after hunting with patch n ball for the few days i hunted so far this late flintlock season i like this patch n ball stuff....no fighting with a bullet that wont go down for the life of you....shoots pretty decint.....love the fact i can PULL a load out easy....no 20 min cleaning after wards...no wondering if your powders dry because you left it loaded...no ruining 1 dollar a piece powerbelts and sabots....they are cheap as dirt...no recoil compared to a heafty 350gr maxi hunter.....and im sure it will take a deer after shooting lots of them.....no deer yet.....hopefully.....i just never seem to see them when i have the flinter!! i think my guns cursed!!! but im already thinking of next year....i want to get my gun to shoot patch n ball as accurate as possible....and want that load to be more then enough to take a whitetail deer out to 75-100yds...75yds is more realistically my max range....but at 100 standing broadside in an open field or cut and i got a good rest i just may take the shot...i know im going to practice that far this year....im groundhog hunting with the flinter more this year after i work up a great load....so i want you imput....first..who makes the BEST round balls...im shooting a 50cal tc flinter hawken 1:48 twist....(getting good...learned not to leave out details so you dont have to ask lol)...but dont forget these have to be hunting round balls...what about patches? who makes the best patches? what material? lube? thickness??? i much rather BEAT a roundball down there then fight with a bullet.....shooting hornady .490 balls n a .10 patch now...i can shoot them alllllll day and never ever clean....slides down almost too easy.....so im thinking a thicker patch may help me....but some of you know more about this then me....im just going by what i read...help me out.....what do you thinks the best of the best??? im done fooling with 20 diffrent bullets and still not getting a good group....im going to get a great patch n ball combo and leave my sights set for them....im shooting deer...not a 5000lb buffallo...i dont need a 350gr hunk of lead....accuracy and a GOOD deer load is what im after....thanx alot guys.......i appriciate all the help.....you guys are a great tool to have around......i know i may have to try a bunch of stuff....no biggie....i alreeady have 4 diffrent kinds of bullets i didnt like for a reason or another....but i always go back to balls....and im sticking with old faithful now...thanx guys

I like the .490 Hornady or Speer roundball. As for patch, I buy 100% cotton pillow tick blue stripe material at Wal Mart. I wash the cloth, then put moosemilk on it and cut my own patch. That way I have identical patches each time.....

I amjust getting into melting lead and making my own and from what I have read LEE seems to have a great .490 mould that soes not leave a sprue on it. Now I am shooting hornady's behind 70 grains of Pyrodex and but have yet to play with 90 - 110 grs of powder. Same rifle only a percussion though.

They sell a lubricated patch that I am using that works great, forgot the name though.

Good luck

Mauser

The best shootin' aftermarket roundball barrels are made for the T/C Hawkens & Renegade. If you want an excellent ball shooter out to 100 yards, then the 54-cal in percussion or flint for $159 (sights & ramrod included) is the ticket to success. You can buy them By Clicking Right Here.

At that same sight, there's a link for muzzleloader bullets/lubes, patches... etc. The Speer roundballs I like the best. I buy Ox-Yoke shooting patches & they are prelubed with bore butter because it protects against hot 777 best. If you're using Pyrodex or Goex, moosemilk patches work fine. A pretty good moosemilk recipe is

5 parts water
3 parts isoprophyl alcohol 90%
1/2 part Ballistol or Napa Water-Soluble Cutting Oil
1/2 part Castor Oil
1/2 part Simple Green
1 part Witch Hazel

I used that recipe when I water bottle-sprayed plain shooting patches while experimenting with some Goex in my Renegade with roundballs. Patches survived & balls shot well so I know my potion works. The only part of those sessions I ended-up not liking was the yucky, filthy, messy Goex FFF. Alot of folks prefer this real black... I don't.

Not really a "best" roundball. You can cast your own, buy cast, or buy swaged balls from Hornady and Speer. Not a nickles worth of difference between the two, but some local commercial cast balls I've seen are ww or harder, not soft lead. If you buy other than swaged balls, be sure they are soft enough, or the will be tougher to load.
Patches can make a difference. Everything else being equal, a tight patch will be more accurate, but harder to load. I don't like tight patches, as long as I can get enough accuracy for hunting.
Here is a little cull taken this year with a .45 flint southern mountain rifle. Range was 65 yards, damage was substantial. He didn't run as far as some deer I've killed with modern cartridge rifles.

Here is a shot of the inside of his ribcage during butchering. Roundball is all you need.

Tell that to the ones I weigh & score! Speer leads the pac for "best" consistency.

Swaged roundballs are supposed to be better because they should not have voids like you can get with cast balls. If you have a grain scale you can weigh your cast bullets to see if there may be a void, or you can weigh any bullets just to make sure they are consistent.

If you cast bullets, keep track of your lead. Different alloys will produce balls of different hardness and diameter. Pure lead is what most BP mould are made for. Oversized balls are a sign of less than pure lead.

a load with 90 - 110 grains BP or equivalent will meet your distance requirements for deer. There are ways to "read" your shot patches and balls (if you can recover them), to tell if your ball/patch combo is appropriate. Others may know just what to look for.

[quTell that to the ones I weigh & score! Speer leads the pac for "best" consistencyote] [/quote]
Awkward phrasing on my part. IME, no major differences between Speer and Hornady swaged balls. Cast depends on many, many variables, including exact alloy, temperature control, technique and abilty of the caster, etc. Cast balls can vary a lot.

I like the Speer Balls as well. I use ox yoke patches as well. I have shot deer and elk both with the round balls and the Hornady XTP 300 grain bullets.