Roundball

[Ron LaClair]

NWTF Longhunter
how long is the barrel on that gun you got propped up on that old swamp donkey ?
I'm buildin' a 12bore with 36"barrel,gonin' to use it on moose this year with pacthed round ball .69cal.
Hopin' the shorter barrel will prove to be easier to handle in the bush.
p.s nice lookin'moose hope you didn't have to care him too far!

It's a custom built German Jager rifle with a 32" swamped barrel. I had it made especially for that hunt. It's still knockin deer down 26 years later.

I shot the moose 300yd's from the river. It took a day and a half to bone him and pack him out to the canoe. Then after we broke camp it was two days by river in two canoes to get back to civilazation.....I couldn't do it today.

 

[Stumpkiller]

We use a round ball not because it is better, but because it is more of a challenge. It is what the original muzzleloaders used in their time.

Why would anyone use a primative ignition system and then add modern sights and projectiles? THAT makes no sense. If you're using open iron sights, the round ball is sufficient anyway.

 

[CrackStock]

I shoot round ball because that is what was shot in the original rifles that I so admire.

I have also learned that the round ball can be extremely accurate when you take the time and trouble to make it do so.

I also enjoy casting my own and making them shoot well out of guns that I put together.

The simple reason is that I really enjoy doing all of this myself and having such a great result.

Can you imagine building a gun, casting the ammo, working up a load and then achieving a clean kill on the hunt or winning a rifle match against really good shooters. Feels good -- real good.

CS

 

[Sharp Shooter]

I think you convinced me to shoot roundballs. For elk and LARGE Rocky Mountain mule deer I would like to get a 58cal GM.

 

[BS]

You won't be sorry! :applause:

 

[roundball]

I think you convinced me to shoot roundballs. For elk and LARGE Rocky Mountain mule deer I would like to get a 58cal GM.

That's what mine is...a GM .58cal 1" x 33" x 1:70" Flint drop-in barrel for a TC Hawken.
I use Goex 2F, Oxyoke wonderwad, .018" TC prelubed pillow ticking, Hornady (or Speer, or Remington) .570's.....an extremely accurate caliber and a real power house.

With only a 100grn charge of Goex 2F, zeroed at 50yds, only drops 3" at 100yds...if you zeroed it at 75 and boosted the charge, you should have 'point blank' trajectory to 125yds, and the .58 ball would do the job when it got there.

It's over-kill on North Carolina whitetails with 50yd woods shots, but I love it...plus, I know I'll always be prepared IF the dinosaurs ever do return!
:grin:

 

[laufer]

Most of us are interested in hunting using the same technology as was used back when. That is roundball. We limit ourselves to the correct range for the technology. We are not interested in shooting farther, faster, and delivering a ton of energy way out there. If you are interested in long range, then the conical is your obvious choice. If we need more energy at 80 yards, we get a bigger ball.

:hatsoff:

 

[leadball]

Sure, a 150 grain 30-06 will probably get you more deer than a 50 caliber prb, but thats not the charm. the charm is to get close and handicap yourself with one shot. I have killed 5 deer and my son killed one with 50 cal prb and all were less than 40 yards and dropped. It was more meaningful to take them that way than with my 270(which I do not have anymore). It's amazing the death that little pea can cause

 

[John Wasmuth]

I use a patched round ball because I get told a lot that "Ya can't kill nuthin with em". It's also the same reason I use a flintlock. Todays "Faster, Flatter, and Better" just aint what it's all cracked up to be. If I wanted to wack deer at 500 yards with a .308, I could do it. But heck, so can anyone else. First rifle I ever owned was a .41 cal percussion that had been converted from flint, and the stock had been chopped off to a half stock. I was about 9 years old. Killed a lota game with it from hogs to whitetail and back again. It used round ball. After many other rifles, and after many years of long range precision fire in the Corps, and later as a police officer, I got back to where I started. Closer is better, closer works. Inliners will tell you all day that nuthing in the way of the old things will work. All I can do is laugh.

 

[roundball]

"...I use a patched round ball because I get told a lot that "Ya can't kill nuthin with em"..."

"...It's also the same reason I use a flintlock..."

"...After many other rifles, and after many years of long range..."

"...Closer is better, closer works..."

Couldn't have said it any better...
:hatsoff:

 

[lyman]

I shoot round ball because I can't get the square ones to fit. :rotf:
Bob

 

[BS]

I shoot round ball because I can't get the square ones to fit. :rotf:
Bob

Thanks, I needed that! :rotf: :rotf:

 

[Dave_B]

Help me out here.
Since RB dumps energy fast while traveling through the air, won't it dump it's energy even faster in the target? The poor drag coefficient works the same when traveling through air or fluid - right? :hmm:
Are through shots common with RB?
Dave

 

[Stumpkiller]

Actually, once it's in the meat a modern bullet mushrooms and sheds all of it's energy quickly. A round ball stays pretty much unchanged. I've only recovered one that was a front-to-rear penetration and ended up under the hide. Broadsides punch on through. I try to center the lungs and avoid all the bones except ribs.


Round ball after passing through 32" of deer.

 

[Rebel]

What do you cast those out of? Is it pure lead, or harder?

 

[Dave_B]

Wow, that ball looks darn near perfect. Is that a .58 or is it bigger?
Dave

 

[Stumpkiller]

That one's a .490" beside a quarter. It's junk yard lead and not quite pure. I use plumber's lead and some pipe and get the occasional tin solder in the mix.

 

[Rebel]

Well, it musta worked ok, because you were able to recover it from a dead deer.

 

[Dave_B]

I thought that was a silver dollar and figured the ball must be a big 'un. :redface:
So, you gonna remelt it and get another deer or keep it as a souvenir?
Dave

 

[Wehrmacht]

There isn't much that I can add to these replies which are excellent,other than to say that I,too,have shot deer through and through at 80 or so yards.Last bear I killed was at 42 yards...ball went in just under the left eye and out through the right flank. Rarely do I recover a ball in an animal...round balls go all the way through. Hershel House .50cal Southern rifle,72gr 3f,.018 denim patch.Works for me every time.

Hoyt, you and I have a lot in common :thumbsup: