Chaded
 

In the other thread you seemed like an unbeliever about a PRB killing a cow elk. Here's a post by a friend of mine who lives over the hill from me. Unlike me. He loves taking pictures.

Enjoy.


http://muzzleloadermag.infopop.cc/ev...1/m/5264009508

Hey tell your friend congrats and nice pics!! Btw...you took my post the wrong way, I never have doubted a PRB could kill a elk. I'm not that naive, my point was I wanted to see YOUR elk that you killed with a PRB. You said you could easily prove anything you've ever said.

I'll try and explain, and then give you a way to satisfy your doubt.

Ever since I started hunting with my dad when I was 8 years old. He taught me to enjoy the hunt beyond all else. The goal was to enjoy the hunt, and not the kill. The kill was just a reward for a good hunt. That's why I never hunted an easy way just to get a kill. He taught me to savor the hunt for myself, and never brag about it. It's a personal pleasure. Not to be shared. He never saw a need to take pictures, and I follow the same thinking. I've lived to hunt all my life. Even though my dad is gone. I feel he's with me on every hunt. It's not something to be shared. I've never hunted with anybody but my dad, and never will with what's left of my hunting seasons.

Now, so nobody gets what i'm saying the wrong way. I see nothing wrong with showing your kills. For whatever reason you choose to do it. It's just not my style.

So, no pictures, and I hope you understand why, but that's your choice. No matter to me. What I can do is give you a phone number of my buddy who helped me butcher the elk. Best I can do for those who doubt.

Pictures are not always proof you know. How do you really know who's in the picture. Sometimes you only see the animal. Targets said to be shot at 100yds could have been shot at 25 yds. It's all a matter of trust. Trust a picture, or trust what someone says. I have no reason to lie. Believe, or don't believe. Not important to me.

That is kind of what I thought too after seeing this post of yours on Gander's forum lol:


Muley wrote.....

I try to stay in shape. Here's me at 48.





:biggrin::biggrin::biggrin:

I'm sure some think that. It's me though. The only picture in the world of me with my shirt off. Taken by an old girl friend who sent it to me after we broke up.


Here's a later one of me taken by a friend from Germany who sent to me. I'm really not into taking pictures. Especially, of me.

I know what you mean Muley, I am kind of shy in front of the camera too. But, just for you, here is one of me back when I use to do a little wrastling.

NICE TEETH. :biggrin:

why did you switch your watch hand?????? I'm on to you now muley lol.

Understand your hunting love now,
makes since drive on Brother !!!

I didn't. My right shoulder droops from a spine injury. It's backwards in that picture. No idea? Negative turned around?

Thank you. :)

Picture from a parallel universe.

I have never doubted the ability of the patched roundball. With a good powder charge behind it, there is very little it could not take down. As with all projectiles, shot placement is critical.

Exactly. The PRB is underestimated by many. Even me at one point. It looks like it has horrible ballistics, but it performs much better than expected. It doesn't seem to need a lot of fps to penetrate, and it has perfect expansion and weight retention. It's no wonder it lasted for so many years.

This will be my first year using a muzzleloader with patched round ball for deer, i actually just got interested in it about 9 months ago, But with all the advice from you muley on the MLF forum i have got my .54 gpr shooting like you said your renegade will " it will knock the eye out of a knat at 75 yrd" lol. I do have to admit that i was very surprised at the accuracy the PRB is capable of. I believe that with my load of 90 grains of 2fg i should have no problem at killing even elk at reasonable range.

What I find hilarious is every time I come to this forum now I have a thread with my name for the title lol.

I hate PRB's! :D

I had to do a little tracking on the doe I shot last year with a PRB in my .58. She ran a full six feet.

Oh No you didnt !!!! :sign0004::sign0004:

Good deal. Good luck on your hunt.

Is that your impersonation of me?

Not bad, but the smiley ruined it.

Maybe because the patched roundball was the real first projectile that I ever used, and for many years, when I started shooting muzzleloader, is a reason I like them. When I started there were patched roundball, and minnie ball, and maxiball. Other then that you were pretty much on your own.

I hunted for years with roundball out of a .54 caliber Renegade and never had a problem taking deer. In fact when Knight came out with their MK 85 and an article talked about shooting pistol bullets out of it with plastic sleeves... my friends and I laughed our heads off. We just could not see why someone would give up the extra diameter in the bullet (we all shot .54 or bigger) to go from a .530 to something like a .451... why that was ridiculous in our eyes. But us old dogs learned that the pistol bullet really did work and work well.

Ballistics are not kind to a PRB. But evidence in the field is. But some of the muzzleloading experts love to post numbers and figures of the roundball to prove they don't work or at least in theory should not work. The thing to remember with a PRB is they are not what I consider a long range projectile. 100 yards, maybe a hair more is about it IMO. And even then I much prefer them 75 and under. But you place that small piece of lead in the right spot, it does some amazing things.

I read you say most of your shots are short range. As you know. The PRB is perfect for that. I've set my limit at 75 yds too. I'm good with open sights at that range. Although, i'm going to install a peep sight for hunting. Just to keep things a little clearer.

I'm seriously thinking of just hunting muleys from now on. I'm going to switch for the hot sweaty ML season to the late rifle season for deer. It will be in the cold and snow. Which I prefer. It also thins out the hunters.

I'm going to do all my hunting with the GPR from now on. It's a .50 cal, and should be fine for deer. If I decide to continue to hunt elk. I'll buy a .54 cal barrel for it.

Anyway, that's the plan. Use the GPR for everything. Rendezvous shoots, and coyote hunting all year long. Really get to know the gun, and what it can do. Then during deer season i'll be confident I can make solid accurate shots.

ive already taken a cow elk at 140 yards with 80gr Pyro RS and the 230gr PRB. It killed her perfectly. Thats where im setting my limit for the time being with a .54cal round ball. Doc White says the .54cal round ball can kill cleanly out to 175 yrds.

Can I borrow your eyes for my next hunt?

Like Cayugad, I hunted with a ML long before they became popular and before there were special seasons. And also like he said, all we had were RBs, Maxis and Minnis. If there were other hunters around they would either snicker at my ML or were intrigued about it. I shot my first ML deer about 1969 with a .45 PRB from my T/C Hawken fliner at about 35-40 yds. She ran about 50 yds and piled up. A few years later I 'graduated' to a .50 flinter when PA started their primitive season. And then only PRBs were allowed, and buckhorn style sights and flintlock ignition, 44 cal or larger. Today you can still only use open sights and flintlock but the projectile is anything you want to use. Bore size must be .44 or larger.
There is an early season in mid October where you can use any muzzleloader and any sights (including scopes) and any projectile. But the bore still must be .44 or larger. And this year you can use a ML pistol, .50 cal min.
I plan on using my .54 1:70 with PRB and carry my Lyman .54 Plains pistol in case I get a shot <25 yds.

Today I went for a hike at 11,000ft, because I knew it was snowing up there. I'm sick and tired of the heat at 8000ft. I had a great time, and it reminded me just how much I love snow.

So, i've decided for sure i'll be hunting with my GPR during late rifle season. I put on the primitive sight that came with the GPR. It looks much better than the adjustable sight that came installed from the factory. Surprisingly, I can line up the sights better now. I'm going to stay with it, and hold off on a peep sight.

Cripes! It's 1 1/2 months to the season, and then I have another year on top of that to wait to hunt deer again. :(

Oh well. Rabbits and squirrels for a few months of hunting, and then the rest of the year for coyotes will keep me busy.

I ordered some lead and a mould to cast some .50 balls. I'll be shooting a lot of them over the next year.

muley, i want to put the primitive sight on my gpr but the damn thing just slides right across the barrel, everyone keeps telling me to "peen" it to make it a tighter fit, but noone want to tell me where to peen it, on the edges or in the middle?

Mine was the same way. I took a punch(not a center punch), and hit right in the middle on both sides. Does that make sense?

Just in case it didn't. I used a punch with a flat face. Maybe twice as big as the head of a pin. I placed in the middle of the barrel over the dovetail, but still back a bit from the edge of the dovetail. I didn't want to bend over the edge. A couple of hits on each side gave a perfect fit.

What I do is use a center punch to put some dimples on the underside of the sight. I put the sight upside down in a vice so as to support the base of the sight (but do not close the vice tight on the blade of the sight). Then I put three small dimples on bottom of each wing to the left and right of the blade. This raises enough metal to tighten it up in the dovetail.

ok, i got you both, i just didnt want to screw it up which i tend to be very good at. thanks for the info

See Semi, that's one thing I like about you. You're always thinking. Everyone else would use a punch on the barrel and make a ding. Whereas you punch the sight from the bottom prior to installing and presto - no visible marks. I don't thing you're a bit crazy!

I used a flat punch. No ding at all. Plus the sight would cover it up anyway. Plus again...my way fixes the problem. The barrel. Now it will work for all sights.

I'm thinking too.

Good thinking Semi, I will put that in my bag of tricks.

Yeah, I guess a dimple in the center would be covered by the sight. But, what if another sight was needed to be installed which correctly fit the original dovetail? Now you will really have to drive or screw in with a sight installation tool with a lot of force to get the dimple out of the barrel. I ain't saying either way is wrong, but wondering which would be better. And sight blades are cheaper than barrels!

In my case the sight that came on the gun wasn't that tight. I thought fixing the barrel made more sense. I figured every sight would probably be loose.

I'll have to shoot the gun more, but my plan is to use the primitive sight for rendezvous, and install a peep on the tang for hunting. If I use the Lyman peep it bolts on and off easily. So, I have no reason to change the primitive sight.

I want to shoot the primitive sight though. I might just use it for everything. My lock was messed up, so i'm waiting for a new one Lyman is sending me. Then I can go shoot.

Once i'm sure i'm keeping the gun. I'll send it to Jon to brown and defarb the barrel, and a little stock work. Then I can go to work on my Stith Hawken kit. It's going to take me forever to build, and I want to get started right away. Plus Jon can probably use the extra cash.