have generally found that the load that works for roundball also works for a conical, but that's just the four guns I've had that could shoot both effectively. With a 50 that's probably somewhere around 70 or 80 grs of 2F or 3F.