I hunt with a guy that has routinley dumped elk with a .45 cal longrifle for 40 years. I think there is an advantage with conicals; but I've never felt the need to use them. I've not killed 35+ elk with a muzzleloader, But I've killed 6, and my smallest caliber was a .54 and I use roundballs.

turfman

I killed my best Mule Deer buck, a 30" non-typical, with a .45 cal round ball from a percussion Kentucky rifle. I shot my American Buffalo with a T/C Maxi-Hunter conical bullet from my .54 Hawken. Both worked fine. Neither shot was over 100 yds.

A question from a cartridge shooter wandering by this forum: once you get to 58 caliber or so, wouldn't hardened lead be the material of choice for round balls? It seems that at that diameter, expansion isn't needed and can only lessen penetration, especially in bigger animals.

Could being thick skinned stuff, but I never have. I'm guessing like the rifles used in the black powder days on the dark continent would have benifitted from a harder ball.

The african hunters used a hardened round ball, according to Greener's book, "The Gun". They gave up some accuracy, but shot from close range. Big, gauge rifles, minimum 16 ga.

I've used round ball, maxiball, minie ball, and conical from a .50 TC Hawken and a .54 slow-twist slant breach hawken. My preference for whitetails is the patched round ball. From my experience conicals like the maxiball went right through whitetail, like they were shot through a cardboard box. 50 cal entrance, 50 cal exit unless they hit bone. If I were to use conicals again, I'd aim at the far side sholder.

.526 PRB/110 gr FFG gives full penetration with a lung shot, much larger exit wound, lots of blood trail. Last weekend, 80 yds, doe DRT.

Now, elk may be a different story. Don't know.
Shotgun

I have a 54 cal knight with a fast twist. Zips righ thru a deer. I would think a round ball would do the same.

quote:

Originally posted by Roger Keezer:
I like the 320 gr real bullet from the lee mold with 100 gr of pyrodex out of my 50 cal with the 1 in 32 twist.

i have a Lyman deerstalker i also use 320gr reel bullet with 60gr fffg at 1100 feet/sec it gives me a 35mm group at 50m.

i had a one shot kill on a wildebeest she didnt move she dropped in her tracks

I much prefer the conicals for elk, they seemed to kill them better than balls IMO...I used to hunt deer and elk with MLs...

quote:

Originally posted by nordrseta:
The Lewis & Clark Expedition fed themselves there and back with .54 caliber roundball flintlocks. Aerodynamics are not the roundball's strong suit; they lose half their velocity and two thirds of their energy by the time they cross the 100 yard line, so keeping things up close and personal is a good idea. If you don't have your traditional roundball rifle yet consider making it a .58 or .62 so that you can, in the words of Black Fly, throw a bigger rock. My rocklocks are a .54 rifle and a .62 smoothbore fusil. They kill deer just fine but I haven't tried them on anything larger.

Ditto I have a .57 round ball gun with a 1 in 96" turn that shoots into 1" at 100 yds would not trade, if I'm going to throw rocks I want big rocks. The last deer I shot with it was quartering towards me the ball went in the rt ft shoulder & out the lt rr hip at about 85 yds seemed like plenty of peneration to me.

When I was much younger and into blackpowder matches (mid 70's) we all shot round balls except in the musket matches. I took deer with round balls in 45, 50 and 54 caliber traditional guns, A TC Renegade and a Hopkins and Allen Underhammer. I felt the 54 was best but killed more deer at the time with the 45. I was actually impressed with the round ball myself. All my shots were under 75 yards and most exited.

https://secure.tcarms.com/store/index.php/action/item/i...vid/33/prevstart/18/
I shoot these in a .50cal. 350gr. in a old T/C Hawken with percusion caps with 80-90gr.pyrodex excellent accuracy & Complete penetration,if it works ...why fix it right......

When i first started hunting with a muzzleloader in 1970 it was a TC hawkins 54 cal flintlock and I used tc maxi balls and i killed alot of deer with it and most dropped in there tracks some might have went a couple feet.I lived in PA then, and I opened a gun shop and PA changed the law to roundball only.Well the first day I had guys coming in the shop saying they were shooting deer and they were getting away and these were the same guys that for years got deer with the maxi.Well I bought a 58 hawkins with a 1-66 twist and I had no problem with that gun throwing that big ball,but the guys with the 45s and 50s were having problems, the roundball pushes flesh around it and the entrance closes a little from say a 45 might be 20cal so they didn't have a good blood trail where the maxi cuts a wound channel and usually goes right through leaving a good blood trail or a dead deer.I've shot alot of deer with both roundball and conical but the maxi or conical or sabot definitly kill faster and get more penetration.And another thing about roundballs don't hit a twig that ball will deflect like nothing you ever seen where a maxi will keep going straight.I seen a friend shoot at a deer and there was a small twig about ten feet in front of the deer right in line with the vitals and he hit the twig and the bullet hit at the deers feet!If he was using a maxi he would of had that deer .So if you don't have a perfectly clear shot with a round ball don't take it.And if I were hunting ELK I would use a big hunk of lead preferably a conical.

I have been using the TC Maxi Ball for years with great success. They shoot extremely well (accurately) and leave a devistating hole. They do not drain off energy like the round balls do. And, they're less expensive than just about any other conical.