In the past I have been very pleased with roundballs on deer but prefered maxi-balls for greater penetration on elk. This year I procrastinated and didn't have time to work up an accurate conical bullet load for my .50 Lyman Trade Rifle with 1-48 twist so I went with a known accurate load. .490 ball, .034" denim patch over 80 grains 2f Goex.
Had a cow tag and on the second evening I got a shot at about 100 yards +or- a few. I'd prefer to go behind the shoulder but that was covered with brush, so held center of the shoulder and after a noticable delay, I heard the "smack" of a hit. She ran about 50 yards and toppled over, was dead before I could reload and make my way through the brush choked marsh to where I'd seen her fall.
That ball was doing less than 1000 fps at impact with maybe 350 ft.lbs. of energy remaining but it penetrated both shoulders at their thickest and kept on going. I broke two ribs but missed the big shoulder bones. The exit was sort of a slot, as if it had flattened and then turned edgewise.
At no point was the wound channel as large as my thumb but it did the job just fine.
That said, I did pass up a 30 yard shot on opening morning because the angle would have been through the paunch to reach the vitals and I doubted a roundball would have enough penetration. So, with a maxi I could have filled my tag 30 hours earlier. Then again, if that 100 +or- was maybe 125 yards a maxi would have dropped enough to only break a leg, so--?
This again reaffirms my belief that shot placement is at least 95% of the kill, let the gun writers quibble over the remaining 5%. Any bullet is the right bullet if you can put it in the right place.
:m2c:
Had a cow tag and on the second evening I got a shot at about 100 yards +or- a few. I'd prefer to go behind the shoulder but that was covered with brush, so held center of the shoulder and after a noticable delay, I heard the "smack" of a hit. She ran about 50 yards and toppled over, was dead before I could reload and make my way through the brush choked marsh to where I'd seen her fall.
That ball was doing less than 1000 fps at impact with maybe 350 ft.lbs. of energy remaining but it penetrated both shoulders at their thickest and kept on going. I broke two ribs but missed the big shoulder bones. The exit was sort of a slot, as if it had flattened and then turned edgewise.
At no point was the wound channel as large as my thumb but it did the job just fine.
That said, I did pass up a 30 yard shot on opening morning because the angle would have been through the paunch to reach the vitals and I doubted a roundball would have enough penetration. So, with a maxi I could have filled my tag 30 hours earlier. Then again, if that 100 +or- was maybe 125 yards a maxi would have dropped enough to only break a leg, so--?
This again reaffirms my belief that shot placement is at least 95% of the kill, let the gun writers quibble over the remaining 5%. Any bullet is the right bullet if you can put it in the right place.
:m2c:
