How deadly is a patched round ball?

[jerem0621]

I'm pretty new to traditional muzzleloading. As a result I have never seen the effects of a patched round ball on whitetail deer sized game. Would some of ya'll care to tell me what your experience with prb has been on deer? I know that there is a lot of mis information about the prb by sabot manufactures today. What is the real world effectiveness of the prb? Do I shoot the deer like I shoot my bow? Do I aim for the lungs, shoulder, or what is the best place to put the ball on the deer for the quickest, cleanest kill?

Thank you,

Jerem0621

 

[Shifty]

Heart Lung area ,may get top of heart and lungs or both lungs. Some disagree with me but I think a double lung is very good, would rather double lung a deer with an arrow as heart any day,from my experience.

 

[bucktales]

Scroll on down to the hunting section. Lots of deer taken this year with prb's.

 

[Enfield1]

Welcome to traditional muzzleloading. I have harvested more deer than I can remember, but my first deer with a flintlock and a patched round ball was just last year. I made a shot on a trotting buck at about 25 yards in front of me. I was slipping back to my truck when he came and offered me a broadside shot. I took it and scored a hit behind his shoulder. He took off on a dead run. I could find no blood or hair. I did find the deer about 40 yards away in a pine thicket. I was loaded with a .490 prb over 70 grns of powder. It passed completely through the deer. I was impressed, but have always been curious as to why there was no trail after a 1/2 inch hole. The buck's hide is on the wall in my office with the 2 holes clearly visible.

 

[Smk50]

Over the years I have shot a few deer, only with PRB, in .50 and this year added .62. Most of my .50 have been pass through with 75 gr of 3F, I had 2 last year not pass through, one was an angled down shot clipped the spine and hit the top of the heart and one lung, PRB under skin on far side, and she dropped like a stone. THis the .62 went completely through 2 deer so far, one dropped where she stood, the other ran, Looked like I took a bucket and spreadd blodd around, tracked her for a 1/2 mile before we lost the trail(way too many tracks and no blood in the snow. Last year out of 5 farthest one ran about 20 yds. Within its limitations, PRB is very effective.

 

[gmww]

I'm a big fan of the double lung shooting club. I've used both patched round ball and conicals. PRB will work well provided you stay within its limits based on calib. and load. I've taken animals with both PRB and conicals.

I use conicals myself for hunting. I like the little extra range it gives me.

 

[Dave K]

If you are a bowhunter, you have the good skills to use the same shots with a muzzleloader, or any gun as far as I am concerned. I think that the boiler room shots are the best there is and that is what I look for. In my 50cal. I retreived one rd. ball from a 65yd. shot and the ball now weighed 172 gr., down from 180 gr. and the dia. was now .720 vs. the original .490.

 

[Protrucker]

Round balls are highly under rated. I wouldn't hessitate to use a round ball for any animal in North America. My caliber of choice is .54 and so far the big game I've taken is whitetail deer & black bear. Of course, shot placement is important but there is no lack of power. Check out what I just had happen, purely by accident:[url] http://www.muzzleloadingforum.com/fusionbb/showtopic.php?tid/215053[/url]/

 

[54ball]

Ive taken 3 wild hogs and one deer with the patched round ball.
1st hog 200 pounder double lung shot at 30 yards .530 ball over 80 grains ffg went 25 yards no blood trail. Took with GPR
2nd hog 150 pounder angled shot .530 80grns 10 yards center of lung entrance behind ribs exit, very little blood found 30 yards away. Took with GPR
3rd hog and the most impressive wound I've seen 200 pounder double lung shot took at 40 yards, blood was sprayed 5 feet up into the trees on the exit side the length of the blood trail she went 30 yards .530 ball over 70 grns out of a .54-28ga smoothbore.
Deer. Mature 4 pt. took at 92 yards with a .440 ball over 68 grns ffg shoulder heart shot no blood at all no exit went 40 yards. Took with a .45 cal Gillespie NC Mountain Rifle (flintlock longrifle)
IMHO the double lung shot is the best. Pay attention to where the game goes after a shot. Three out of the four shots above left little or no blood but the game was down within 40 yards.
I wonder why the smoothbore shot produced the greatest blood trail while the rifles did not. :hmm:

 

[roundball]

Patched round balls have been getting it done for 2 or 3 centuries...that should sum it up pretty well right there.

Yes, round balls are very effective...my personal choice is a heart shot with low double lung as the next choice...every heart shot deer I've taken has fallen in sight of me...some take a few steps and fall, most make a mad dash for 25-35 yards then collapse...if you take out the pump they're brain dead in 7-8 seconds.

Think of it this way...the .30-30 has the finest reputation as a deer rifle in the woods as any caliber made and used in those quantities.
Muzzleloaders are also woods rifles typically thought of as 100 yards guns like the .30-30...and the .50cal in particular is very similar to the .30-30...compare:

.50cal/180grn ball @ 2000 fps MV
.30cal/170grn bullet @ 2200 fps MV

Plus...the .50cal ball is already almost twice the diameter of the .30cal bullet when it arrives at the target to begin with.

If a hunter doesn't kill a deer with a .45/.50/.54/.58/.62cal muzzleloader and patched round ball in 100 yard woods environments, it won't be the fault of the patched round ball :grin:

 

[Stumpkiller]

I find a .54 PRB it to be very comparable to a 12 ga rifled slug. Sufficient for the whitetail I hunt in the open sight ranges I use with either. Round ball is a little more accurate. My Hastings full rifled barrel on my 11-87 Remington doesn't do bad at all tossing a Rem slug. For calibers I like the .50 but I like the .54 better.

When I hunt with my muzzleloaders I do, in fact, hunt and take shots as if the rifle has 3X the effective range of my recurve. I always try for a double lung, assume no "knock-down" and all hemmorage. I have killed deer with a round ball that dropped without taking a step, but that is not the norm.

Longest kill was just over 100 yards on a buck that entered my hunting area and bedded down! I took what seemed like 15 minutes to ooze myself turned for the shot and found a blowdown branch to rest the back of my left hand on to steady the shot.

A .54 patched round ball is very effective, but has a limited range. It starts out the diameter of a well mushroomed .30 caliber bullet and weighs more than the largest .30 caliber bullet and will punch out the far side of a large deer. It does not kill by hydrostatic shock and so it has to be placed into a vital area full of blood vessels: heart, lungs, liver, etc.

Forget the neck, forget the high-shoulder shots. Get close and shoot straight.

 

[Trench]

I've only taken one deer, period, and it was with a .49 PRB. The shot was at 40 yds. It was a high lung shot that angled up through the spine, so the deer didn't get very far. The deer expired after about 1 minute. Now, I don't intend to make spine shots, so I always expect the deer to run. Someone on this forum told me to treat MZ hunting like archery as far as shot placement and affects.

 

[roundball]

"...told me to treat MZ hunting like archery as far as shot placement and affects..."

:thumbsup:

 

[Itegorm]

As has been said by the other posts here as long as you do your part the PRB will put down a deer with no problem. Personally I like a shot through the chest cavity on most any critter out there, as long as you connect it will result in dead game 99% of the time. I have taken numerous animals with RB and have never really had to hard of a time finding sign of them being shot and all but one animal was recovered within less that 60 yards (the exception was a doe that made an 120 yard run after being double lunged by a .590 ball, I was pretty impressed with that old girl) in fact the vast majority of animals have gone less tahn 10 yards after a hit. The total is well over 25 deer, 2 bear and a couple of hogs with RB. On everyone of the animals it was as clean and humane a kill as could have been made with anyother arm and ammunition (high power rifle included). The last thing I would say is that I would highly recommend sticking with a shot through the chest cavity rather than a shoulder or spine shot as some people advocate with cartridge guns.

 

[Blizzard of '93]

PRB's will give you 20-30 yards easy over that bow. and they won't run as far w/a good hit. :thumbsup:

 

Welcome and PRB's have killed everything I've ever shot one at meaning to kill it. Recovered everything too, check out the hunting section and you can read about the one that almost got away.

Being a bowhunter also I always go for the double lung. I use a .62 cal just because it makes two bigger holes in the deer for the blood to flow out of. I only have 90 grains of powder behind it and it still breaks bones and blows right on through em.

Good luck and enjoy, from bow to traditional muzzleloader is a nice transition and we hunt very much the same way. Go with a flinchlock and you'll really be loving the challenge.

Billy

 

[jerem0621]

Thanks everyone,

I was thinking I need to take lung shots like I'm bow hunting so ya'll confirmed this for me. BTW this saturday is centerfire rifle season, but since my state allows it I'm taking my New Englander muzzleloader. I'm hoping to get a flintlock m/l next year. This is a crossover period for me. I have switched for the Modern Rifle that loads from the front :wink: to traditional m/l and I can't be happier. I'm also switching from compound bow to recurve. This spring will be very busy for me getting ready for next bow and M/l season. Lots and lots of practice.

Jerem

 

[PitchyPine]

As with any game,concentrate on where the animal runs after the shot, it`s easy in all the excitement to not notice it`s path of departure.
They usually don`t go over 50-60 yards from a lung shot but there is generally little blood to follow and if there`s no snow it can be tough.
Keep your bearings and everything will be fine. :thumbsup:

 

[gsptarget]

I agree with the double lung shot.
PRB have been taking deer and bigger for hundreds of years.
With a good shot dead is dead.
if you have the skill to know where to place an arrow you are set to go. Same area

 

[Johnny Tremain]

They seemed to have kilt a lot of people and game in the years they were used.