Hunting with round ball

JasonYuke

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North Kawartha's
Very little experience with shooting round ball let alone hunting with round ball. However
Going to give it a go with a .54 cal this fall
What can I expect the bell to do when it impacts

Thanks
 
Well, Range will be limited but killing power within that range should be good with the .54 cal ball. I personally would call that distance "inside of 100 yards". Be sure you have the slow rifling twist for round ball and experiment with patch thickness to get your gun shooting well. Use real black powder it shoots better.
 
Sorry guys ! Have done all the pre hunting stuff , and shooing .535 with a .15 patch with 85 g of Ffg
I was pleasantly shocked how well it shot my range 50 yards the shot will Be taken
Inside this
I guess my question what performance with the ball can I expect
Pass though ? Mushroom ?
 
The ball will expand to about 65 cal through flesh. If It hits bone it will shatter the bone. As far as staying in a deer at 50 yards I haven't recovered one from the two deer I shoot with my 54 Lyman GPS. I usually stalk them and then shot at 50 or 60 yards. My 54 minies I haven't recovered any. A couple of friends of mine have taken shots close to 100 yards and have recovered balls under the hide on the far side of the deer. At fifty yards performance should be excellent if shot placement is right.
 
Ok thank you guys I feel comfortable with the RB now
It’s for bear I hope the shot is 25-30 yards and tight in the vitals
I was shoting a .54 powerbelt think 348 gr or 385 I don’t recall abs too lazy to go to the shop
And dig them out very accurate and no question on performance they work as a solid copper would expect, but want that really go traditional
I was hoping the ball would expand a bit. By the sounds it will
My velocity is about 1600 FPS
 
I had a 54 Johnathan browning round ball rifle. it loved to shoot 3fg goex the load was around 80-85gr that rifle was very accurate.

get out and shoot the rifle as much as you can to become very instinctive with your rifle and how it shoots.
 
I have shot half a dozen deer over the years with round ball in 50 and not unusual to find them on the off side just under the hide usually flattened to about quarter size.
An old timer told me years a go that nothing will hit harder than lead out of a muzzleloader. After years of various saboted bullets I shoot a pure lead 195gr .357 bullet and have never found a bullet inside a deer shot from 3 to 150 yds. Things do get messy when encountering bone though
 
I have killed about a dozen deer with 45, 50 and 54 Patched round balls out to 105 yds and every one has pased through the chest. A buddy got one last year and recovered the ball on the off side because it hit a shoulder bone. Ball looked like an M&M candy. You killing power exceeds your ability to shoot accurately so take shots to the limit of your confidence to place the shot.
 
Let us know how you make out with a description of the shot placement and damage. I picked up my first muzzle loader a several years ago and it was also a .54 and a flintlock. It is so much fun to shoot and even my daughters enjoy it with about 75 grains of FFg so long as they have something to rest it on. I’m still learning the flint side of it but it’s getting more consistent. I missed a deer at pretty close range two years ago and have never had so much fun while missing! I recently broke down and got glasses for my tired old eyes so look out this season. I feel quite comfortable up to about 75-80 yards in decent light but when I hunt with it, I go to areas where 20-50 yards are expected and I have no doubt that ball will do it’s job well at those ranges.
Good luck hunting.
 
Well 100% success ! Round ball busted front shoulder into the spine and into the skin on the far side flattened it where standing
Mushroom was 100-% perfect opened up to almost 7/8 th of an inch and 93% of the weight
I would not be afraid to shoot anything with it
 
well 100% success ! Round ball busted front shoulder into the spine and into the skin on the far side flattened it where standing
mushroom was 100-% perfect opened up to almost 7/8 th of an inch and 93% of the weight
i would not be afraid to shoot anything with it

excellent!!
 
Well 100% success ! Round ball busted front shoulder into the spine and into the skin on the far side flattened it where standing
Mushroom was 100-% perfect opened up to almost 7/8 th of an inch and 93% of the weight
I would not be afraid to shoot anything with it

Awesome!!!

(Looking forward to pictures!)
 
Impressive results hitting all that bone!

I've only shot one deer with a .490" PRB. A very big doe that I hit high lung with exit mid lung, shooting down about 60 yards into a gully. She bolted but found her piled up about 50 yards away. Complete pass through (dug for it but couldn't find the ball) and she was full of lung soup. Results really impressed me.
 
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