Balls or conicals ?

[Bigcrush]

Well I got in contact with Traditions and they said my Fox river fifty was an older version of the side lock Deer Hunter model. So here's the skinny on it and my question.

It has a 1-48" twist and can shot pyrodex(not pellets), load sheet suggested 50-75gr 2ff or 40 -70 gr 3ff. .490 round balls with .015 patch

They said should be ok to try conicals ...what do you guys think ? (what about sabots, belted rounds)

My goal is to work up to an elk hunt in a couple of years with this rifle.

thanks in advance

 

[WI Smoke]

My reply would be if you are going to use a .50 on elk USE THE CONICALS. From what I have read the .50 is a borderline cal. for elk. Great if you put it in the right place but get all of the whomp you can out of it. Leave sabots to the people that don't shoot real muzzleloaders. :blah:
WI Smoke

 

[Lonegun1894]

I wont argue that the toys some people use will put a deer down, but having seen them on the line, i have never been impressed or interested in them at all. I figure if i wanna shoot a gun made mostly out of plastic, i'll go get a Daisy and shoot BBs--at least the projectile is properly shaped then. Trashtalking aside, i have talked to several shooters who have used the plastic sabots and mentioned that they occasionally have problems with the sabots coating the bore and they have to scrape the plastic out. I cant confirm this from personal experiance, as i havent even shot a spacegun-inline, so take this for what it's worth. I can tell you from experiance that a conical will definitely outpenetrate a RB so it would seem to be abetter choice. Havent shot an elk, but we had to put a cow down and with two of us firing 50s side by side, one with PRB and the other with a conical, the conical would be my choice for elk if i was limited to using my 50. Try what works best in your gun and practice. Good shooting.
Paul

 

[Dphar]

Well I got in contact with Traditions and they said my Fox river fifty was an older version of the side lock Deer Hunter model. So here's the skinny on it and my question.

It has a 1-48" twist and can shot pyrodex(not pellets), load sheet suggested 50-75gr 2ff or 40 -70 gr 3ff. .490 round balls with .015 patch

They said should be ok to try conicals ...what do you guys think ? (what about sabots, belted rounds)

My goal is to work up to an elk hunt in a couple of years with this rifle.

thanks in advance

If you shoot a "naked" conical check it for moving off the powder if the rifle is carried muzzle down or bumped with the muzzle down.
They also, from reports I have heard, tend to not stay on course after striking the animal due to marginal stability from a 48" twist. Thus you hold for a heart lung shot, bullet strike the right place but turns and hits the liver instead. This was with TC maxi-balls.
I would build or buy a well designed 62 for Elk (ball is a little lighter than a 370 grain Maxi). It will kill better than the 50 conical will. I have a .675 barrel on order ball is about as heavy as a 54 maxi, but will kill better. it will be a Manton style flintlock.

Dan

 

[Swampman]

I don't like conicals at all, but like the man said.

"My reply would be if you are going to use a .50 on elk USE THE CONICALS."

 

[playfarmers]

I have a Lyman Deerstalker with a 1 in 48" twist, and have found that a paper patched Lee Mini was the most accurate bullet that I have ever used. I have used the Maxi [370g] and found it very good too. The best thing to do is get a hold of a bunch of differant bullets and start shooting. Your rifle will tell you what bullet is best.

 

[Tumblernotch]

I would stay away from putting any plastic down the bore. The 1 in 48 twist is better suited for conicals than RB when using heavy loads as the conical bullet is less likely to strip. For Elk, I would probably take playfarmer's advice and try a Minie style bullet, or, try a REAL style bullet.

 

[Bigcrush]

My thanks to all ! :bow:

As I said I'm very new to this, my family and I are Archers at heart ( wife finished 9th in the nation last year in recurve, boys were 2nd & 3rd in the regionals)
But I have always wanted to take game with a smoke pole as well.

Again Thanks

 

[Landngroove]

As much as I like shooting patched round balls, and I hunt white tail deer with them, if I were to hunt elk, with a .50 caliber, I would try to work up a load for a conical. I would see if a 370 grain T/C Maxi-Ball,would shoot accurately, working up to a safe maximum load for your gun. I would go with the Maxi-Ball, because it is known for good penetration, on large game.

 

[RedFeather]

If you ever do try plastic sabots and have trouble with the melted plastic residue in your bore, I'm told that something like carburator cleaner works well. Also, I believe Remington choke cleaner.

RedFeather

ps - Paper patching dispenses with all that and achieves about the same effect. Plus it's old school.

 

[boar]

Bigcrush I would go with TC max-ball not the hunter. 2ffor3fff in my TC 50 hawken I used 100 grs 2ff and Max-ball for deer.Later I went to max-hunter. I shot them at 50 yards,then went back to 100yards. At 50 yards 85 grs 3fff ok, at 100 yards it dropped 10-12 inches.Put 100 grs 2ff middle of target.Never tried 3fff again. this is 1-48 twist flinter. Never shot a RB in this gun. Killed 5 deer with it.Had too many others that I shot RB in. The reason TC came out with the max-hunter was the max-ball was going thru deer too quick. the max-hunter had more shock. Dilly

 

[lyman]

Conicals for sure with a fifty on elk for the same reasons the others have said.
Bob

 

[Bigcrush]

I had tried what I remember as a "Great Plains or Buffalo bullet " with the .45 cal I had some 10 years ago. (370 or 395 gr ithink)

I wanted to see the shock it had, so we just happened to have a fifty gal barrel full of water.. and after 3 shots we had a mess.

I would hate to get hit with one of those.
If you listened close, past the shot , you could hear what sounded like a large hammer hitting the barrel.

thanks I'll try it out this weekend, if the rain ever stops.

 

[khwils]

I shoot a .50 385gr buffalo bullet out of my CVA Mountain and TC Hawken, both with a 1-48 twist. They both shoot them well and neither will shoot a RB worth a dang. Both do a lot of damage to a deer, I doubt going down to a .45 380gr bullet would produce much less damage. I also know there are an awful lot of inline hunters knocking the snot out of deer with their sabot .50's. I think most sabot .50 use a .44 bullet, they seem to be working. Kurt/IL