.50 cal PRB

[shooter50]

How many people here hunt with .50 cal PRB? If not what do you use?

[gleason.chapman]

ORIGINAL: shooter50

How many people here hunt with .50 cal PRB? If not what do you use?

I use to, I don't have much faith in them now, since most of my hunting with Flintlock is at running deer, not standing still broadside shots. We drive them in PA late FL season. My brother still uses them, but I must add we loose a lot of deer to poor hits with PRB. If ya hit them with a 300g saboted bullet, you have better chance of recoving the deer.

I use a Speer Gold Dot 300g with a CR sabot in a TC Hawken. I have also used 300g XTPs, both are better bullets than PRB in my opinion. I think PRB is OK for broadside shots at standing deer, but I don't have many of those shots with A FL.
Chap

[sproulman]

i got my HAWKINS .50 CAL FLINTLOCKback in 1970.

we used rb for awhile on our bucks but went to 370 MAXI-BALL.

to this day, it is one of the BEST bullets for deer and very accurate in the .50 cal.

its hard to find them anymore, DONT USE THOSE MAXI-HUNTERS,they are no good.


i went to the 295 powerbelt hollow point, man, that bullet is accurate in .50 cal.so is 348 pb.

i like it in winter ,its easy to load and not messy for deer hunting.

here is my load.

geox 2f
80 grs.
1 bore button ahead of bullet
4f in pan
use the 6 o,clock hold on deer IF your sights let you sight in that way
fuller english flints 3/4
rmc v-peep sight drilled and placed at frizzen area
rmc hardened frizzen
295 pb hollowpoint

my rb load.

same powder as above by use 70 grs.
1 bore button.
.018 pillowtick patch
.490 hornady rb
bore butter or crisco on patch
bore butter lightly in barrel
summer only,winter i use hoppes bp on my patch /in the bore do to freezing.

hope this helps .

let a doe/fawn go where there are few

[bronko22000]

Sproul - Why are you saying the Maxihunters are no good? Curious. That's what I use in my FL (275 gr) and have taken several deer with them without any issues. They are more accurate in my ML than the Maxiballs.

[cayugad]

If you want to shoot a patched roundball you will discover they work fine. The trick is as with any projectile.. shot placement. I have friends that hunt exclusivly with patched roundball and they never have a problem taking deer. BUT they pick their shots. Normally they are close shots at standing deer. They shoot for the vital organs.

I hunted for many years with roundball although I shot a .54 caliber. I never saw a deer it could not plant. Some of the advantages of a roundball is a lot of rifles shoot them very accurate, they are cheap to shoot and even cheaper to cast. And they will take game. No matter what anyone tells you.

Many people go to conicals or sabots because of the larger bullet and the fact they do more damage.. but stick that roundball in the right spot and you'll be eating venison.

[nchawkeye]

I started with a .45 flintlock in the 70s and killed 25 or so deer with it...In the late 80s I decided to go with a .54 because of the increased bear population in eastern NC...I made a .54 flintlock and still use it today, I mold my own balls for it and my .40...I've killed about 30-35 deer with the .54 out 125 yards...In the early years, I was using 120grs of FF and later dropped to 100 and finally went to 80grs of FFF Goex about 5 years ago...

I get tickled at folks questioning the round ball and it's effectiveness on game...Remember, Daniel Boone lived until he was 85 and only used round balls...

[rem 700]

I use 'em for cheap practice, but with hunting they're inferior to conical designs. They lose energy quickly.

[Ky Headhunter]

Killed threewhitetails this year with a .50 prb. All heart/lung shots, all went down in sight. Ranges were ~20, ~40, & ~50 yards. All were passthroughs. The 40 yard shot punched a hole through the edge of a shoulder blade going in. Used 80 grains Goex fffg for all.

To echo what nchawkeye said- Elk, bison, & wolves were pretty much wiped out in the eastern U.S. before conicals were widely used.

[mountaineer magic]

I have a 54 cal with a 1/66 twist that I exclusively use with prb and out to a 100 yards I have never lost a deer or had to track one very far. I shoot a 100 gr of powder and a remington #11 cap. It will stop anything in its tracks .The most important thing is enough practice to know where you will hit that sucker. The round ball sheds energy fast but will take a deer down at 100 yards easy.

[sproulman]

ORIGINAL: bronko22000

Sproul - Why are you saying the Maxihunters are no good? Curious. That's what I use in my FL (275 gr) and have taken several deer with them without any issues. They are more accurate in my ML than the Maxiballs.

i have yet to see a maxi-hunter shoot any good out of a .50 cal hawkins, 1-48 twist.they fly all over paper.

i called THOMPSON and talked to reps there for over 30 minutes on problems with MAXI-HUNTERS..

they said they are awful,EVEN tho they sell them.

they said they are TOO SHORT.they get calls on them all time.

some think shooting say a 4 or 5 inch group is ok with a muzz with maxi-hunter.

the 1-48 twist was made for the 370 maxi -ball length.

its LENGTH of bullet.short is no good in 1-48 twist.

maybe a different twist they would work fine.

this is why the powerbelt 348 is just about same length as the 370 maxi-ball.

i tried everything to get those maxi-hunters to shoot good out of many 1-48 twist guns and i cant.

reps at thompson have a way to hold their barrels in vise and shoot, no way for error on shots.

they told me that the 370 maxi-ball, not hunter was best bullet to use in the 1-48 twist.

they said they cut holes in paper with 70/80 grs of 2f with the hawkins 1-48 twist.

they also told me best velocity etc with roundball with the hawkins 28 inch barrel was 70 grs of 2f with a .490 rb on there tests.