ORIGINAL: cherokee75
I am going to use my .50 cal New Englander during the ML season this year in IL. With open sights and tree stand hunting, my shots will be under 75 yards. I am undecided on what bullet to use. I have .490 round balls, Maxi Balls (370 grains, I think), 340 grain Minnies, and Maxi Hunters which I think are in the mid 300 grain range. I will be using Pyrodex RS.
Of the 3 the best is the Maxi Hunters. The round balls are consider by many "deer cripplers":
http://www.chuckhawks.com/powerbelt_bullets.htm
since they loose energy so quickly. As for the Minnies, I am not very familar with them, but I know the Max-hunters have a lot of knock down power. I have tried them before in my TC FlintLock, but they didn't group that well. Did NOT try wads, corn mean and other tricks to get them to fly better however. Chap Gleason