the late season is fast approaching...i have patches n balls.....and they shoot VERY accurately....im shooting a 50cal tc hawken flintlock....1:48 twist...and have some 350gr maxi hunters....shoot OK....cant work with powder charges thought because my sights are maxed out just to get them to shoot high enough at 50yds and i have 100gr of 2fg goex behind it.....the reason i did that was because i just dont see a ball doing that MUCH damage....but late season we SHOULD have snow....and they shoot clover leafs all day for me at 50yds easy...i killed a groundhog at 45yds with them this summer.....and another at 10yds....both blew right through.....left a nice OPEN wound channel...built my confidence though....and im considering using them this winter.....and i will probably be with the farm boys dong our drives in the late season.....so ill have guys to help track if need be....and walk around to find the deer if it doesnt bleed.....what do you guys think??? i know alot of you say the balls will do the job......should i go with them? thanx alot

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Why can't you file down the front sight or shim the rear sight to raise your POI?

.50 caliber round balls, in front of 75-100 grs black powder is all you need for whitetails...I shot a custom .45 flint for years, with 80 gr fff...with no problems...I built a .54 flint, after running into a bear on our farms...I shoot 80gr of ff...shoots 2 inch groups at 100 yards...ball blows through both lungs or shoulders on broadside shots...have killed about 25 deer with this gun...Have a buddy that kills deer with a .40 cal...60gr fff...only takes lung shots...within 50 yards...it also works...remember...Daniel Boone died in his sleep at 85 yrs old...he never even saw a conical...LOL

Mauser06...... nchawkeye is right on the money with his advise. Use the roundballs. Believe me, roundballs are one of the most underestimated projectiles shot out there. They think that because they are light weight and round that they do not do a lot of damage. Totally opposite truths. The light weight gives them a much faster speed at short ranges of 100 yards and under. They penetrate excellent. If they hit bone they not only flatten and smash, but will bounce around and no telling where they will end up. They just plain kill deer.

To give you an idea of the power of a roundball, I was shooting my .54 caliber T/C Renegade one year. I had 90 grains of Pyrodex RS under a .530 roundball. In walks a nice young buck (it was estimated by friends to be 70-80 yards or more). I scope him with my binoculars and as I take my eyes off him to put the glasses away, a doe walks in behind him and stands right directly behind him. I never counted legs..[&o] . I took my aim, shot right through the lungs of him and he dropped in his tracks, and the ball after passing through him penetrated the doe and broke her spine, knocking her flat to the ground also.



This is a .54 caliber roundball and the recovered ball which I keep at my desk, taken from under the skin after breaking her back, of the second deer....

This incident was not something I was proud of. I committed the sin of not looking past my target better. My only redeeming light was I had enough tags that I was able to fill all my tags that morning with a single shot. Needless to say the ribbing I got from local friends about being to cheap to fire two bullets, using cannons, waiting for them to line up was all fun, but it still told the story of the power of a black powder rifle and roundball. The next year four of my friends had purchased Thompson Center Hawkins .50 calibers and were deer hunting with them. They needed that extra thrill that we all get out of this sport.

You're a good shot. If you can hit them little groundhogs a deer is a peice of cake. You put that .50 caliber roundball where it belongs and you will not even be tracking. I have dropped them where they stood with 70 grains and a .490 ball out of my Tradition Woodsman.

Good luck to you this coming season and keep your powder dty there...

Use the round balls, just keep your range under 75 yards, the closer the better. I have a quite a collection of round balls the look a lot like the one in Cayagads post (and I thought I was the only one who kept a revovered round ball in his desk at work). Round balls do the job, just aim for a double lung shot at the longer ranges. Inside of 40 yards you can punch through the shoulder. I shoot 90 grains of FF under .490 RB's and have never had a problem killing deer so long as the range was reasonable and I did my part.

A few years back a buddy dinged a doe in the shoulder with his ML, a .50 Lyman Plains Hunter, shooting round balls. It was a long shot, he thought it was at least 100 yards if not more; he's very good with a gun, he shoots a lot. Long story short, he hit her in the shoulder and she ran off... next day hunting the same area I see a limping doe, I wait till she's about 8 yards from me and drop her on the spot with a spine shot. We found a flattened out round ball in her shoulder and concluded it was his from the day before.

Round balls do the job as long as you are are aware of the range and have good shot placement.

thanx guys......ill be at the range sometime after rifle season......roundballs it is.....i can shoot them VERY accurately without ever cleaning.....i cant believe some groups ive shot with them....clover leafs....the groundhog was 45yds give or take a few...it was paces...but my paces are REALLY close..i measured my pwn pace before just to see.......i aimed for the lungs like a deer shot and thats right where the shot hit.....im confidant.....and if saturday doesnt pan out any better then the last 2 rifle hunts ill be hunting flintlock hard....looking for that first deer with the flinter.....cant wait....thanx alot guys....