.62 smoothie One gun deer/bear/small game loads

Greetings

Being a fairly new black powder explored I seek advice from elderly (read: experienced) riflemen/muzzleloaders. This is probably a repetition of topic at some point and please move it into right place if wrongly placed.

I'm looking for hunting loads for the creatures mention above and some small game. If possible please include min and max loads you use/would use, and at what ranges?

And based on some of ya's experience, what is your opinion on one rifle/ caliber for everything?

Thank You in advance.

Amikee said:

And based on some of ya's experience, what is your opinion on one rifle/ caliber for everything?

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The type of game hunted and typical shot distances can decide between smoothbore vs. rifle.

For me to cover my North Carolina woods hunting for deer, squirrels, doves, crows, and turkey, a single choice would be a Jug Choked .62cal Smoothbore Flintlock.

I'd be using RB for large game and shot for small, whether upland or waterfowl. The same powder charge (in the 90-120 grain range) would be fine for deer and blackbear.

Similarly I'd use the same shot combo for most of my small game and waterfowl shooting, but varying shot size and type for different species. Turkey hunters go a lot higher than I do in 62 cal (I read as much as 1 1/2 oz of shot), but I'm not a turkey hunter. My usual "everything" charge in a 20 is 7/8 oz of shot over 70 grains of 2f. I switch to a 12 for ducks, but if I elected to use the 20 I might go as high as 1 1/8 oz of shot over 80 grains of 2f.

One caliber for everything is how our ancestors often did it. In New England and Canada that gun was usually a smoothbore, a fowling piece, something suitable for militia use or a trade gun (smooothie). In other areas like the Appalachians, the plains or mountain west, the primary gun would be a rifle. I would not use a smoothie on deer or black bear past 60-75 yards, and I would choose a .62 or .58, the same caliber range as most trade guns. I have a .62 that works well. Roundball has a lot of practical and recent hunting experience with smoothies, so I listen to what he has to say. I'd be tempted to go with 100-120 grains of FFG with a round ball in .62 just to get velocity up if I thought I might be shooting at 60-75 yards. Not so much for killing power as to handle drop.

In the hunting seasons of 1997 and 1998 I did just as you say, took everything with one gun. I had a new .62 caliber flintlock smoothbore, my first, and decided to see if the thing was as versatile as people were saying by using only that one gun for all my hunting. It was. I took deer, turkey, rabbit, squirrel, dove and one unlucky groundhog with it.

If there were no other considerations I would choose a 28 gauge smoothbore instead of a 20 gauge, personal preference, but in my state 20 gauge is the smallest legal shotgun for turkeys, which were definitely on my list.

I always shoot 3F Goex in my smoothbore, but recently have been experimenting with tow wads and 2F with promising results.

My smoothbore is cylinder bore, 46".

As far as maximum and minimum loads go, I work on a load until I find the strongest one within reason which will shoot well, then that becomes both my minimum and maximum. I believe in hitting them hard.

For deer I settled on 80 gr. 3F and a .600" ball. From a rest I can shoot 3.5" groups at 75 yards with that, and I have killed deer out to 70 yards. If the kids were hungry I could catch lunch for them at 100.

I don't hunt bear, but I would use my regular deer load if I did, and it would work well.

For squirrels I use 55-60 gr. 3F and an equal volume plus a little of #5 shot. That's pretty reliable to 25 yards.

For rabbits I shoot 50-55 gr. 3F and equal volume of #6 shot.

For doves I shoot 70 gr. 3F and 90 grains equivalent of #8 shot.

Marvelous guns.

Spence

BrownBear said:

I'd be using RB for large game and shot for small, whether upland or waterfowl. The same powder charge (in the 90-120 grain range) would be fine for deer and blackbear.

Similarly I'd use the same shot combo for most of my small game and waterfowl shooting, but varying shot size and type for different species. Turkey hunters go a lot higher than I do in 62 cal (I read as much as 1 1/2 oz of shot), but I'm not a turkey hunter. My usual "everything" charge in a 20 is 7/8 oz of shot over 70 grains of 2f. I switch to a 12 for ducks, but if I elected to use the 20 I might go as high as 1 1/8 oz of shot over 80 grains of 2f.

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A few years ago on another ML fourm there was a member, I think from Alaska, who hunted extensively with a 20 ga. smoothie. He had killed a lot of game with his, including bison in the lower 48. What differed him from the rest of us was he kept extensive notes on his hunts and kill results. I do wish I had printed out some of his postings, great advice from someone who has been there and done that.
BB have you ever kilt a bar wit yer 20 ga. smoothie?

Rifleman1776 said:

BB have you ever kilt a bar wit yer 20 ga. smoothie?

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I follow the lead of the most experienced muzzleloader I've ever known, who also is a 30+ year brown bear guide. He won't do it and won't allow clients to do it, and that's good enough for me. The one friend who's done it won't try it again, and he's headed off a mutual friend who was going to try.

Black bear? Haven't lived around them in 35 years (brown bears ett them all, supposedly), and wasn't muzzleloading when they were available before I moved here.

Interior grizzly? They're pretty small compared to browns, on the order of very large black bears. Do-able with large muzzleloaders I'm sure, but not on my watch.

Trying to think who might have been posting. There's several up here with decades of white smoke in their lives, but I can't dredge up the name of a poster.

I agree with just about everything Spence has to say here. I use 75gr-3f for whitetails and 90gr-3f for elk. That's the only diff! I shoot a 36" barrel and can't get that small of a group at that distance though! I also agree that the 28ga is all the gun i need east of the big muddy.

I can't contribute to this thread yet. I only killed 3 squirrles and 2 pizza boxes with my new ML.

Are you shootin a 20ga there White Rabbit?

I have a 14 guage. I'm pretty stoked about waterfowl and migratory game bird hunting. Added on the state permit and bought a duck stamp. Theres a good size lilly pond a 1/2 mile walk in the woods that nobody uses. I took a walk up in there and sat for a while. There were a few ducks. I forgot my glasses and could'nt tell what kind they were. Once the migration starts, I know I'll have the whole place to myself. Rail and Snipe starts sept. 1 and I'm gonna try Snipe over to the blueberry fields, The rail I'll get down at the salt marsh.

70 grs of 3f will put a .600 ball through both sides of a black bear.

I built a 20ga/62cal fowler as an all around gun. My deer load is 80gr of 2f or 90gr of 1f. The one year I took it deer hunting I got a decent size doe at about 35 yards. It went about 20 yards before it succumbed. Will be taking it this year. If I could only have one muzzleloader this would be it. But it would take a lot to part with my 54 cal rifle.

Thanks for good info. This is what I'm trying to decide. .62 smoothie Vs .54 rifled. I do hunt whitetails only right now. Maybe something different in the future. But I want to get good amount of time and practice with one. You know what I mean?

I don't small game hunt much, so I started with the .54 rifle, being a good solid gun for deer hunting. The 20 gauge fowler came later, adding more challenge than the rifle. But it only took one season to get a deer with it. I took one of my younger sons (now 5 years) to small game hunt instead of bowhunting by myself last year. We got a squirrel the first day out and got to watch some young deer watch us. I'll probably do the same this year and then go muzzleloading deer hunting with two of my older boys later in the year. Versatility with the smoothbore, accuracy with the rifle. You may end up with both, too.

For about 5 years I have only had a .58 smoothbore and it does everything from Grouse,Squirresl and such to Derr and I would use it for Elk if so inclined to hunt thne again I used to do the same with a .62 which also gave me the option for Turkey and Geese if I chose, here a 20 gauge is the min.for Turkey. I found no need for anything larger and looked at it as just using more lead that was not needed in my case, but everyone must weight their own needs, I do not think you will be dissapointed in chooseing a .62 if it is a solid well fitting quality piece with a GOOD lock, enloy whatever you choose

...a .62 smoothie is suitable for just about any game you can think of in north america... obviously, several variables need to be considered (e.g., distance, game size, how fast you can run, etc.)...

:rotf: running is an important part of hunting. Agree. LOL