Moose bullet

[atr]

The Great Plains Rifle in .54 cal sports a 1 in 60 barrel for patched round balls . I'm thinkin' on getting a 1 in 32 barrel for it to shoot heavier bullets . Because of what Daryl has had to say regarding the poor preformance of maxiballs on moose , they're out . Been looking at the 450 gr. single cavity Lyman and the 320 gr. R.E.A.L. What would anyone recommend that should provide good accuracy and have a very terminal effect on moose ? The average shot in this part of the country would be 100 to 150 yards and i want a little more horsepower at 150 than a patched round ball will give me and a bullet that will do what bullets are supposed to do . I'll use the 1 in 60 with prb's for bear over bait where i can determine the distance .

 

i understand and agree with your reasoning for using a bullet instead of a ball for shots on large game over 100 yards.
Read Daryl's posts on the Maxiball carefully. His main objection to the Maxi on game is in the 1:48" twist due to the fact that that twist rate is marginal at stabilizing the Maxi. After the Maxi strikes the target it becomes unstable and tends not to plow a staight course and possible veer off track. This may not be a problem on the whitetail deer as they are light skinned and boned and are not hard to take down with a well placed hit by a ball or bullet that behaves.
The 1:32 twist may do just fine with the Maxi, but today there are better conicals available. I've have good results with the Powerbelt/Blackbelt 405 grain in my .50 g.M 1:28 twist.
I'd guess in the .54 with 1:32 twist you want a bullet in the 325 to 400 + range.
I might also recommend Precision Rifle for their extensive line of swagged bullets in all calibers. You can go up to 450 grains if you'd like.
Then there are sabots that open a new and huge vaiety of bullet/sabot combinations.
If I were after moose at less that 100 yards, less than 75 would be preferable, I'd use my Jeager .58 r.b. with complete confidence. Anything further and I'd opt for a heavy conical.
:m2c:

 

:imo:http://www.prbullet.com/

 

I would try any of the flat-nosed bullets in that fast-twist .54 barrel. Years ago, I tried in vain to get someone to make me a .50 or larger, fast twist barrel for a slug gun. No one would then, but now they abound - and cheaply, too.
: The buffalo bullets from Hornady should be great killers of game and maintain the large calibre advantage.(in that fast twist)
: The maxiballs have a very poor shape and construction- having those great huge grooves and sloping nose. Combined they promote collapse of the bullet, rather than expansion. as Maxiball said, I mentioned their utter failure on moose when shot from the 48" twists. It is quite possible, a shorter bullet, like a 300gr. REAL might be OK in that twist, I don't know. The 370gr..50 Maxiball and 400gr.+ in the .54 cal were utter failures & wouldn't go in a straight line. They turned on bones without breakng them and skidded around and in the soft areas of the body, just as Forsyth said the understabilitzed slugs would. We want that bullet to smash the bones and go in a straight line across the moose's body, to smash the off shoulder, or exit the hide on the off side, not turn on a rib and go into the guts instead of penetrating the rib and holing both lungs. When we got the guys to switch to RB's, even though they weren't very accurate, a moose has a kill zone, almost 36" in dia. and the rifles had enough accuracy to hit those out from 50 to 100yds. or so. the guys started killing theri moose wiht 1 shot, instead of having to shoot them limb from limb.
: By all means, try several of the slugs. The best will allow shootng without having to clean between shots, at least 4 or 5 shots without having to swab the bore. Perhaps, swabing berween groups when testing would be what to try for. A poor shot, due to glancing on somnething unseen, or flinch or whatever, causing a fast second shot to need to be made, but not being able to make it due to fouled bore, is unaceptable. You've got to be able to shoot several shots without having to clean.
: The Hornady Buffalo bullets, solid base, shot well in my .50-70 with the addition of some comercial SPG lube. Those, in 54 would be a good place to start.