black powder for moose

brother1

brother1

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What do you guys think, would you go hunting for moose with a .50 cal black powder? I have tons of centerfire rifles, but might want the challenge of a blackpowder moose hunt. I think that it is more of a "hunt" with only one shot, and I will have to make sure my shot is perfect. But, what do you all think? Will the .50 cal penetrate enough if I hit bone?:sniper:
 
No sweat, but get close of you are going to do it with a .50.
I used to use 120 grains of FFG and a .490 ball in mine.
Worked well, but then I hunted moose with a single shot 30/30 also, .
Know your rifle well, get close, and it will be fine.
A bullet would work very well aslo, but I have never used maxis, minies, or any other type of projectile in any of my BP rifles .
Patched round ball is what I have always use in my .50's and 58's , and my son's .54.
My .58 load is 130 grains of FFG and a .570 ball out of a 32" barrel, BTW.

Cat
 
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Moose hunting

I am looking into this also. I am looking to keep my shots to 100 - 125 yards on moose. I am looking at using either a Hornady 300 gr. SST with 150 grains of 777 pellets, or the Barnes 290 Spitfire TMZ grain with the same powder load. Will these loads be enough?? Any info would be great.

Jason
 
Sakoman said:
I am looking into this also. I am looking to keep my shots to 100 - 125 yards on moose. I am looking at using either a Hornady 300 gr. SST with 150 grains of 777 pellets, or the Barnes 290 Spitfire TMZ grain with the same powder load. Will these loads be enough?? Any info would be great.

Jason
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I think your choice of load will be more than ideal for moose.
"Jim Shockey" swears by and only uses 100grs Shockey Gold and a 269 gr. Nosler Partition-HG for worldwide Grand Slams.

I myself, load 120grs of loose 777 fg under a 250gr SST and like you my shots are kept under 125yds;)
 
If you punch in the ballistic coefficient and velocity of one of the premium bullets you have mentioned combined with a 100-120 grain charge in .50 cal sabot into a ballistics calculator, the result will be performance not far off factory 45-70 Government ammo. Loaded with a premium bullet, few would argue that a 45-70, even at standard factory velocities, is incapable of cleanly taking a moose inside 100 yds. I want to try my .50 cal inline on a moose with 285 grain spitfires and 100 gr pyro, and I have no doubt of the outcome inside 100 yds if the shot is true. Dead moose.:)
 
A 300 grain xtp should have plenty of penetration, I was doing some expansion tests and the 300 grain xtp blew through 2 feet of wet phone books, I actually had to put some dry ones at the end to catch the bullet. I have also run them front to back on whitetails (I actually find them too stiff for deer).

The 265 Hornadys (the one for the 444 marlin) gives good penetration, another bullet that is a little stiff for deer.

The 44 cal 250 Nosler partition HG's could be a good option but I have not used them on game, so I am going on it's hard to be wrong when your shooting a partition (Finally found a couple of boxes I never buy blister packs) though I think the 45 cal 300 grain version, might be better for moose.

I am not sure I'd use a 50 cal round ball maybe 54 or 58.

A big ass conical is another option but I am not sure if the pure lead slugs would handle big bones, and in general penetration might be an issue.
 
catnthehatt said:
No sweat, but get close of you are going to do it with a .50.
I used to use 120 grains of FFG and a .490 ball in mine.
Worked well, but then I hunted moose with a single shot 30/30 also, .
Know your rifle well, get close, and it will be fine.
A bullet would work very well aslo, but I have never used maxis, minies, or any other type of projectile in any of my BP rifles .
Patched round ball is what I have always use in my .50's and 58's , and my son's .54.
My .58 load is 130 grains of FFG and a .570 ball out of a 32" barrel, BTW.

Cat
Click to expand...
Can't argue with the Cat.....I have a Hawken 50 cal and I also use .490 roundball with about 120g of FFF powder. Know your gun. One shot is all you will probably get. Put 'er behind the front shoulder and no where else.
 
I dropped mine with a PRbullet 360 grain Extreme Elite, 120 grains of Pyrodex RS, at a distance of 106 yards.

0 yards to recovery.

I like the fact that a few guys have had success with a patched .490 round ball. Way cool
 
I have used a 50cal inline to harvest 2 moose. First one fell to a 460gr conical/130gr pyrodex RS/#11 cap fired from a Gonic - 50 yards maybe pass thru and dead bull with in a few feet. #2 came from a 700 MLS 26" 300gr XTP, 120gr RS & 209w primer - in and out of the ribs under 75 yard shot. This bull actually ran but only 30-40 yards before dirt munching. I also used this same load on a good sized boar blackie, double shoulder pass thru and DRT result.

I'd stick to the 300 class bullets and don't get caught up in pushing max 150gr loads unless you can keep your accuracy(something I never found with 150gr pellets when i gave them a go instead of loose). I'm planning to use my Savage ML this year for elk season and will be using the 300gr SST in all likelyhood but plan to try the barnes xpb this year on the range. If it shoots well i'll go with it instead. I just couldn't get the TMZ to shoot in my savage under several powder combo's. If they do shoot in your ML be an excellent choice in either 250 or 290 versions.

Good Luck and Enjoy
 
Shot two moose with my .54 T/C Renegade one with round ball 100 grns of FFF, and the other one with A 456 grn. minie and 110 grns of FFF both were pass throughs and both under 100 yards one went 10 paces the other none, I think the BP is by far the best bush rifle I have ever had and will continue to hunt with.
 
My buddy shot a cow moose with his Remington .50 cal. last year. I think the he only needed one shot. I also think that you'll be seeing the gun in the EE shortly, that's just the way he is.
 
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