Big PRB Meat Ruiner?

I just recently bought myself a 10 Gauge double and bought some RB's for it and was wondering was it going to make instant hamburger meat out of the deer? I usually shoot decent 150lb to 175lb bucks and 100lb to 120lb does and I was wondering is it going to stop in the animal at decent velocities (1500fps)or is it going to blow out and keep going to the next county, I guess the way I'm wording this is a lot about penetration too, any help on large PRB's would be a big help

Keep the velocity down around 1000 fps. and don't worry about whether its going to kill the deer. I don't think you can reasonably expect a ball that heavy to stay inside the body of a deer, unless shot end to end. A broadside shot is going to show too big holes. The nearside will be 10 gauge, the off-side will be lots bigger.

You don't need 1500 fps velocity for that ball to penetrate anything, including a 400 lb. wild boar. Save your should, in the process.

And, just to satisfy yourself, set up a box of pine boards, spaced 1 inch apart, and being 1 inch thick boards( actually 7/8"), and do some comparision penetration testing with your 1500 fps load, and my recommended 1,000 fps load. I am not going to tell you the results. Some things you just have to enjoy learning on your own. :rotf: :wink:

Place it behind the shoulder and you will never tell by eating it that it wasn't shot with a .50 cal. hit in the meat areas yes some waste but still plenty of "goood eatn". 1000-1200 fps would be better I think in a 10ga.
Have fun and keep it safe.

ml'S aren't like modern guns they don't spoil much meat no matter how big the ball is, even deer struck with my .62 had less spoiled meat than a deer shot with a 30/30 or a .223 for that matter, because the ball stays together.

...and the RBs are much slower moving with a larger surface area that most "pencil" bullets.

I shoot a .50 cal flint rifle with 60 grains of powder. 50 is not a big bore as far as muzzleloaders go, and it's a low velocity. I shoot deer behind the shoulder, and when I peel back the hide I have noticed very little blood shock damage. Pop em in the lungs and there should be very little lost meat. Good luck.

Nope. The ones I killed with an 11 Ga bess went down in about 20 yards. The .715 ball got full penetration, including one shoulder with little to no meat damage.

IMHO, it takes a LOT to stop that big ball, even at low velocities, so poor penetration is not a consideration.

God bless

Heres two I hit with .715 ball and 82 gr powder. The first I swear reacted to the flash in the pan as he was quartering to me and I hit him higher than I wanted to. If you scoll down you'll see the balls path.
http://www.muzzleloadingforum.com/fusionbb/showtopic.php?tid/213432/post/485501/hl//fromsearch/1/

A few days later I put a Doe down broadside, with the same load and only lost a handful of bloody/ bruised meat on that on.
http://www.muzzleloadingforum.com/fusionbb/showtopic.php?tid/214830/post/499791/hl//fromsearch/1/

Bottom line, hit them right, you don't loose much meat.

As Elmer Keith said of big slow moving bullets......"You can eat the bullet hole"

P

Others have given you good advise here. However, no one has mentioned your double, so far. You don't say what it is other than a 10 ga. double. You want to shoot round ball with it - are you absolutely sure the gun is set up for that? Are you sure there is no choke in those barrels?

I've never had to track one once I parked a .54 or .62 ball dead center of the rib cage! I have not had a shot at one with my bigger calibers.
I have a Friend who has killed several deer with broadside shots from a .54 loaded with 60 grains of 3F. He did not recover a ball from any of these deer. The 60 grain load plowed on through
around 50 yards for the shots.
Shooting them with a 10 bore double barrel should be a cakewalk, unless you were dead set on recovering your lead!

:thumbsup:

Thanks for the advice gents, I've never shot a deer with anything larger than my .50's and all so I am a complete novice to the larger bore's and those punkin ball's. And the gun is a double and it is choked cylinder on the right for the PRB and modified on thee left for a buckshot load, occasionally in the brush that I do hunt sometimes I get 15 yard shots and then 75 yard shots down a firebreak so the RB is an idea I definitely plan on trying, thanks.