I filled 2 doe tags with my Smoothie!

[Snow on the Roof]

I killed 2 does yesterday with my Jack Garner built 20 gauge smoothbore. 80 Gr FFF with a home cast .600 RB wraped in .010 ticking and deer tallow lube. I've taken a few deer in the last 40+ years but never with a smoothie nor a flintlock so I am very pleased.
I've a few observatons. Both where low shoulder shots at less than 20 yards. Why low I'm not certain but be sure it is not the gun but the shooter. Being shoulder shots both where recovered quickly and the autopsys reveiled the incredible distructive power of a .600 roundball. Previuosly a .54 rb was the biggest I had used and I never saw this kind of devistation and mass tissue damage. The first was at 20 yards from a 25 ft treestand with a quartering away shot angle. The ball hit the left shoulder completely destroying it while continuing through the left lung and creating extensive arterial damage, exiting out the right sternum caught the right lower leg and continued on. The second doe was a 15 yard broadside shot from a 12 foot ladder stand. Again the shot was low entering the right shoulder tearing out both lungs and the desending aorta then passed through the left shoulder before exiting. How a deer can go another 50 yards with both shoulders gone and major cardio-pulmonary damage is a testiment to the survival instincts of these creatures.
All this gives me pause to consider a smoothbore for more hunting as well a better understanding of Mr. Roundball's term "wompability!"

Snow

 

[roundball]

All this gives me pause to consider a smoothbore for more hunting as well a better understanding of Mr. Roundball's term "wompability!"

Snow, that's just outstanding..excellent shot placement and no doubt about the outcome, congratulations !
:hatsoff:

Yes, after .45/.50/.54's for years, when I stepped to a .58cal the difference was shocking, hence 'whompability'...and even more so the .62cal...the .54cal is no slouch, but the .58 & .62 are in a class all their own.

When I deer hunt I like to hit them with a hammer so they fall in sight...no tracking and a short drag...LOL
All my hunting is basically woods hunting with shots out to no more than 50-60yds, a smoothbore is truly all that's needed and they are so versatile...love my .54 & .62 smoothbores.

Sounds like a good season for you...

 

[Stumpkiller]

I am always astounded with the punishment a whitetail can absorb and still put distance on past the impact site. I've taken the top off a doe's heart and it still went 100 yards. They are tough animals!

If you spine them they will drop . . . but occasionally get back up and take off (or try). And there are lots of "voids" around the spine with no organs or blood vessels. Point being: take out the lungs. No engine can run very long without air - whether it's a gas powered on or a living one.

A smoothie puts a BIG hole through a deer and collapses the lungs quickly; not to mention the hemmoraging of torn blood vessels and shock if bone is hit. Out to 40 yards & beyond in the right hands a 20 or 12 gauge smoothbore is a devistating weapon. And as Roundball says and has shown a .56 or .62 is plenty as well. I like the ones that, when the smoke clears, leave you looking at the white underside of a collapsed deer. :hatsoff: But then the next deer takes what seems to be an identical hit and goes into afterburners. Amazing critters. My personal opinion is that bone hits transfer a shockwave to the spine. But note that a deer's foreleg and shoulder is not connected to the spine. They float in muscle.

I know it is not possible to knock a deer off it's feet, but I've had a few that had their legs knocked out from under them like a thunderclap.

 

[rabjr]

Nice! Smoothys are just down right fun to hunt with. :thumbsup:

 

[chance]

Great hunt!!!

 

[Rifleman1776]

Congratulations. I'm sure that was an exciting day.

 

[RC]

:hatsoff: Atta boy Snow!! them smoothies is awesome! good job!! ya gotta be smilin...first with a flinter, an a smoothie to boot! great! :thumbsup:

 

[Roy]

:thumbsup: Congrats!

 

[ny griz]

:thumbsup: :thumbsup: Congrats :applause: Griz

 

[mtcurman]

Congratulations! :thumbsup:

hotoSmile:

 

[hanshi]

That's a great hunt. Congratulations.

 

[Tajue17]

thats awesome getting two deer,,, wish you had some eye candy though :grin:

question on your load because I use a smooth 20 fowler,, I use 80gr 2F in my fowler (600. 10. ox yoke patch with Mink oil grease) and I was told 80gr of 3F would be too much and I'd have to drop to 60 if I used 3F.. did you find tighter grouping using 80G of 3F.

 

[rabjr]

Nonsense! If your gun shoots that load accurately then use it. I'm using 78gr of 3F Kik and a .595 ball thats very accurate in my gun. :thumbsup:

 

[Stumpkiller]

It has been my experience that if you go from FFg to FFFg you need to drop about 6% to use the same sight setting. Hardly scientific, but that would mean your 80gr FFg prints where 75gr FFFg would. This assumes hitting at the same spot means equal pressure, and I can't prove that.

 

[hoochiepapa]

:thumbsup: :thumbsup:

 

[wattlebuster]

Congrats on gettin er done. Im gonna try one with my 12 bore smoothie :thumbsup:

 

[doulos]

:thumbsup: :applause:

 

[Snow on the Roof]

question on your load because I use a smooth 20 fowler,, I use 80gr 2F in my fowler (600. 10. ox yoke patch with Mink oil grease) and I was told 80gr of 3F would be too much and I'd have to drop to 60 if I used 3F.. did you find tighter grouping using 80G of 3F.[/quote]

I have stuggled with this smoothie for a few years now, much of it documented in the smooth bore forum. I started out with 60 grains of FF. Several hundred rounds later I have found my 2 best loads are 80 gr { actually 3 drams } of FFF with round ball and 2 1/4 drams, apx 62 grains, of FF with 80 grain equivalent of #5 shot for small game such as bunnies and tree rats. I find FFF for shot loads gives me inconsistant patterns often with gaps in the shot dispersment. I am comfortable with the roundball load out to 60 yards though I prefer half that. The effectivness is obvious... :thumbsup:

Snow

 

[Tony Logan]

:thumbsup: excellent

 

[smo]

Congrats :thumbsup: :thumbsup: