hunting bullet for deer and bear

[Mr Hawken]

Does anybody know what would be good medicine for a whitetail/black bear hunt in a 50 cal.? I have round balls and 370 gr. maxi balls, has anybody had any luck with either of these?

 

[Rebel]

I prefer round balls. Tried conicals and wasn't impressed. Penetrated too good. Punched right through and didn't expand. I get expanxion and pass throughs on deer with rd balls. But then i keep my shots to under 75 yds for the most part.

 

[paulvallandigham]

Unless you know a secret place where you ae going to hunt a bear that has lived to be 8-10 years old, and may now weigh 400 lbs. the most likely bear you will see will be a couple of years old, and weigh around 200 lbs. tops. A Round ball will work just fine, within a reasonable yardage. Most people don't see bear beyond 50 yds, and most bears shot over bear are shot much closer than that, often measured in feet rather than yards. A .50 RB will pass through any white tail I know about, regardless of size, unless you are loading a target load, and shooting at 100 yds and over. Use 75-90 grains of Goex FFg powder and you will take any deer within 100 yds. with a good chest shot.

 

[Wehrmacht]

Round Balls. Kills bear,hogs and deer dead-dead-dead! Put a RB through both lungs on any of these and you won't have to do any trailing :winking:.

 

[Trapper]

I hunted with a TC Hawken cap lock for 20 years and have taken more than 15 whitetails with the TC Maxi balls. Five years ago I switched to the roundball. From the autopsies preformed at time of death, the roundball wins hands down. I have had more internal damage with the roundball(in the lung area) than I've had with my modern 12 guage. I've had the same results with my 45 cal. flintlock. I'll never switch back to conicals or modern guns!!!

 

[musketman]

Does anybody know what would be good medicine for a whitetail/black bear hunt in a 50 cal.? I have round balls and 370 gr. maxi balls, has anybody had any luck with either of these?

If you are dead set on using a conical projectile, may I suggest the Buffalo Bullet Ball-et, it shoots like a roundball and loads like a bullet... (no patch)

Best of both worlds logic, I assume...

They have two sizes in .50 caliber, 245 grain and a 275 grain w/hollowpoint...

 

[bob1961]

here's a link to .45 - .50 - .54 conicals.................bob

pr bullet

 

Heavy weight conicals work great and that's all I[url] use.....in[/url] my BPCR rifles. Complete lengthways penetration, brisket thru ham is common in deer sized game. In muzzleloaders a round ball is all you need.

I do have to say that I've killed more than one deer where a 50 cal. ball didn't pass thru side to side, and a couple killed with a 54 didn't pass completely thru, and I shoot stout loads. 90 grs. in the 50 and 100 in the 54. Nonetheless, those loads and a round ball are all you need for deer or black bear.

Vic

 

[Lone Carabiner]

They letch'a use a duplex PRB load where you're located?

 

[shortjack]

I have shot deer with round ball and conicals. Conicals didnt seem to do the internal damage to deer like the round ball does. As far as shooying bear i would probably opt for using the conical,I have seen blackbear in Wyoming that weighed in the 200 pound range and a couple that went 400 pounds or better. Better to have to much penetration than not enough especially if you are shooting something that could possbly maul you.Two holes in a bear is much better than one.

 

[Lone Carabiner]

'Loaded fer bar' - originated when the old timers used a duplex PRB load when going after ol' bruin. as you said, 2 holes are better than one :v

 

[sidelock]

My experience exactly. T/C Maxies pass right through without much damage and the deer run off to be tracked down. :v

 

[evan]

what is a duplex load for prb. How do you make this load up. I will be hunting with a layman 50 cal and was thinking I needed something with some knock-down power for hog here in central Florida. I could use the info.

Thanks evan

 

[paulvallandigham]

Evan, its just a pig. Just load your rifle with BP- about 75 grains should be in the ball park, but try from there up to 90 grains using FFg powder, under your PRB, and you will have sufficient medicine to kill a hog. Don't expect the hog to drop dead on the spot, unless you can shoot it through an ear and hit the grain. A chest shot will kill it, but it will take a little time for it to die. Remember to watch out for its friends, because they get scared when they hear loud noises and may run into by mistake. Keep a tree at hand you can grab and shinny up on just in case it gets exciting after you fire your shot. The hog may run at you, but its trying to escape, rather than attack you. Let it go by and just trail it after you reload your gun.

 

[paulvallandigham]

Evan, its just a pig. Just load your rifle with BP- about 75 grains should be in the ball park, but try from there up to 90 grains using FFg powder, under your PRB, and you will have sufficient medicine to kill a hog. Don't expect the hog to drop dead on the spot, unless you can shoot it through an ear and hit the grain. A chest shot will kill it, but it will take a little time for it to die. Remember to watch out for its friends, because they get scared when they hear loud noises and may run into by mistake. Keep a tree at hand you can grab and shinny up on just in case it gets exciting after you fire your shot. The hog may run at you, but its trying to escape, rather than attack you. Let it go by and just trail it after you reload your gun. A duplex load is done when you are using a black powder substitute. Usually a few grains- 10-20 of black powder are loaded down the barrel first, followed by a charge of some substitute powder, like Pyrodex, or Triple Seven or whathaveyou. The black powder is used to ignite the substitutes which have a higher flashpoint temperature, and are harder to ignite for that reason. A duplex load offers no advantage in hunting other than letting you use up some substitute powder you regret you bought. The extra time it takes to load two powders slows down the reloading process somewhat. Most people carry the powders in pre measured containers, and just dump the BP charge down the barrel first, then dump the container with the substitute powder down next. If you had to load these from a horn and measure, it would be very slow indeed. Only a chronograph will tell you if fooling around with a duplex load will work in your particular gun.

 

[renovato]

I think by duplex load, he's talking about a double PRB. Not a bad idea at all, but I've never managed to figure out how to make them shoot well so I gave up.

 

[Lone Carabiner]

They shoot well in my .50 with 1-48 twist. At 20 yds nearly touching. Off a rest.at 50 yds about 1" apart on a 3" circle. Accuracy drops off at 100 yds but still in a 8" circle.
I've taken many deer with this load- puts 'em down real quick like, 70 gr. 3f under a felt wad with drop of GO_JO atop then double PRB's. Has more recoil than single ball, I've shot 80 grs. but accuracy dropped off some. Still good at 30 yds. tho.

 

[roundball]

Does anybody know what would be good medicine for a whitetail/black bear hunt in a 50 cal.? I have round balls and 370 gr. maxi balls, has anybody had any luck with either of these?

I've shot a few deer with .50cal .490/180grn patched balls...all one shot kills, either dropped where they stood or collapsed within sight after a mad dash of 25-30yds. IMO, save the heavy, high recoli, expensive conicals for moose or grizzly.

A .50cal with a 180grn ball is like a .30-30.

Both are basically 100yd woods rifles with open sights...and the vast majority of woods deer are killed in the 25-75 yard range anyway...and black bears over bait or up a tree even closer.

The .30-30's .308/170grn bullet leaves at around 2200fps.

The .50cal 180grn ball leaves around 2100fps, and is already almost twice as big as the .308/170grn at the target.

Use the cost savings with round balls to practice so you can put the ball into the heart or low double lungs every time and go drag him out...plus, there's the added satisfaction of doing it the way the settlers did it...with a simple, efficient 180grn patched round ball.

This is what has worked well for me in both caplocks and Flintlocks:

90grns Goex 3F
Oxyoke Wonderwad
.018" TC prelubed pillow ticking
Hornady .490 ball (or Speer)

 

[wire]

I have used patched ball,maxi-hunter and maxi-ball in my 58.cal Hawken and of the animals I have taken whitetail, bear and wild boar all three have their place. If I were hunting deer or bear under 75 yards I go with the ball over that I go to the maxi-hunter.If I'm going after large bear or boar where there's large bone or a gristle plate I want the extra penetration and go with the maxi-ball. Hope this helps.