I have been hunting with muzzleloaders for four decades and can tell you from experience that patched round balls can and will kill quickly and efficiently. in my own experience, a .445 patched round ball is sufficient for whitetail deer. I do believe that larger calibers such as 54-62 are more suited to larger game, such as elk or moose. I also believe that conical will shoot flatter trajectories at longer ranges but my type of hunting only requires ranges of 10 -75 yards and PRB works fine. on the 17th of this month I killed a nice seven point buck with my 58 caliber flintlock. 35 yard shot through the heart