I just made an impulse buy and ended up with hundreds of .490 Hornady lead round balls. Whatever whatever cloth I was using the first time to patch them was giving me a hundred yard accuracy in my rifle, but now I'm getting maybe 50. Time to experiment with some new patches.
Anyway, for fun, I put three RB' s over 80 grains of powder in my 12g SxS, and was actually impressed with the results. I have a modified and improved choke. I wish I took more photographs, but it was raining and there were lots of other holes in the targets. 777 / op card / heavy nitro card / 3 RB's / a lubed wad on top / and an overshot card on top of that.
My targets are about a foot and a half by 1 ft, and I was consistently putting all three round balls into the target from 40 or 50 yards. Most of the time two would double up, and one would fly about 6 in away from the initial impact, although sometimes they would spread to about a foot, still well within the "kill zone", especially considering that they're 50 caliber round balls. Power didn't seem to be an issue, they were putting holes in the pan I use as a target that even some modern ammunition isn't capable of penetrating at similar distances. There's thumb sized holes in steel that's over a quarter inch.
Unfortunately, I can use a single PRB for hunting from a rifle or smooth bore, but I'm not allowed to use a shotgun for anything other than waterfowl. I would much prefer to use my "6 shooter" shotgun for deer over my single projectile muzzleloader.
Just thought I'd share my experience, I had no idea I would have such good results.
Anyway, for fun, I put three RB' s over 80 grains of powder in my 12g SxS, and was actually impressed with the results. I have a modified and improved choke. I wish I took more photographs, but it was raining and there were lots of other holes in the targets. 777 / op card / heavy nitro card / 3 RB's / a lubed wad on top / and an overshot card on top of that.
My targets are about a foot and a half by 1 ft, and I was consistently putting all three round balls into the target from 40 or 50 yards. Most of the time two would double up, and one would fly about 6 in away from the initial impact, although sometimes they would spread to about a foot, still well within the "kill zone", especially considering that they're 50 caliber round balls. Power didn't seem to be an issue, they were putting holes in the pan I use as a target that even some modern ammunition isn't capable of penetrating at similar distances. There's thumb sized holes in steel that's over a quarter inch.
Unfortunately, I can use a single PRB for hunting from a rifle or smooth bore, but I'm not allowed to use a shotgun for anything other than waterfowl. I would much prefer to use my "6 shooter" shotgun for deer over my single projectile muzzleloader.
Just thought I'd share my experience, I had no idea I would have such good results.
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