PRB or Bullet?

[rcscott30]

I'm going to be hunting here in southern Oklahoma this season with my 50 cal. kentucky rifle. Its shoots both .490 PRB with .015 patch and 320 lee REALS well, just want some opinions on which to take to the field. I also have a 50 cal. kentucky pistol as a sidearm, only shot PRB, same configuration. Dont want to walk up do a down animal without a shot ready to go!

 

[tenngun]

Ball.
Less kick for you, good clean kill kill for deer.

 

[Frontstuffer070]

I've killted quite a few whitetail deer with my Kentucky Rifle. Mine is a Traditions. 90grains FFg, pure lead .490 Ball, Blue striped pillow ticking patch. The round ball will do the job if you do yours for sure.

 

[Johnny Too-Tall]

Flip a coin thats what I do.. Here I'll do it for ya it was heads, go with PRB

 

[Grenadier1758]

While I am an advocate of the PRB, @rcscott30 should use the projectile that is most accurate. After all, it is bullet placement that will result in the most favorable outcome.

 

[oldwood]

If your rifle has a 1 turn in 60 " rifling twist , that's patch round ball. In .50 cal. , 80 gr. FFFG , .490 RB. , w/proper patch thickness. Have made much deer freezer meat w/ this rifle and load. A sure killer.

 

[Duk]

I use round ball all the time. work up a accurate load know your distance and your ready to go

 

[Rifleman1776]

prb. First practice and learn where it prints. Good luck.

 

[TCMonts]

I'll be the devils advocate and say there's no such thing as over kill. Use a heavier bullet and a stout charge if it's accurate.

Now where did I put that popcorn.

 

[Bad Karma]

I'm going to be hunting here in southern Oklahoma this season with my 50 cal. kentucky rifle. Its shoots both .490 PRB with .015 patch and 320 lee REALS well, just want some opinions on which to take to the field. I also have a 50 cal. kentucky pistol as a sidearm, only shot PRB, same configuration. Dont want to walk up do a down animal without a shot ready to go!

Whichever one you feel most comfortable with. Mostly the fellows here are round ball shooters so 90% of responses will say, that’s all you need. That’s fine, ball does work and for whitetail deer under a hundred yards a .50 ball is a good choice. Assuming you’re up to it, a bullet from the same gun is going to carry energy further than a ball. If that’s important to you.

 

[tenngun]

Whichever one you feel most comfortable with. Mostly the fellows here are round ball shooters so 90% of responses will say, that’s all you need. That’s fine, ball does work and for whitetail deer under a hundred yards a .50 ball is a good choice. Assuming you’re up to it, a bullet from the same gun is going to carry energy further than a ball. If that’s important to you.

It will carry farther and carry energy especially down range that a ball can't. No matter what you do ball is going to loose energy in short distance. The faster you drive it the quicker it looses velocity,
Howsomever.
Drop becomes a killer after a hundred yards. And ten yard misjudge on the range is a differnce between a heart lung shot and passing under deer
Ball or conical one needs to get close. Folks get lots of kills out to a hundred and fifty yards or more. They know their gun the range and area.
In general a traditional rifle is good for about a hundred yards. And .50 on deer in ball will give you venison
So will a conical
Don’t press your range, and don’t think that you buy safe long range with a superior projectile
And in the end if you choose conical it will be bar b Que or stew.

 

[Sandro_Ventania]

Choose the one that guarantees a faster death!

 

[longcruise]

If you are shooting a Traditions Kentucky with slow twist then shoot the bullets at 100 yards before you decide.

 

[azmntman]

OK, I'm a PRB shooter/hunter. BUT I will say that a PRB can leave absolutely no blood trail, or buckets full. A conical will usually leave a blood trail, if your pretty good shot and have semi open country PRB cannot be beat. If your hunting in heavy cover a no blood trail hit can ruin yer hunt. Out here I almost always see my large game animal fall. This years cow was different. .54 PRB 70 grains Black MZ and she went 45-50 yards thru short jack pines. ZERO BLOOD, even the entrance hole had no dripping and for the first (maybe second) time ever there was no exit hole. All the others I have seen fall I really paid no attention but I believe there may have been no blood on most. Shot a tiny cous deer few years ago thru the heart with a good pass thru and though he only went 30 yds there was no blood at all.

So that's all the difference really. You pays yo money and yo takes yo choice. BUT EITHER WAY DO NOT FORGET PICTURES. No pictures it never happened.

 

[nkbj]

Depends upon the expected distances, what kind of shots you're liable to be presented with big deer or little deer, what accuracy you have determined you can achieve, climbing or moving around during the hunt...
Whatever best suits your situation in all it's particulars.

 

[gunpa]

500 grain conical and 100 grains of powder is minimum for Idaho deer! . They're tough out here.

 

[longcruise]

I've determined by another thread that the Kentucky in question is probably a pedersoli which should have the twist to handle the conical.

Having used the 50 prb for most of my deer hunting I'd say to just use what you prefer given that both will be effective.

 

[nkbj]

Something I seldom see spoken of is deer hunting with fifty caliber hollow base bullets.
There are some good design molds with off the shelf availability and custom designs too suitable for use with the now pretty much industry standard rifling and 48" twist.

 

[TCMonts]

0ne thing to keep in mind, it's not the twist that determines whether you should use prb or conical it's the depth of the rifling. Round ball guns usually have deeper rifling to get a better grip on the patching, bullet shooting barrels have shallower rifling to ease loading. Not to say that either won't work with the other but fast twist shallow rifling is designed for bullets and slower deeper rifling is designed for prb.

 

[cynthialee]

How I do things when hunting, I load with a PRB, but I keep 275gr TC Maxi Hunters for reloading as the conical loads faster than the ball and once I take that first shot I have just enough fouling in the barrel to hold the conical a bit better and my conical load out doesn't do well with the first shot. But that second shot, the conical with just a tad more powder than my PRB round is just as accurate as my PRB load.

Now I won't shoot those 320 gr REAL bullets. Anymore. I have to put 110 grains of powder in my rifle to get a good group with them and that much powder and bullet smacks the snot out of me.