Found the Ball

[wtilenw]

Here are a couple of pics of the .58 ball I recovered from my Elk today, while cutting it up. The ball was sitting at the inside bend where the shoulder blade meets the socket. It weighs 280.0 grains on my RCBS digital scale. Read "Got my Elk" for more details.
Idaho PRB

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[jethro224]

Pretty impressive. Cool souvenier too. :thumbsup:

 

[juancho]

If you mount your elk, you should add the RB to the mount, just like some do with arrows. :hatsoff:

 

[Britsmoothy]

very good, the authorities over here (England) won't let me use a patched ball for deer because "they don't expand and are not humane".
Dumb idiots!
Congrats Sir.

Britsmoothy

 

[BrownBear]

That's impressive! How does that weight compare with an unfired ball. Looks like there was more flattening than shedding/shearing, so I'd guess most of the weight is still there.

Sure passed through a lot of elk before coming to rest against the bone. Gotta love 58's!

 

[wtilenw]

Brown Bear,
The ball next to it weighs 282.6 grains unfired. This is a .570 ball and I think the chart says they should weigh 279 grains when cast from pure lead. I haven't miked the balls, maybe they are a tad bit bigger than .570? It's a Lyman mold.
Idaho PRB

 

[PreglerD]

Looks real impressive!! Waidmanns Heil to this elk and this good shot. Where did it got stuck again?

I was able to remove a .50 PRB out of a roe doe (15 kg field dressed) which I harvested in winter 07. The ball went through the boiler room the left shoulder blade and then ran under the skin along to the neck, where it got stuck. It looked nearly similar. The doe made 20 m and was dead.

Do you know if there are remaining any lead particles in the wound channel, this is a general question of interest.

Regards

Kirrmeister

 

[wtilenw]

Kirrmeister,
I don't know if there is any lead remaining in the wound channel or not. It really doesn't matter to me, since that meat is trimmed out during butchering anyway.
Thanks,
Idaho PRB

 

[Idaho Ron]

very good, the authorities over here (England) won't let me use a patched ball for deer because "they don't expand and are not humane".
Dumb idiots!
Congrats Sir.

Britsmoothy

It is my opinion it does not matter what the bullet or ball is. If they are made of pure lead that is 5 BHN or so they are going to expand. If the bullet or ball is made of Wheel weight or harder lead it won't expand, at least not much.
Cool find PRB, looks cool. Man those 58's are big. Ron

 

[SimonKenton]

BritSmoothy,

Remind Her Majesty's Royal Wonks about the many Redcoats nailed at over 200 yards with .45 and .50 caliber patched round balls. The name Fraser comes to mind at Saratoga. :v

Ray

 

[paulvallandigham]

I thought Fraser was killed at King's Mountain?

 

[Maynerd62411]

I've found round balls , completely flat. I had one deer that I shot and , somehow, didn't hit any bone. It stuck on the inside of the skin, on the opposite side, flat evxcept for a small rise on the back side. It was a .530 to start with, and was bigger than a quarter afterwards. :thumbsup:

 

[Protrucker]

I don't know how you're all finding the balls still in your animals so much.
I've been shooting .54 cal muzzleloaders since the mid 1970's & have only once been able to recover the ball. That was in my first whitetail after a bad shot where the ball entered in the left hind quarter, traveled up thru the deer & lodged just under the skin of the right shoulder. Everything else that I've harvested (whitetail deer, bear, & now caribou) had complete pass thru's even with shots out to about 100 yards. I have, also, always used only 80gr of FFg Goex for my loads.

 

[laufer]

i was under the impression tha tyou are no-ball kind of guy, what happened? :grin:

congrats on your harvest!!

 

[Britsmoothy]

Yeah I know, they have short memories over here and are very technologicaly challenged (did I spell that correct ? )

Britsmoothy.

 

[Britsmoothy]

May be your balls are a bit tougher than others.
Oh no that don't sound to good does it :redface:
:rotf:

Britsmoothy.

 

[rabjr]

i was under the impression tha tyou are no-ball kind of guy, what happened? :grin:

congrats on your harvest!!

You have him confused with someone else. Just looking at his handle tells ya he uses patched round ball. :v

 

[wtilenw]

i was under the impression tha tyou are no-ball kind of guy, what happened? :grin:

congrats on your harvest!!

PRB is all I shoot. There's another "Idaho" that shoots conicals.
Idaho PRB

 

[Idaho Ron]

That would be me! Ron

 

[renovato]

very good, the authorities over here (England) won't let me use a patched ball for deer because "they don't expand and are not humane".
Dumb idiots!
Congrats Sir.

Britsmoothy

Haha, don't feel bad. Apparently we have some right here in our group that think the same thing.

Big Thumbs up, Idaho PRB! That would definately look great on the mount. A sure conversation starter too, especially with non-muzzleloaders.