Satisfactory bison/elk flintlock rifles - bore size(s) & load(s)

[Josh Smith]

Hello,

I would personally use a .50 loaded with 90grn or so of 2f and use one of my hardcast round balls (figured out how to keep them at .490" from a .490" mould).

Wyatt Earp supposedly stated that he used a 10- or 12-gauge with a round ball to save money on powder and ball over the Sharps shooters, thereby increasing profit.

I see no reason a hardcast ball would not work. Actually should go through the beast and break bones while it's at it.

Josh

 

[paulvallandigham]

I would not give much credence to any talk about saving lead by using buckshot instead of a single bullet on buffalo. First, you have to get in close to buffalo with any shotgun for buckshot to work.

Hide hunters, like Earp, and the Mastersons, shot Buffalo from stands, where they could shoot up to 200 buffalo in one day, without moving. ( The number killed depended on how large a crew they had to remove the hides in a day. The carcasses were left to rot. ) At 437.5 grains per ounce, a 12 or 10 gauge shotgun is going to use a load of shot- any shot- of at least 1 1/8-1 1/2 oz. Compare that to a 300-500 grain .45-70/90/100/120 cal. bullet, or a 450-550 grain 50-70/90/100/120/140 cal. bullet, loaded in Sharps Express rifles.

I seriously doubt that Wyatt Earp ever said anything of the kind to any one. He was, instead, a victim of novelists, who simply used his name to sell pulp books back east. ll manner of nonsense was written in these novels, with absolutely no concern about the truth. The audience that bought the books had NO knowledge about guns, or ammunition, or Buffalo. The authors could, and did, make up anything they wanted to about these things, and the easterner bought the nonsense as if it were fact. Today, we have the Tabloids to supply us with the same quality information about "stars".

Earp lived until 1929, and died in Los Angeles. Josephine(Josie), his wife, who he married after the shootout at the OK Corral( 1881), was with him to the end, and died herself in the 1940s, I believe. His fame or Notoriety made him have to listen to strangers tell all kinds of things he was suppose to have done, or said, all the rest of his life. Its the same with "stars" today. :hmm:

 

[John Wasmuth]

A .58 cal civil war era minie ball with 100 grains of FFg will whistle clean thru a buffalo at 150 yards when placed in the heart/lung area. I've done it no less than 3 times

A .577 Hornady round ball with a .020 lubed patch, 100 grains of FFg will bust clean thru the chest cavity of a buffalo at 100 yards. I've done it no less than 2 times. .58 is a stone cold killer but the same with every caliber, shot placement is everything.

 

[Josh Smith]

I would not give much credence to any talk about saving lead by using buckshot instead of a single bullet on buffalo. First, you have to get in close to buffalo with any shotgun for buckshot to work.

Hide hunters, like Earp, and the Mastersons, shot Buffalo from stands, where they could shoot up to 200 buffalo in one day, without moving. ( The number killed depended on how large a crew they had to remove the hides in a day. The carcasses were left to rot. ) At 437.5 grains per ounce, a 12 or 10 gauge shotgun is going to use a load of shot- any shot- of at least 1 1/8-1 1/2 oz. Compare that to a 300-500 grain .45-70/90/100/120 cal. bullet, or a 450-550 grain 50-70/90/100/120/140 cal. bullet, loaded in Sharps Express rifles.

I seriously doubt that Wyatt Earp ever said anything of the kind to any one. He was, instead, a victim of novelists, who simply used his name to sell pulp books back east. ll manner of nonsense was written in these novels, with absolutely no concern about the truth. The audience that bought the books had NO knowledge about guns, or ammunition, or Buffalo. The authors could, and did, make up anything they wanted to about these things, and the easterner bought the nonsense as if it were fact. Today, we have the Tabloids to supply us with the same quality information about "stars".

Earp lived until 1929, and died in Los Angeles. Josephine(Josie), his wife, who he married after the shootout at the OK Corral( 1881), was with him to the end, and died herself in the 1940s, I believe. His fame or Notoriety made him have to listen to strangers tell all kinds of things he was suppose to have done, or said, all the rest of his life. Its the same with "stars" today. :hmm:

My bad. I didn't specify that he said he loaded them with round lead balls, not shot.

IIRC, the shotgun was a 10 gauge loaded with a 700gn patched round ball per barrel. Earp didn't try to shoot long distance with it, but rather would shoot one, then shoot the next one upwind, then the next one, and so forth, until the buffalo moved off or the wind shifted and caused them to stampede away from the smell of blood. He had a quota (don't remember how many) of the number he'd shoot per day based on how many he and his skinners could skin out, and he'd try to keep them in one group so he didn't have to move around a lot come skinnin' time.

From what I know of Earp and his business sense, he would operate this way, or close to it.

This is one story I can believe, him using pumpkin balls from a 10 gauge on buffler.

Josh

 

[BrownBear]

One thing to factor in: He was a heck of a horseman and in those days it was sport to "run" buffalo on horseback and get in close enough to singe hair with your muzzleblast. My recollection of that account is that he was in fact running buffalo and not doing it on foot from a distance. I'll tell you this for sure: I'm still not enough of a horseman to get close enough to singe hair! :rotf:

 

[texcl]

I think .54 would be my minimum, I've shot alot of critters with .58's and can say I like the combo of a flat shooting ball with a good sized hole without tons of recoil. Once you get into the .62 and up range you start to notice recoil alot more since to make the larger balls shoot flat you have to feed them 110gr+ of powder, not that you need that to kill an elk, just for the flat trajectory. My mom took a big bull elk this year with a 25-06 with 120grn partitions and the elk went less than 10 feet. Shot placement is the real trick.

 

[hoochiepapa]

Amen to shot placement! :bow: