50 cal deer projectiles

[stovepipe699]

I’ve hunted deer with inlines in the past, now that I’ve gone to a side hammer I’m wondering about PRB vs conical. It’s a Traditions Deerhunter 1:48, I bought a .490 round ball mould, a Lyman 370 maxi mould and have a lee 360 minie mould I was given. If it groups well with round ball, is there any reason it isn’t good for deer within 100 yards? I was thinking 50 cal would be nice for deer with prb and for a bear or moose a 370 conical would do the job. I’m thinking a 54 would be nice for my next gun, but a 2 band enfield 58 is available from a friend.

 

[SDSmlf]

No reason at all that a 50 caliber roundball is not more than good enough for inside 100 yards for deer. You just have to deliver the roundball. Any accurate roundball load using 70 or more grains of powder (some use less) is all you need, in my opinion. 50 caliber conicals will also work for sure, but will beat you up a bit, and can have loopy trajectories by the time they get to 100 yards. Expect a lot of responses in favor of roundballs here.

And nothing wrong with a 54 for hunting and the bigger hole you get with.

Probably best to get good with one caliber/gun, then add other options. It’s hard to resist, as these guns just show up at the door.....

 

[Grimord]

My 50 caliber round ball guns have taken a lot of deer over the past 30 years. I have only recovered one ball in all those years. Just place your shot in the heart/lung area, and you will be dragging a deer home.

 

[stovepipe699]

I’d prefer to shoot round ball anyway, since I’d be using less lead from my supply. And tbh I mostly hunt deer, it’s been a while since I bear hunted.

 

[Griz44Mag]

Probably best to get good with one caliber/gun, then add other options. It’s hard to resist, as these guns just show up at the door.....

I tried telling that one to my wife - she corrected me. She claims that they will not show up at my door if I quit paying for them....
I don't believe her!!!

 

[bang]

Placement more important than projectile.

 

[Kansas Jake]

The Deerhunter is a nice light gun to hunt with. I have one in .32 caliber. As others have noted, you should be fine with a round ball to 100 yards.

 

[stovepipe699]

It’s a bit lighter than I’d prefer, I wonder if there’s a beefier stock that could be put on it. I’d rather see 7 1/2 to 7 3/4 lb, a bit easier to hold steady. For sure an easy one to carry at 6 lbs!

 

[mooman76]

Get a bigger gun. Ain't likely you are going to find a stock to fit, much less one 1 1/2# heavier.

 

[brewer12345]

You could also take off the butt stock cover plate and put a bag of lead shot in the stock cavity. Might change the handling of the rifle a bit, but would add weight.

 

[Ames]

If you are going to leave it loaded for any length of time over the deer season, I think PRB is the choice.
Lets all keep it in its proper order. PRB, THEN PBR's.

 

[Kansas Jake]

Deerhunters are short and light. They are handy, but I could see where one might want a little more weight. I'm at an age were lighter seems better, at least when lugging around.

 

[Kestrel]

I tried telling that one to my wife - she corrected me. She claims that they will not show up at my door if I quit paying for them....
I don't believe her!!!

Like Pat McManus said, He had a gun rack that was adjustable. He knew his wife didn't know anything about his guns but she always knew how many empty spaces he had in his gun rack. Buy a new gun, slide it over and keep the same amount of empty spaces. EASY!

 

[Rifleman1776]

As others have pointed out, a .50 prb is very adequate for deer. And, yes, 100 yards is probably the max effective range. My .45 rifle with prb has taken deer out to 75 yards. In my part of the woods, longer shots seldom present themselves.

 

[Crow-Feather]

I’ve hunted deer with inlines in the past, now that I’ve gone to a side hammer I’m wondering about PRB vs conical. It’s a Traditions Deerhunter 1:48, I bought a .490 round ball mould, a Lyman 370 maxi mould and have a lee 360 minie mould I was given. If it groups well with round ball, is there any reason it isn’t good for deer within 100 yards? I was thinking 50 cal would be nice for deer with prb and for a bear or moose a 370 conical would do the job. I’m thinking a 54 would be nice for my next gun, but a 2 band enfield 58 is available from a friend.

I have a Lyman deerhunter 54, A round ball at 100 yds with 90 grs. FF is about 500 fpds. A Maxi ball at 100 with the same FF is approx. 1000 fpds. Tis a bit more recoil though.

 

[tenngun]

Round ball transfer the energy well to the target. Moose and buff has been taken for a long time with ball, even though it’s foot pound energy seems low.
All the energy any projectile has after it leaves the animal doesn’t matter.
Conicals keep velocity beyond a hundred yards. In most ML sizes even the best conical has pretty low ballistic co-efficient,better then a ball but not stellar.
Conicals were invented to load fast, it was a ‘whoops’ that they added range, then serendipity that one could make a real long range gun by decreasing caliber.
I think that you would not find many conical shooters with .45,.50 or .54 that would push ranges far beyond a hundred,and pro lt none that go beyond one hundred fifty.
Out to a hundred a ball will kill ‘em as dead as any conical.
Conical and ball will shoot different. If you try to use a ball at the range and conical on the hunt you have to make adjustments. Shot placement counts more then projectile. Should you choose to hunt with conicals be sure to practice with conicals.

 

[michael mcghee]

i you like the deer hunter try and find old model lyman deer stalker.. like my 54 cal deer stalker got a 50 cal deer stalker.. its about 7/12 7/34 pounds...

 

[Zonie]

According to my round ball ballistics calculator a .495 diameter ball weighs 182 grains. If I load it over a 3Fg powder load of 80 grains of black GOEX powder it will leave the muzzle at about 1740 fps. That velocity will drop to 988 fps at 100 yards.

That said, my old IMR loading manual shows loading's for a .45 ACP with a 185 grain bullet and none of the loads give a muzzle velocity of over 950 fps so I have to ask, does anyone doubt that shooting a deer at a point blank range with one of these, would kill it if it was shot in the heart/lungs area?

The only limiting factor with a traditional muzzleloading rifle shooting a patched .50 caliber roundball is the sights on the gun at ranges of 100 yards.
If the shooter and his gun is capable of consistently hitting a paper plate at 100 yards, taking a deer at that range shouldn't be a problem provided the deer cooperates and gives the shooter a nice broadside target to shoot at.

 

[Rich]

I’ve hunted deer with inlines in the past, now that I’ve gone to a side hammer I’m wondering about PRB vs conical. It’s a Traditions Deerhunter 1:48, I bought a .490 round ball mould, a Lyman 370 maxi mould and have a lee 360 minie mould I was given. If it groups well with round ball, is there any reason it isn’t good for deer within 100 yards? I was thinking 50 cal would be nice for deer with prb and for a bear or moose a 370 conical would do the job. I’m thinking a 54 would be nice for my next gun, but a 2 band enfield 58 is available from a friend.

Ive seen .50 prb flatten on an elk's shoulder and not penetrate. Guy was using 90 gr 2f and .490 prb. If your going for bear or moose, better gun up. A .50 prb is not enough gun in any way.

 

[Sidney Smith]

Ive seen .50 prb flatten on an elk's shoulder and not penetrate. Guy was using 90 gr 2f and .490 prb. If your going for bear or moose, better gun up. A .50 prb is not enough gun in any way.

The question here then is; why was the Elk shot in the shoulder, and not in its heart lung area? If shot in the latter, my guess is that elk probably would have gone down.

Your scenario is a text book case of improper shot placement. That.50 was capable of taking that elk, but obviously the shooter wasn't.