Roundball Expansion?

[Brokennock]

In part, because I have a good supply of wheel weight lead that I can cast & use for plinking & hunting out of state. Also, we can't hunt with lead here in CA so I use cast bismuth for hunting, which doesn't expand at all. Haven't hit anything with them yet, though. Then there's just inherent curiosity. Meanwhile, the collective experience of this board is a great resource. I'd be an idiot to not tap the experience of others before trying something new.

The only deer I've shot with a muzzleloader was with a Thor conical (hollow point). At about 70-80 yards, the bullet zipped through, leaving a .50 entrance and exit. I finished him at about 10 yards and recovered the bullet. It expanded perfectly but failed to pass through.

Based on what I've read so far, it would seem that roundball from pure lead is subject to the same issues as a HP pistol bullet -- drive it fast & get expansion but less penetration. Slow it down and it will penetrate without much expansion. On that jug test, it would have been good to drive that roundball to around 1900 fps a few times & see what happened.

Either way = dead deer. Either will work with a big enough ball for bigger critters too. Put a hole through both lungs and call that critter dinner.

 

[Tanglefoot]

Shot a bull buffalo once. He was running and I hit him in the crease behind his right shoulder as he was going away from me on an angle. I was shooting a Leman caplock .50 caliber loaded with a .495 round ball patched with ticking ahead of 90 grailns of FFg. Range from muzzle to target was maybe 30-35 yards. He took about 2 strides and went down on hus nose. When we dressing him out we found the ball had passed through the chest cavity clipping blood vessels, hit a major bone in his left shoulder joint and ricocheted out through the base of his neck leaving an exit hole roughly the size of a quarter. Never did find the ball.
Most of the meat went to a charity BBQ but at the fall rendezvous my hunting buddy and I made a bodacious pot of chili with the backstraps, baked a big Dutch oven full of biscuits, and
fed half the camp. Got even for a couple of seasons of camp-dogging too. Oh … my buddy also made a big Dutch oven fuylll of peach cobbler.
When he woke up next moring planning to have peach cobbler for breakfast, he found that the Dutch oven was plumb empty —- not even crumbs or traces of fruit left. Same deal with the chili pot and the biscuits too.

 

[brewer12345]

I generally hunt deer with 54 and 58 round ball. I don't really care if the ball expands when it hits. I have only recovered one ball, a 54 that hit a deer at 60 yards or so. The ball hit the deer in the right thigh, broke the thigh bone and lodged in the left shoulder. One side of the ball was flattened, the other was still round.

 

[Spikebuck]

Have shot deer with 50, 54, 58, and 62. Most all have passed through and the exit was roughly "ball sized" indicating little to no expansion. Bof those few that stayed in, all were in pieces vs a single expanded chunk.

I did get expansion with Hornady GP bullets, but those had a hollow point. Also had them pass thru with what appeared to be little to no expansion based on the exit hole.

 

[30338]

Hit deer spine in the neck and found on other side. Very dead. .570 hornady roundball.

 

[Rifleman1776]

The only roundball I have ever recovered from a deer killed with my .45 flinter came out flat and about the size of a quarter. I use only the purest soft lead I can find for my casting. I used to keep that slug on my desk. If I find it, will post a pic.

 

[nhmoose]

Moose, deer and bear been shot and I have never recovered a RB no matter caliber, a .40, .45, 54 or .66

 

[30338]

I guess maybe I don't run them hard enough or perhaps the Hornady balls are softer lead? I've found a couple 58 balls the last 4 years. They do keep killing stuff and things never go far though.