tc maxiball and REAL for deer?

[buttonbuck]

I have jumped into casting have a REAL mould and waiting on a maxi ball mould I won on Ebay. I have both that others had cast for me and they shoot equally well at 35 yards with my tc renegade 54 cal. I want to know peoples results on using them on white tail deer and their opinion of what is the best conical for deer as I have come to value your experiences.

 

[gmww]

I like the maxi-ball. The one thing you need to know is it tends to really penetrate. I've had poor luck in accuracy with the REAL so I haven't used it on deer.

 

[rabjr]

I shot a few with maxi-balls
and unless I put it through both shoulders, they usually ran like hell and did not want to bleed. I finally gave up on em. Course this was many moon ago too.

 

[boar]

I have used the max-ball for deer,if I hit it I got it. I got more with the max-hunter. TC came out with it for deer as it didn't pass tru as quick. Never had any luck with the real. But I only used it in my .45 Seneca. Did shot two with TC cheapshots last year. They did a real good job in my .50. Got a new pack for this year. Dilly

 

[cowpoke1955]

I have shot the Lee 380 grain REAL and the T/C 400 grain Maxi Ball with excellent results at 50 yards with my .54 T/C Hawkens. I think the Maxis group a little bit tighter. Liked the preformance so much, I bought a T/C 220 grain Maxi mold for my .45 Pedersoli Blue Ridge flinter. The .45 Maxis shoot great also. I haven't tried them on deer yet. but planning to.

 

[Dphar]

I have jumped into casting have a REAL mould and waiting on a maxi ball mould I won on Ebay. I have both that others had cast for me and they shoot equally well at 35 yards with my tc renegade 54 cal. I want to know peoples results on using them on white tail deer and their opinion of what is the best conical for deer as I have come to value your experiences.

The maxi and the REAL have no advantage over the round ball. A 54 RB will shoot through a deer side to side to 200 yards or so.
The Maxi has a miserable reputation on game from most reports and I can't see the REAL being better than a PRB except in the mind of the people that market it.


Dan

 

[hanshi]

Both the Maxi ball and Maxi hunter seem to shoot well in a couple of my guns but I've never hunted with either. A prb just always seems to drop deer really fast and leaves a good blood trail when they run a bit.

 

[Vaino]

Early on I used the Maxiball in a TC "Hawken" but because of the difficult 2nd and more difficult 3rdshot loading, I went to the Buffalo bullet which loaded a lot easier. Haven't used the REAL. Experienced both conicals moving off the charge w/ a clean bbl, so now use a PRB. Have shot both deer and elk w/ the conicals and PRBs and see no difference in killing of these 2 animals using either. Personal preference as what to use.....Fred

 

[Billnpatti]

It has been several years since I last hunted deer but when I did, I lliked to use a .50 T/C Maxi-Ball. I must admit that the deer that I shot (all heart/lung shots) did tend to run a ways before dropping. None more than about 300 yards. One dropped about 50 yards from where I shot him and another made it about 100 yards but none got away. Even so, in Texas brush country, it can be a chore to find one when he runs very far. I've never tried the REAL bullet. In fact, I have never taken a deer with a PBR either. I now have a lot more experience with a muzzleloader and would choose the PBR over any other projectile.

 

[longcruise]

The maxi and the REAL have no advantage over the round ball. A 54 RB will shoot through a deer side to side to 200 yards or so.
The Maxi has a miserable reputation on game from most reports and I can't see the REAL being better than a PRB except in the mind of the people that market it.

I'm going to second that.

Deer and elk that I have shot with the Maxi were slow to die and had poor wound channels (.50 cal) Deer and elk killed with prb had better wound channels and went down sooner.

Your .54 with a prb is more than adequate for deer and larger game.

Not saying you should not use a conical and not raising the prb purist flag here, just telling you what my own exp has been. The Hornady Great Plains conical would probably be better than either of those pointy maxi or real bullets.

 

[buttonbuck]

Thanks for the info this seems similar to others experience. I have roundballs from hornady and a lee mould for roundballs, maybe it is best to keep it simple. I also have a mess of hollow point conicals from other sources so maybe I will scale back in a while. An accurate load in the rengade for rb is 60 grains of 3f have to try it on a doe this year.

 

[gmww]

The conicals advantage IMHO over RB is longer range. I use them both.

 

[nw_hunter]

I agree!under 100 yds the roundball might have a slight advantage, but the heavier conical will have the edge in the longer shots.

A roundball is affected more than a conical by the wind, and more energy is retained with the conical at longer distances.

I guess a roundball can penetrate both sides of a deer at 200 yds, if the ball misses bone.(Whew) what a shot to make with open sights. The 54 RB with 90 grns of powder will only have about 450 fpe left at 100 yds.Add another hundred to that :hmm:

I can't speak for the Maxi Ball, but I've had good results with the real in all the 1/48 twist barrels I've used.I think if the shooter could hit a pie plate size target at 200 yds :shocked2: , the Real would be a good deer stopper!JMHO

 

[Jblk]

I have used the TC maxi on the deer here in central Illinois but I think the round ball does a better job.If the round ball is made of pure soft lead it beats even the shotgun slug in putting your game down.

 

[longcruise]

I agree!under 100 yds the roundball might have a slight advantage, but the heavier conical will have the edge in the longer shots.

There's two kinds of "edge" here, IMO. The killing power edge and the accuracy or ability to hit POA edge. When it comes to the ability to hit a POA in the field, it just seems like it boils down to irrelevant. Reason being that with either RB or conical, regardless of killing power, the key to hitting in the field is going to be the ability to estimate the range. Errors of only 10 yards on any shot over 120 yards are going to result in enough difference in the POA and the POI tom make those shots undoable for most hunters in most field situations.

So, regardless of the killing power of either (and that is a whole nother legitimate debate) both are pretty much limited to about the same distance.

We can split the hairs on energy of either at 0 to 120 yards but the fact is, I've seen the RB deliver one shot DOA kills at over 120 yards from a .54, so, IMO, it's pretty much a moot point. OTOH, I can't ignore my own experience with deer and elk kills with Maxis that showed them to be slow to kill.

 

[hanshi]

I agree!under 100 yds the roundball might have a slight advantage, but the heavier conical will have the edge in the longer shots.

The prb does appear to be a better "dropper" than conicals. Penetration with prb is all you can want. I'll say, also, that if your game is far enough away to worry over the trajectory of prb vs conical, then it's too far away to shoot at with anything.

 

[PreglerD]

Hello from Germany!

Since I do ML hunting (2006) I harvested 12 roedeer. Only 2 with conicals (maxi and sabot) all others with .490 PRB and I'm satisfied with the PRB. Ranges were between 30 and 75 meters.

Regards

Kirrmeister

 

[longcruise]

I harvested 12 roedeer.

I knew you were getting succes on the Roedeer but didn't know you were up to 12. :shocked2: Congratulations!

 

[PreglerD]

I harvested 12 roedeer.

I knew you were getting succes on the Roedeer but didn't know you were up to 12. :shocked2: Congratulations!

Not long and I'll start harvesting them with trad. german hunting rifle- a real jaeger flinter.

My idea is to keep the german ML tradition of the 18.th century.

Regards

Kirrmeister

 

[Stumpkiller]

I could never get the R.E.A.L. to shoot in my rifle. Liked the Maxi-hunters but the Maxi-balls have/had a bad rep locally for blowing through deer without dropping them and requiring long blood-trail work so I never used them. Have used nothing but patched round balls since 2003 in any of my muzzleloaders (and also during the regular gun season) and two deer since then have dropped without taking a step. I like that. All but one has piled up within sight. That one made it 35 yards and collapsed.

I hunt pretty thick cover and most shots come at 10 to 40 yards so the round ball is ideal.