Maxi Ball Users and Results

[tg]

"Well, unfortunately, using a bigger projectile isn't going to just start making deer drop in their tracks..."

Good point, watch those hunting shows on TV they clobber the deer with conicals and center fires and the deer often runs a long ways before pileing up, if you want a deer to "drop" the busted shoulders is probably the way to go, from very close with a large projectile.

 

[Mountainman56]

I have used the .50 Hornady great plains and am very pleased with them. Very accurate although somewhat of an increase in recoil over a prb. Also like roundball says a bigger bullet won't drop em in their tracks. Shot an 8 pointer with one this year at a little over 100 yards. Large hole in and VERY large hole out. Through both lungs and he still went a good 75 yards before he died on his feet and slid to a stop. A quartering away shot where you could take out the far shoulder after going through the boiler room would likely do the trick if you can talk the critter into co-operating.

 

[Yellowhouse]

The TC maxi designed for their rifles generally fit well and don't move. For other brands your mileage may vary.

I've fired only one bullet in my life and that was over 40 years ago yet many of my friends do use them. When travelling around on the wheelers or if they have them pointed down in the truck I always advise them to check it out. More than a few times they have had to reseat the bullet. The vibration, I suppose, does it.

 

[gmww]

Just as an experiment to the fellas with the loose maxi-ball fitting barrels. Try a couple of wraps around the base with Teflon tape until it is lightly snug. I wonder if that will solve your problem without affecting accuracy. :hmm:

 

[Joel/Calgary]

Just as an experiment to the fellas with the loose maxi-ball fitting barrels. Try a couple of wraps around the base with Teflon tape until it is lightly snug. I wonder if that will solve your problem without affecting accuracy. :hmm:

I have an early Pedersoli .50 that is more of a .51 - .510" by approx. .520". With any of the conicals I've tried, I've had to paper patch at least the base, and sometimes full length, to get any accuracy.

On a different aspect of the matter, I have twice seen maxi-balls slide out the muzzles of acquaintances' guns. I've never tried an over-bullet card, but I've heard/read reports of their successful use that I recall being from reliable sources. In a couple of discussion of shot-load wadding, tow, cotton-balls and similar loose-fiber materials were well reported for both over and under shot, when appropriate quantities and packing were used. What does the collective wisdom of the company think about the possibility of using a cotton ball, or maybe just 1/2 or 1/3 of one, rammed down to keep a conical from sliding? I'd expect it would just shred and fall away fairly symmetrically, with minimal effect on accuracy, but would add enough friction to prevent sliding. I'll likely test it sometime, but I'm shooting RBs or paper-patched almost exclusively at the present.

Joel

 

[vsparto]

My hunting partner got a nice 100lb dressed doe today. The tools were a TC Renegade with 80g FFF goex and a 350 grain TC Maxihunter. 50 yard shot went in one side and out the other. Recovered it within 50 yards. It didn't make it to the marsh. I think those will be in my rifle next year at this hunting spot. Muzzle loading is done for this season at the spot near the river. Thanks for the replies and the knowledge. Happy Near Year to you all.

 

[Chuck C]

I shot a mule deer buck with a 350 grain maxi hunter out of a 50 caliber Hawken a few years ago. He was facing away from me at about 70 yards.
I held at the root of the tail and thats right where he was hit. The maxi hunter broke his spine and penetrated the full lenght of his body breaking his jaw when it exited. It didn't hit much after it broke his spine. It traveled under the back bone after breaking it, right up through his neck and out the right side breaking his jaw on the way out. If a deer is hit right you will have a short tracking job. If a deer is not found it is not the fault of the projectile. It was hit in a non vital area or just around the fringes of the vital area.

 

[petemi]

Last month, I shot a doe coming at me at about 60 yards with a .50 Cabelas Hawken, 100 gr.Goex FF and a 470 gr T/C Maxi Hunter. It hit center of the chest, exited the left rump and flipped her completely over backwards. She never got up and was dead when I got to her a few seconds later. At the end of the season, to unload the rifle, I put a sandbag on my porch rail and pulled up a chair. I have a berm we constructed for shooting 300 yards behind the house. I have an old 100 gallon propane tank standing at the foot of the berm. There was no wind early in the morning, so I aimed at the top center of the tank and let it rip. I didn't hear the bullet clang so I thought I had missed. The next day I went by there and was amazed. There was a brand new, huge, lead spattered dent about a foot from the bottom, dead center. I figure the drop to be about 30 inches. The bullet almost penetrated the steel. From the damage to the tank, I'm sure it could blitz a deer at that range, if you were sure of your elevation.