Round Ball or Conical

[thumbs]

Ok I know I can be starting a war here and this is a bit like religion but just interested to hear what ya have to say.

I have been hunting muzzleloaders for more years than I care to remember. The vast majority has been with conicals. I have always used them basicly for one reason. I find they load easier in the field and there was just a little less in the equation to go wrong. They worked great and I have no complaints.

Those of you that have hunted both, how does the rb do compaired to the conical for takeing deer. Why should I use one over the other. I know shot placement is everything and rb has take as many or more deer the the 30-30 but I guess what what I am asking is what are the advantages of the rb over the conical

I'm not interested in a range war just your experiences with both.

Thanks

 

[Rebel]

Well, :imo:i prefer rd balls. You can get higher velocity and therefore a flatter trajectory with them, which makes range estimation a litle less critical. Also, they cost a whole lot less so you can afford to practice a bunch more. I have also found that rd. balls kill deer just as well, in fact better for me, than conicals that i tried a couple of times.Shot placement is still the number one factor as far as a clean kill, but rd balls will do the job if placed in the right spot. :m2c:

 

[Stumpkiller]

A round ball has half the effective range and is equal in accuracy - provided the barrel is of a rifling compatable with round balls.

The range issue is not a problem if you work within it. Primative weapons are SUPPOSED to be a challenge. If you've resigned yourself to use open iron sights then the round ball is plenty effective to any range you are likely to engage a deer. If seeing a scope on a muzzleloader doesn't bother you, then using a conical probably won't either.

Round balls are easier to cast yourself and MUCH cheaper to buy.

 

[roundball]

A lot depends on where you hunt (woods distances, long distances) and what calibers you have on hand or available in your budget.

Little .45cal / 128grn balls kill deer all day long in typical short range woods settings with good shot[url] placement...in[/url] fact, Saturday I was squirrel hunting with a .45 throttled back to only 40grns Goex FFFg and heart shot a Doe that dropped in 30-40 yards.

If you want a little more cushion for extra energy & extra yardage, the .50cal / 180grn ball is basically the .30-30 of ML's in typical woods settings.

The .54cal / 230grn ball is sort of like the .30-06 of ML's and will take most anything you want to take;

The .58cal / 278grn ball is sort of like the .300mag of ML's and basically opens up the North American continent for you.

If limited to a smaller caliber, then you may be forced to consider conicals depending on the above conditions...ie:, if all you had was a .45cal, but hunt where shots average 100yds, the 255grn TC Maxi-Hunter would be far more reliable than the little 128grn ball.

But given a choice, I like the round ball first and match up the caliber to get the weight/energy needed for what, where, how I'd be hunting.

:m2c:

 

I use both a 230 gr RB and a 436 gr conical in a slow twist 54 cal barrel. and get good accuracy from both.
through the years i have made it a rule to not shoot over what i can estimate 100 yard . i can only think of one time i shot farther and I have taken game up to elk with both RB and conical
HOWEVER.
if im hunting mule deer i strictly use a RB, i like the way they shoot and most times i get good penetration.
If im hunting elk and the season is either sex i load a conical. while i have had good luck with RB on cows , bulls are a complete different story and while im sure that a rb would do the deed if the shot placement was exact ,,,,,,, i like the added knock down of the heavier round .

i have seen bulls take hits from multiple 300H&H and keep going . I have seen them dropped by a 7MM and get right up only to drop with the next shot but still get up and make it over the ridge .
I have also seen them drop right in their tracks with a 30 30 at 175 yards .
when it comes to those big guys i want as much concussion and penetration as i can get while getting a near as I think I possibly can .

to end i will say this .
when we speak of hunting loads there is a lot of combinations and calibers out there that will kill game and we can talk PC all we want on that subject . however in the end it comes down to you and what you feel will do the job , the fastest , most humane way possible .
if for you thats the tried and true RB then load her up . if on the other hand you feel better with a conical down there thats ok to , they both IMO have there place as long as you do your part .

 

[Rat]

So is my .62" like a .338 Winchester Magnum?? Bess must be like a .375 H&H or a .458!!!

Round balls kill better than they are "supposed" to. I prefer them, but the preference is hard to explain. I guess I just fail to see the need for a slug.

I'm not against slugs, and enjoy shooting them in my minnie rifles.

Maybe slugs just seem like overkill in large caliber rifles, which most ML's are. Compared to modern rifles, which NEED slugs to make up for thier small caliber.

But I can't say that a .62 or .75" round ball is also not kind of overkill.

I'm not much of a traditionalist, but it just seems right to shoot round ball in rifles that would have been used for round ball, side lock sporting rifles, and slugs in the rifles meant for them, such as the minnie rifles...and, I have no desire to fire round balls in my .58" minnie rifles.

?????????????

What a question...my brain hurts!

:shake:

Rat

 

[cayugad]

Which ever your rifle shoots best is the thing to use. Conicals tend to have a lot of bone breaking power to them, and will blow straight through a deer sized animal. Leaves two holes and a better blood trail. Roundball on the other hand, penetrate fine, but there is no telling the path that roundball will take once it enters the body cavity of the animal and starts to bang around and bounce. Granted they will penetrate also. Both will kill the animal.

Both will do their job if placed in the right area. As for concerns about over kill of a projectile. No such thing in my book. Dead is dead. If one projectile happens to mess up a little more meat in the process but knocks the snot out of them so they fall over... all the better. No tracking.

I am from the school that I would rather waste a little from the projectile busting bone and distroying tissue but knocking it over on or near the point of the hit, then to enter, hit vital organs causing it to run off and die, and then perhaps not finding the animal in time to salvage the meat.

Some rifles do not give you the option of one or the other. That is what I like about this sport... the finding out....

 

[musketman]

I use round balls, they don't make conicals in .75 caliber...

However, my .58 Zouave shoots both well...

You will get more shots per pound of lead using roundballs compaired to the conicals, I guess the debate would be "How much lead do you need to kill a specific animal?"

Answer: Enough to get the job done humanely...

:imo: It is better to be over-gunned than to be under-gunned, I would rather waste lead than take a chance of the animal suffering a painful, lingering death...

If the roundball is kept within it's limit, there is not much it can't do, or kill...

 

Rebel summed it up best- patched round balls give a flater trajectory, and kill splendidly within their effective range.
: Personally I've never had to shoot at a big game animal past 100 yards. To that range, patched round balls generally kill faster than conicals. This is an observation, not speculation.
: This last season, a fellow from Kansas plunked a large Canadian moose with a .535" ball patched in .015" OxYoke ticking, started by 100gr. stricken meausre of RS Pyrodex. The ball hit the moose just above 1/3rd up the body, centred a rib, left lung, centred the heart, right lung, and between the ribs on the off side, came to rest against the hide. The moose ran approximately 40yds. and dropped dead - This was a very fast kill, likely to be duplicated by any modern gun .338 mag. & over class. The moose was range-lazered by the guide as being 170 yds. from the truck, where the hunter shot from. Kip merely held on his back line.

 

[sduve]

I have had good experiences getting RB's to fly good but not conicals. I have shot a couple deer with RB's and my ranges were under 80 yards. I wish I could get conicals to shoot better but for deer I haven't found them needed. :m2c:

 

[Rat]

Oh I agree, you can't kill the game "too" dead. But I'm just thinking that the large bores of most ML's, .50 and up, is plenty of insurance.

If I was using a .45 or smaller, then considering a slug might make more sense. Maybe a consideration with a .50", but over that I like to err on the side of power with bore size, rather than slug over ball.

Rat