Round Balls
 

How are roundballs? Will they be good out to 100yds in a 58? Usually how well or fast will they put an elk down if you put it inthe right spot? Will it have more nock down than a 54 with ballets?

RE: Round Balls
 

100 yards will be about it forpretty much anyroundball. Perhaps 125-150 yards dependng on the load, but I would practice at that range to become proficient. Also they can be accurately shot out to 1000 yards, the sighting required to do so is not your typical open hunting sights.Roundball'sloose velocity and energyvery rapidly after being fired. The other problem you will run into with open sights is target obstruction. You cannot accurately see the target much past 100 yards and with some sights 100 yards is questionable.

58 caliberPRB would be significantly more lethal than a 54 ballet.

As to how fast an Elk will drop is variable. Animals do strange things when the are shot. Some will fold up when only nicked, others will run forever after being shot to pieces.

If your shot placement is text-book (top of the heart to sever all arteries) then perhaps the beast will drop where they stand. But if you are off slightly and only wound or missthe heart, then they can run quite great distances.

On the other hand, a classic double lung shot could have them running 100+ yards or much more or dropping where they stand. A shoulder shot with a PRB at 100 yards range could result in a wounded and lost animal or they could fold up where they stand.

For practice to be able to take the heart shots which have amont the highest chance to drop an animal the quickest, you should be able to routinely print groups at least 6" preferably 4" or less at 100 yards.

If you cannot routinely shoot groupsinside of 6" at 100 yards, then you really and ethically should not be hunting at that range. This is true regardless of what you are shooting.

Also you should be loading the maximum allowable hunting loadfor your rifle that still holds accuracy to ensure 100 yard PRB effectiveness.

My opinion.

Tahquamenon

RE: Round Balls
 

thanks!

RE: Round Balls
 

Sharp, I haven't had any experience with elk using a ML nor with the 58 cal. Damn that's a big bullet. My experience with round balls have been with 50 and 54 cal. (mostly 50s) Up until a few years ago here in PA you could only use round balls. They can be very accurate provided you use the right patch thickness and powder volume for your rifle.
Another thing, don't expect to see much of a blood trail from round balls. Several deer that I have hit good (hear/lung area) did not bleed at all externally except a few tiny drops but were recovered by careful tracking. For some reason conicals seem to make an animal leave a better wound channel.

RE: Round Balls
 

The only deer I've shot with round balls were shot with a .500 diameter, 185-grain pure lead ball with 120 grains of powder. The maximum range was around 80 yards. Shot just behind the right leg about halfway up, I got complete penetration, an entrance hole about the size of a softball, and a thumb-size excit wound. Blood was sprayed out both sides of the deer, leaving trails on both sides that blind men could follow.......