Bison caliber and loads

[nwtradegun]

you canpick up a cva bobcat in 54 cal for 100 or less used. 54 to me is king of the rifle guns.me I lean toward it . loaded with 90 gr. and patched rd ball will send animal to happy BAR-BE- Q.

 

[Patocazador]

Man a Bobcat is so light, I'd hate to be on the shooting end with a .54 buffalo load in it. :wink:

 

[Rat Trapper]

I'd recomend a used TC hawken in 54 or 58 caliber.
Plus a good conical bullet. The bobcat is pretty light not sure how well it stands up to heavy loads.

 

[SamTex1949]

AH ! Notice the nice big chunks of rib taken out on the exit side by PRBs!! :thumbsup:

 

[Naphtali]

A bison hunt is still on my to-do list, as is cape buffalo. My largest game experience is with elk. At my age and health a facet of hunting AND choice of weaponry that is extremely important is the likelihood the animal I shoot will not die 500 yards away. Five hundred yards in western Montana is likely to mean an 8-10 hour job of getting the animal [and/or parts] out of exceptionally rugged terrain. While I would not anticipate bison or cape buffalo hunting to occur in such vertical terrain, the animals are huge compared with a 600-800 pound elk.

I am having a matched pair of .72-caliber English-style muzzleloading Express rifles built (1:72 twist). Anticipated loads are: 540-grain patched round ball (light); 775-grain conical pan lubricated with SPG (general purpose, now in use); and 900+ grain conical pan lubricated with SPG (the bullet that gives me and the cape buffalo an even chance). When rifles are ready, propellant loads will begin at 175 grains Goex FFg. Load will be among the most consistently accurate for the bullet weight at the heaviest powder charge I can tolerate for two shots.

I furnished the previous paragraph as my way of strongly suggesting that, in the absence of quick repeat shots, there is no substitute for cubic inches in modern muzzleloading for very large animals. And, yes, off-the-shelf very large bore rifles are available a prices reasonable people can accept.

Hope this helps.
Here is much of the metal work.

I'm brand new to ML. I usually take down bison cows with a .30-06 loaded with 190 grain BTSP's and 50 grains of IMR 4350.

I'm in the market for a ML kit to get some practice building. I'm seeing .50s and .54s in the style I'm looking for. I had a chat with the ML counter guy at the local Cabela's and he said .50s with conicals should be plenty and cited Jim Shockey with his cape buffalo as an example. He also noted .50 bullets and accessories have much more variety available.

Doesn't look like .54 RBs are much more expensive, though it will add up over time. What I don't want to end up doing is getting a .54 for the extra oomph, but then being unable to find decent hunting bullets. The other issue is that the .54s I'm seeing are 1:60 and the .50s are 1:48. Not sure how much of an impact that has.

I don't have a whole lot of confidence that PRBs in that small of a caliber will get through the hair and hide of a bison with enough intact to disable the boiler room.

So, my hope is that some of the .50 varieties can be combined with an accurate powder and barrel twist to do the job and make it a little cheaper for killing paper.

Thoughts?

 

[Wes/Tex]

Back in the day when Trail Guns Armory first started getting those Kodiak Mk.III doubles from Italy, the late Mike Powasnik made a trip to Africa to hunt Buffs with a double .58. He used a double .58, then the largest available, those big 700 grain "Stakecutter" Minies and 175 grains of FFg. Loved to hear him tell his tale of derring-do. He got close to a big ole crittter and put one hard hit into what looked like a heart shot and was puzzled to see the old Buff run snorting off over a low rise a hundred meters away. Mike reloaded the fired barrel and started toward where the Buff had disappeared. He always said he didn't know why, but he decided to angle off and cross the rise about 50 to 75 meters from where the Buff had. When he peered over the top, old Nasty-Horns was standing there, back from where he'd crossed the ridge, just watching his back trail and pawing at the ground. Mike got in another decent stalk and got in another solid hit that finally dropped him. Both shots had hit the heart but that old Buff was just too ornery to know he was dead! Or so Mike always put it! Your comment about cubic inches and lots of powder are spot on! Some of the old timers didn't use 2 or 4 bore doubles just for the hell of it! Even with solid hits, some of those critters take a lot of killing!!

 

[FishDFly]

Mike was a nice person and I spent hours in his shop and he let me chose what rifles I wanted as I went through them selecting the wood I wished.

Nice days to remember.

 

[BillinOregon]

Wes, Richard, thanks for bringing up Trail Guns Armory and Mike's name. Hadn't heart either in some time. I did briefly own one of the TGA Kodiaks, and thought it a very capable rifle -- and plenty for our North American bison if you put the slug where it needs to go.

 

[Rifleman1776]

cited Jim Shockey with his cape buffalo as an example

Jim Shockey is entertaining. But, I do not put much credence on some of those shots made on TV by him. He makes (on TV) some incredible long range shots (supposedly) using a TC inline rifle. He is selling stuff. Good salesman. But, IMHO, not an example we should use for our ml hunting.

 

[Avancarguero]

I am a neophyte in muzzleloader and hunting but I have clear that in animals the size of a bison I prefer a large bore so, better 50 to 45, and better 54 to 50, and 58 better than 54; and if I get the fear; I ended up taking my 458 Lott. In summary; you take 58, and you will go safer and more confident and very important places the shot.

Avan.

P.s.-Sorry for my English.