Small game with a 50 cal?

[PNWtrekker]

You all remember the scene in Jeremiah Johnson where he's about to pull the trigger on that grouse? I am looking forward to doing some Trekking with my TC Hawken this year. When legal, I often take a .22 to fill the stew pot. Can you shoot small game with a .50 cal.? My .270 would make hamburger of anything smaller than a deer unless you pop the top off of a grouse. Can you reduce the charge for small game? I figure someone out there has tried it.

 

[necchi]

Placement, Placement, Placement,,,
I use a 54 and there is little damage to the meat of small game I harvest.

My .270 would make hamburger of anything smaller than a deer unless you pop the top off of a grouse.

Well that shouldn't be a problem,
Years ago, Deer hunting, MN. Sat in a stand for days waiting, every morning and evening, a Cock Pheasant came out to parade as entertainment and a tease.
That last day, with no deer,, I thought I'd get at least one meal,
I lined up with that scope mounted 30-06 on his head,, I missed, the shot went low..
The head was still attached, by the skin on each side of the neck, everything else was fine.
Point is, practice, spend sometime learning your rifle and it's accuracy.
Good luck,

aka; aim small, miss small?

 

[PNWtrekker]

That's good news necchi. I hate wasting game but given your advice, I'll give it a shot.

 

[Loyalist Dave]

You all remember the scene in Jeremiah Johnson where he's about to pull the trigger on that grouse? I am looking forward to doing some Trekking with my TC Hawken this year. When legal, I often take a .22 to fill the stew pot. Can you shoot small game with a .50 cal.? My .270 would make hamburger of anything smaller than a deer unless you pop the top off of a grouse. Can you reduce the charge for small game? I figure someone out there has tried it.

Um well I've shot small game with a .54

I have taken rabbit with a head shot, and I've taken squirrel, and three of which were "barked". That means that I had heard of this technique, so I did as I had heard and shot the small branch directly under the squirrel as it walked along the branch, and it does work. BUT..., after the third squirrel, my buddy asked me "Hey Dave, where does that ball go after it blows through that branch, seein' as you're pointing that rifle upwards?" So the third squirrel was the last one I ever did that way. It worked as described, the squirrel had no external damage but the concussion of the ball going through the wood just beneath them killed them. OH I've taken a few more with that rifle, but they were on tree trunks, head facing down and looking toward me trying to figure out what I was.... so after the ball passed through the head it stopped in the tree.

LD

 

[Boomerang]

That's what's nice about muzzeloaders. You can adjust your load for the game you are after.

 

[JoeG]

I killed rabbit with my Hawken .50 cal. and found out later it was not a legal caliber in "Communist"wealth of PA to hunt small game with, I forget the exact number but some archaic law is on the books limiting the caliber to like .36 or smaller here. May want to double check the game laws where you are, it likely isn't as restricted as the green jeans police have it here but worth a look.

 

[Loja man]

I use my 50 Cal with about 25 to 30 g of powder on squirrels. Headshot only. As Dave mentioned when you launch that round ball up into the big blue you have to know where it’s heading. Most of my hunting area I have to make sure I have a tree trunk or large limb behind the squirrel before I shoot. Most of my shots are under 30 yards.

 

[bud in pa]

I used to hunt squirrels with my 50 TC Hawken . When PA changed the law to 40 cal. or less got a smothbore.

 

[Eric Krewson]

I used to hunt squirrels with my .50 TC Renegade, I have had a lot of TC guns but never one as accurate as this particular rifle. I think I put about 15 grains of powder in it, when fired it made more of a "bloop" than a bang but a squirrel's head was toast out to about 25 yards. It didn't blow up the head, it would just cut a divot out where the ball made contact. Alabama changed the law to be .40 and less for small game, a few years ago they changed the law back to any caliber M/L for small game.

 

[ETipp]

Years ago I shot a squirrel on the side of a tree with my .54 Renegade, full power round ball deer hunting load. To my dismay, the squirrel did not vaporize, rather there was pretty much just a .530 hole on both sides.

JFG I plan on taking my .54 GPR this year on a few squirrel hunts to see what happens this time. But I will download quite a bit. I'll be practicing some with reduced loads prior.

 

[user 49399]

I once mentioned to some hunter friends that I sometimes used a .50 caliber muzzleloading rifle for small game. Their eyes bugged out and they exclaimed “fifty caliber, for small game?!”.

But when I talked about using a .62 or .69 caliber smooth bore, nobody so much as blinked. Go figure.

 

[Nuthatch]

Velocity matters a lot. A .22 LR is not the same thing as a .223. A .50 launched subsonic with a reduced charge will cause a lot less meat damage than a .30-06. Not all .50s are loaded equal. My hardcast roundball at about 1600 fps left clean entry and exit in a javelina this year. Same with my buck (hard bismuth ball). There was some minimal bruising around the wound channel but nothing like I see with CF. More like an arrow wound than a typical rifle wound. My buddy's unmentionable .50 loaded up with HPs left a 3" hole out the back and a bunch of bruised tissue. Subsonic loads are probably your best bet. But make sure to practice with it since you're likely to see a significant vertical POI shift.

 

[mtfishn]

You all remember the scene in Jeremiah Johnson where he's about to pull the trigger on that grouse? I am looking forward to doing some Trekking with my TC Hawken this year. When legal, I often take a .22 to fill the stew pot. Can you shoot small game with a .50 cal.? My .270 would make hamburger of anything smaller than a deer unless you pop the top off of a grouse. Can you reduce the charge for small game? I figure someone out there has tried it.

You bet. As other have expressed, it can work very well. However.....I was once carrying my .45 cal. Rifle loaded with 35gr of FFF hoping to decapitate a grouse ...and had taken a couple already. While my family and I were driving to a new berry picking/grouse hunting spot, we came onto a monster black bear. In some parts of Montana (and other states?) problem bears may be relocated far away from where they were causing problems and where, perhaps, some lucky hunter may claim them during a legal season. This bear was huge, a real belly dragger and not the least bit afraid of me so suspect he may have been relocated from somewhere with lots of food and people. While I was lining up on it, it occurred to me just what a puny load I had in my rifle...so hesitated. Then decided a head shot would be OK, so walked to within 35yds of the bear. Still worried the ball may bounce off its pointy head (facing me)....I waited for a broadside head shot. The bear walked off moving down a brushy draw below the road. I scurried around and got ahead of it and had the bear dead to rights at about 5yds as it walked by......I never fired not sure of the outcome. With what I know about that load ...I probably could have killed that bear, but better safe than sorry. So, yes you can load 'em lighter....if you want to.

 

[Walkabout]

You might try lead shot, probably work out 15 yards or so. Also maybe sub-caliber balls with a thick patch might work.