boxblind

As a proud owner of full line of t/c ml s i left my black diamond w/ power belts and pyrodex home ,,and took out my old hawkin goex and round balls i must have let 30 does and small bucks walk by ,,,until the morning of jan.3 2005 ,the first deer i seen that morning was a big doe behind her was 11pt. that have nt seen since aug.i was sure another bow hunter got him ...i took that nice buck with the ole smokepole and it was great ,,,,,,so next time you head out dont forget the smokepole (if you have one ).

cayugad

Congratulations on taking a nice deer. It always seems better when you do it with a black powder rifle.

livbucks

PLEEEEASE give us some pics! Don't leave us hanging with drool on our faces!

quigleysharps4570

Congrats on that buck!

Charley

Side hammers, real BP and round balls ARE muzzle loading, IMO. Might as well shoot a cartridge gun as shoot a scoped inline. Flame away, guys, but that is my belief! Nothing like a kill using the old ways.

Charley

Forgot to say congratulations on the buck!

boxblind

worth the wait !!!

boxblind

pic

Viking_hunter

I have three muzzloaders, a Lyman Great Plains rifle, a Thompson Center Whitemountain Carbine, and just recently a Knight Revolution, my first inline. The Lyman Great Plains rifle and the White Mountain Carbine are both sidehammers and I have peep sites mounted on both. The Lyman is the traditional Hawken style with a long barrel with a slow twist and double triggers. The T/C has a short barrel with a fast twist and single trigger. I have shot many deer with the Whitemountain carbine and like how it drops them stone dead with a 385 grain great plains bullet. The longest shot that I have made with either is 70yds. with the T/C. I like shooting my traditional style muzzloaders, but I am not a big fan of hunting with a patched roundball. I just don't think that it does as good of a job as a heavy sabot/pistol bullet or a maxiball. I shot a doe with a roundball once and had a long, sparse bloodtrail. I eventually found the deer, but it was a long recovery. The ball was placed perfectly just behind the shoulder. It pierced both lungs and nicked the heart. I found the ball just under the skin on the far side of the carcass. With maxiballs and jacketed bullets, I have complete passthroughs. Congrats on your nice buck and I would also like to see a picture!

sabinajiles

I have shot more than a few deer with solid lead conicals and more with roundballs. About 90% of the deer I shot with roundballs have literally dropped in their tracks, with the remainder going down within 30 yds. More than 95% of my kills with roundballs have been complete pass throughs but I do use mostly .54 & .58cal rifles, with close to maximum powder loads and my longest shot has beem about 80 yds, with most under 50yds. I honestly have never had to worry about trailing a wounded deer shot with a roundball.

On the other hand, I have had slightly more deer shot with heavy conicals travel a longer distance after hit. Maybe 20-25% of them have ran after the hit. Most have gone down within 50 yds but I have had several go near 100 yds, with one traveling over 200 yds. To be honest and fair, I hit her a bit high, from a tree stand and only clipped the top of one lung.

Bottom line is I believe soft lead roundballs are the most effective projectile that can used on deer, within 100 yds. Within that range, I would rate them higher in knockdown power than heavy lead conicals certainly no less. A heavy conical can certainly carry more energy down range but once it blows clear through the deer, any extra energy is gone, providing no benefit. A soft lead roundball is the shortest projectile you can use and will expand more, in ratio to it's length, than any projectile. Since it is lighter, it also is moving at a higher velocity, at shorter ranges, than a conical. This gives the best combination of expansion and velocity, IMO.