Me and my dad have a ongoing argument I hunt with a Remington 700ML 50 cal and use powerbelts in it he has a custom made 54cal side hammer and shoots 70gr of Blackpowder and a patched roundball. Well he's shot 2 deer with it he killed one but had to track a LONG ways the other we lost. I say the roundball is not big enough to hunt deer with and am trying to convince him to either get a online or go back to his TC Hawkin useing buffalow bullets. He says that the roundball has been killing deer for 300 years and still will. My argument to that is yes it will kill a deer but a 22 will kill a grizzly but I wouldn't try it. So am I wrong here what do y'all think.
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I started deer hunting in the early seventies with a .45 Hawken round balls and 80grs. of fff and killed everything i shot with it. Went to a .50 cal and Maxi balls and 100grs. of pyrodex and done the same with it. Yep round balls have killed deer for many moons. Your Dad might bump the load up a bit. Not a real big fan of Powerbelts.
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Last edited by Roger46982; 12-27-2010 at 01:06 AM.
Personally, I have shot a lot of deer with roundball both .50 but mostly .54 caliber. I never lost a deer with a roundball load. It is all shot placement. The deer you had to track and track I will bet was shot way too far back. The ones you lost, probably shot too far back, high, or just plain missed.
Tell you father (in a nice way mind you) he needs to be more shot selective. Do only high percentage, vital (heart and lung) shots. I have one friend. A nice guy mind you, but he thinks the target on the deer to aim for is the brown. I have told him and told him to pick a vital area, but I think he just see's the brown and fires and hopes he hit a good spot. We have tracked a lot of deer for that guy and normally they are shot too far back.
70 grains should be fine for shots under 100 yards, but if his rifle will handle it, have him kick it up a bit. Even 80 or 85 grains, it will help in penetration and expansion of the ball.
To be honest, I have experience with roundball but none with powerbelts. And I am not trying to start a powerbelt war. But if given the choice between the two, from what I have read, I would probably go with roundball. I know they work.
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You dad is right...Conical style bullets didn't come around until the mid 1800s...By this time the deer population had been practically wiped out by hide hunters using round balls in flintlocks...
I've killed dozens of deer with a flintlock, most with a .45 and a .54...They work as well as anything when used within open sight range...
If he hits a deer in the right place, it won't go far, same as any other projectile...
If he hits a deer in the right place, it won't go far, same as any other projectile...
I agree 100%. But, what about the guy's like me that cant do that every time? That's why my bullet choices are based on good shots and bad shot's. A little to far back, a little to high, whatever. I need a bullets that's going to work. It sounds bad but true for me.
I agree 100%. But, what about the guy's like me that cant do that every time? That's why my bullet choices are based on good shots and bad shot's. A little to far back, a little to high, whatever. I need a bullets that's going to work. It sounds bad but true for me.
Then you need to quit flinching, another problem all together...
I don't care what you shoot an animal with, if the projectile does not hit the mark then you're in for work. Put it in the boiler room and forget about it, no matter what it is. Hit em in the guts, low in the leg, meat of the neck, below the spine in the meat again and you are more than likely tracking... for a long distance...
While high velocity projectiles with a lot of energy do kill partially by inducing shock, for the most part all projectiles work the same way. They penetrate and rupture tissue and bones and cause death by disrupting, degrading or damaging the lubrication and or air intake systems...
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Roundballs vs powerbelts
