i've gone retrograde when it comes to much of my muzzleloader hunting. Killed a bunch of big hogs and a few deer using .50 and .54 patched round balls.

When it comes to killing deer and hogs at short to moderate ranges, a well placed round ball kills just as well as any conical bullet i've ever tried.

They're cheap too.

love them! My mold cost me $70 plus another 40 for the handles but it has made me more balls than the $100 would have bought at the store.

Sitting here sanding on my new .50cal round ball rifle and its just so nice and relaxing. Keep it simple, keep it fun, hunt what ever and not worry about the price of the projectiles or anything like that.

I know that "experts" claim the killing power of a round ball is minimal at best. And at long ranges shouldn't even be used. But for over 30 years I hunted with round ball. I would dare to guess how many have fallen to the small round lead ball. Now I do prefer a .54 caliber or bigger I admit. But the few I have taken with a .50 caliber did not go far either. For moderate to short ranges a round ball is an effective humane projectile IMO.

I have taken a lot of deer with my 54 Lyman Great Plains in the past 35 years but never over 120 yards . With the open plains hunting i do at long range i prefer a long pointy bullet . But within its limitations round ball is the way to go .

For many years that's all we could use here in PA's primitive season. Flintlock, buckhorn style sights and round balls. We shot many a deer with them and most of us used 50 cals. Today when I shoot PRBs I prefer .54s or .58s. I haven't shot a deer yet with either but I would imagine the bigger balls leave a bigger hole and a better blood trail.

Funny story. I lived in PA when they started their primitive season. I never participated, one reason being that I limited myself to one deer a year. No criticism intended toward anyone, its just what I did. Anyway, I was hunting woodchucks with two buddies on some state ground. We decided to wrap it up, and walked back to the car. When we got to the parking area, some Game officers stopped to talk, check our licenses, and so forth. Well, John set me up. He asked why the Primitive regs were the way they were. The one Game officer replied, "Its because its more sporting." Yeah, I blew up, and told them why they were full of condensed apple pie. Crude sights and roundballs; it was as if the regs were designed to cause wounded animals. Aperture sights have been around for a long time, and I've made my dislike of roundballs well known. I do think they should have stayed with the flintlock, and iron sights. The flintlock firing system was probably the longest-lived sytem there ever was, and we are blessed with good lock makers these days.

Anyway, I never had the impression the the PAGC was packed with firearms experts. I have no objection to modern inlines, but it sure ain't "Primitive."
OldBob

Really? I've seen hunters wound more animals with scoped centerfires than i have muzzle loaders. I had one guy hit an elk in the antler at 250 yards!

My dad was telling me today about a hunting show he watched this morning that the hunter talked tough and shot bows, misses an antelope 3 times at 150 yards and under! Mind you that was THREE antelope bucks he missed, not the same one

Slob hunters/shooters/big talkers, will wound animals no matter what they are using.

Well, there's one thing we agree on. One morning many years ago, the wife and I were out in the yard, watching this doe (it was buck season). Several yahoos in a truck do a quick stop, and take a shot at her. Missed her, and us, too, thank God. I don't think they saw us until we yelled at them. Probably drunk,

OldBob

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

.54 with 80grs FFF Goex...