maxi ball

mn trucker · 09-01-2008, 05:35 PM

i found out on saturday that my knight wolverine like to shoot a 320 gr maxi ball. at 50 yards they shot about a 1 inch group. my question is how well do they perform on whitetail ,or am i over thinking this and should just go hunting when time comes .

saxman1 · 09-01-2008, 05:55 PM

Good thread,I have not tryed them but will be interested in the answers from others

cayugad · 09-01-2008, 07:19 PM

maxiball are great conicals. It was all we had years ago before the bullet boom introduced so many different ones to the market. You get excellent penetration and they do expand. They can break bones so if you happen to take a shoulder shot they work good there. I have a friend that hunts deer and bear with them shooting 70 grains of powder. He's blown through deer as far as 70 yards and said a blind man could have followed the twenty yard blood trail.

About ten years ago I shot a doe in the throat with one as she stared at me. She was only about 30 yards out. And I really do not think that deer never knew it was hit, it went down so fast.

Indiana SmokePole · 09-01-2008, 07:35 PM

I use to well and still do use the TC Maxi hunter 350gr with 80gr of 777 in one of my knights
and have killed many many deer with them , I have not shot the Maxi-Balls but I have read that they have better penetration than the Maxi - Hunters SO if they shoot good in your gun HECK YA use them they are a great animal stopper for sure!

lemoyne · 09-01-2008, 07:45 PM

The Maxie balls and the real bullets go back a long way and have done a good job for a lot of years. Lee

Johnmorris · 09-02-2008, 09:01 AM

Several years ago I shot a big doe with a 54 405 maxi. It was a frontal shot at 15 yds went through the deer end to end found the maxi in the rear ham. Never moved internals were jelly.

mn trucker · 09-02-2008, 02:17 PM

i was surprised to see they shot that well for me. from what i have read i thought i had a to fast of a twist for them. i was manly wondering if they mushroomed or just blew threw.
thank you for the replies. i will hunt with confidence now.

eric

UncleNorby · 09-04-2008, 10:00 AM

I would be careful not to load them too hot. They could start to gas-cut with your faster rifling. You'd probably have totinker with it to find the heaviest charge you could use without gas-cutting. I would stay around 80-90 grains Pyrodex or BP.

If they're accurate with your load and you're shooting at least 70 gr of powder, sight in for zero at 75 yds and just hunt.

mn trucker · 09-04-2008, 05:59 PM

i am using 2 50 grain pellets of 777 and it is sighted 2in. high at 50 yards.
not to sound ignorant but what is gas cutting?

Underclocked · 09-04-2008, 07:56 PM

Lead conicals must expand to fill the bore and thereby make a gas seal (obturation). Too much pressure and heat, the hot gases can melt lead and blow past what should have been the seal. The gas is effectively cutting the lead and opening an escape path. Once that happens, accuracy and repeatability go down the tubes. An overpowder wad can sometimes add enough extra protection to the bullet's base to allow high velocities to be obtained while still retaining accuracy. Then there is a problem of too much velocity all by itself, some bullets will start to "fly" and again accuracy is gone. REALs and Maxi bullets are known to exhibit such behavior when pushed too hard.