50 cal TC Hawken deer load

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People who elect to shoot round balls have to understand the EXACT limitations of their particular caliber. A .50 caliber patched ball over 70 grains of ffg black powder will kill deer all day long, any place in North America.

What it won't do is penetrate the shoulder bones of any deer at 75 yards. An 80 grain charge of ffg is not going to make that much difference at 75 yards, if busting through shoulder bones is required.

For that requirement, I would want at least a .58 caliber ball, preferably a .62 caliber ball. A 75-80 grain charge of fffg black powder at 75 yards under a 0.615" diameter × 349 grain pure lead ball, will punch through a deer, or elks, shoulder bones with no issues.

A big ball, moving slow, with minimal recoil, is all that's needed. Big, 100 grain plus powder charges are not required, UNLESS the shooter NEEDS to extend his range out to 125 yards.
 
Last year, I bought 2 rifles, a 45 and 50 caliber. Both are slow twist 1/66 round ball barrels.
I didn't get a chance to hunt with either yet. They're both sighted in
at 50 yards with patched round ball, 60 grains of 3f in the 45 and 75 grains of 3f in the 50.
I expect to keep my shots close with them, hoping for the best.
 
My .50 cal. go-to whitetail load is a 250-grain REAL bullet and 80 grains of 3-FG Swiss in my 24", 1 in 25" twist original Getz F/L Sporter. Shot through every deer I've killed with it (8) no matter what part of the deer was in the way. NO TX hearts, though.
 
With a .490 ball and 70 grains of Goex 2FG out of a flint longrifle a buddy of mine lost a 150-class buck by shooting him in the shoulder at around 75 yards. We know because he (deer) was killed the next year and the flattened ball was recovered from a severely damaged shoulder blade, but the ball did not penetrate. The buck measured middle-160s when shot with a center-fire. I wouldn't go with less than 80 of 2FG if shooting a round ball.
The fact is @ that range less powder = (MORE) penetration ! A round ball (lead ) till 80 yds goes too fast ,hence the pancake effect (flattened like a coin hitting meat where as @ 100 yds it gets less deformed and does better on penetration often a pass thru . Now if bone is encountered that is a variable or profile on the shot but a behind the shoulder lung shot is the norm then fast at short range most always distorts the ball where as extended range is a 2 hole event Easy to prove /Ed
 
People who elect to shoot round balls have to understand the EXACT limitations of their particular caliber. A .50 caliber patched ball over 70 grains of ffg black powder will kill deer all day long, any place in North America.

What it won't do is penetrate the shoulder bones of any deer at 75 yards. An 80 grain charge of ffg is not going to make that much difference at 75 yards, if busting through shoulder bones is required.

For that requirement, I would want at least a .58 caliber ball, preferably a .62 caliber ball. A 75-80 grain charge of fffg black powder at 75 yards under a 0.615" diameter × 349 grain pure lead ball, will punch through a deer, or elks, shoulder bones with no issues.

A big ball, moving slow, with minimal recoil, is all that's needed. Big, 100 grain plus powder charges are not required, UNLESS the shooter NEEDS to extend his range out to 125 yards.
Seems like a .50 would have done the job but makes lots of sense what people here say about that. Seems like a good reason to go with a .54. Just saying.
 
If you really want to understand about penetration with a patched ball, listen to eekjellander, or better yet go over to the ALR FORUM and read some of the Sapergia brothers posts. Daryl and Taylor. They have been hunting with muzzleloaders up in British Columbia for over 40 years each. Daryl was just recently posting about his .69 caliber, original English Sporting Rifle. Which, even considering the huge powder charges that the rifle requires, will NOT penetrate the shoulder blades of a moose to enter the vitals at certain distances, and or angles.

And, compared to a .50 caliber lead ball, the .69 caliber ball dwarfs it in weight and diameter.

Like I posted above. When hunting, you MUST understand the limitations of your Muzzleloading rifle. The brother-in-law in the OP lost the deer simply because he treated his .50 caliber muzzleloader like a centerfire rifle. He took a shot from an angle, at a distance, that the patched ball was incapable of making a clean kill at.
 
Like I posted above. When hunting, you MUST understand the limitations of your Muzzleloading rifle. The brother-in-law in the OP lost the deer simply because he treated his .50 caliber muzzleloader like a centerfire rifle. He took a shot from an angle, at a distance, that the patched ball was incapable of making a clean kill at.

This is a very true statement. I know my guns have a far better range than I am capable of, but I think there are those out there that think an inline has unlimited range and capabilities and hunt thinking that.
 
I spend time reading posts on the other muzzleloader site. There are quite a few traditional flintlock and percussion shooters that only hunt with patched round ball. They know what they can and can't do with that setup. They kill a lot of deer.
 
This is why I shoot a conical.
Bullets with points on them were originally designed to penetrate human soldiers wearing battle equipment better than a ball would. Shooters quickly found out that they penetrated animal bones far better than a ball did, opening up new means to hunt. Such as deliberately shooting at an angle through the shoulders of game animals to penetrate into the vitals.

That's why if you are going to make shots through bones, you have to drastically increase the diameter of the ball & the powder charge. Or, stay with the same caliber, but switch to a conical bullet. Which, usually means a new rifle with a faster rate of twist.

African dangerous game hunters using British large bore, percussion, patched ball rifles, think 8 bore to 4 bore, quickly found out that there is a law of diminishing returns as regards to ball penetration versus massive recoil when shooting lion, cape buffalo, rhino, hippo, & elephant.

That's why the most successful ivory hunter, W. D. M. (Karamojo) Bell shot virtually all of his 1,011 elephants with small bore bolt-action rifles. This was directly after the Boer War. He killed 800 of those with a bespoke Rigby in .275 Rigby/7×57 Mauser making head shots with full metal jacket bullets.

The point those of us are trying to make is don't take through the shoulder shots with .45 & .50 caliber patched balls, and you will be perfectly OK. Take the traditional through the lung shot, and the deer will die just fine.
 
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I spend time reading posts on the other muzzleloader site. There are quite a few traditional flintlock and percussion shooters that only hunt with patched round ball. They know what they can and can't do with that setup. They kill a lot of deer.
What was it that Dirty Harry said?

"A man's got to know his limitations!!"
 

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