Is 50 grains enough?

[BradAnthony11]

I have my 8 year old shooting 50 grains loose 777 with a hornady 240 grain sabot in his Rossi. Will this be enough it I limit his shots to 50 yards?

[Wolfhound76]

Within 50 yards and taking a double lung shot you'll be fine. I've got ballistics on a ML handgun and 50 gr of 3F BP ignited by a #11 gets 567 ft/lbs at 50 yards. You'll getbetter energy with triple seven, a 209 primer, and the longer barrel.

[Branson]

In some states you need a minimum of 60 or 70 grains to hunt. You might wanna check the regs for your state.

[cayugad]

I have a book by Don Davis, Muzzleloading... to begin with,where he teaches the basics of muzzleloading through his flintlocks and all the things one needs to know as to how to load, hunt, shoot, possible bag, etc. In the book he mentions his friendsfavorite deer load out of his Kentucky long rifle as 50 grains of powder and a roundball. He limits his distance and says with that load it puts that ball well into the kill zone were the ball can then release all its energy. There is a school of thought that says pass through is not all that important. It is the damage of internal tissue and the release of as much energy from the projectile to the body cavity. I personally do not believe that school of thought. I like pass through, but have seen a lot of deer killed without a pass through shot being made.

I think 50 grains of Triple Se7en and the 240 grain XTP will work just fine. Especially with the limits you have set for your son in the distance department. Have him place that behind and not through the shoulder blade, and he should be just fine. Actually at those lower velocities, a standard XTP made for a handgun might get some excellent expansion and do some rather impressive internal damage. I would not look for a pass through by any means, but you can never tell. Just watch the deer after the shot, the direction it runs, etc. It should not make it far if your son's shot is true.

[HuntAway]

I had one of my 13 yr old 's shooting the .50 Deerstalker Flintlock, using 50 gr 3f Goex and a 495 ball and he shot the heck out of the bull at 25 yds. It was a two inch bull and there was nothing left of it. He compared that load to a .22 recoil wise so to bump it up to 70 would not be too much of a stretch or hard on the shoulder for hunting.

[rem 700]

That'll do the trick.

[wabi]

I'd say it should be fine if range & shot selection are reasonable (and it's legal).
My theory for deer hunting is:
Get close and put the bullet or arrow where it should go.

[gt2003]

Personally, I would prefer an all lead bullet if you are going that low on powder. I used to shoot the hornady xtp 300 grain bullets out of my ML over 90-100 grains of pyrodex rs. They shot great but I lost the first 3 deer I shot with a muzzleloader. I'm assuming it was because of too little velocity when trying to shoot a jacketed bullet. I wasliterally to the point oftotally givingup muzzleloadingwhen someone suggested the precision rifle www.prbullet.com all lead bullets. I currently shoot only 80 grains of 777 powder and a 220 grain bullet. I bet at 50 yds you could go less, maybe even down to 50 grains. I was amazed at the recoil difference in the 300 grain xtp's and the 220 grain precision rifle dead centers. I am in no way associated with their company but I doknowthat they saved my muzzleloading career. I had always loved muzzleloading but couldn't kill a deer successfully with a muzzleloader.I am so glad someone recommended these bullets to me. Check out their website and if you have any questions, call them. Theyare really nice and have an excellenct product. Let usknow what you decide on. Thanks,Greg