Federal 50 caliber Muzzleloading Bullet Captured

[ronlaughlin]

Well, if i knew two days ago, what i know now, them jugs would have been shot with the bullet traveling at 1100 fps. What was done cannot be undone. Now there are no jugs available, bullets available, nor is there time available. Hopefully there will be a hair test, before too much longer.

 

[GM54-120]

I have no dog in this fight. I couldn't shoot these bullets anyway from my rifle without reducing charges...

It sure would be interesting to see how the UF shoots them though with a recommended pellet load.

 

[Kodiak2]

There is a hair test on the Cabelas web site about the bullets .
November 10, 2014
I was hoping this was going to be the muzzleloader round that was going to be my go-to bullet. Not so much.
First, let me say I shot two deer with this bullet this weekend and I recovered both of them. The bullet did do this but it still didn't perform as well as I hoped.
The first deer was a doe at 15 yards. I pulled the shot a bit, and hit her high. I hit the meat above the shoulder and she dropped immediately but did not die. I had hit her spine and the bullet did not pass thru. The bullet lodged or disintegrated in the spinal cord and I was unable to recover it. I'll take the blame for this not being a clean kill, it was a bad shot and I'm glad I was able to dispatch the doe and recover her. I was surprised that the bullet did not pass thru the deer.
The 2nd deer was that afternoon when a nice 7 point buck turned broadside at 7 yards and gave me a clean shot. The shot was good and I hit him behind the shoulder. He ran about 35 yards and then dropped and kicked for a few seconds before expiring. Again the bullet did not pass thru the deer. There was almost no blood trail to where the deer was laying. After cleaning the deer, I was able to see that the bullet had hit a rib upon entering the deer, traveled thru both lungs and then became lodged behind the opposite shoulder. The problem was that there was no bullet deformation or expansion, AT ALL. The plastic tip had come off and the cavity was filled with muscle/ bone but the bullet had not mushroomed. This was very disappointing to me. I felt lucky that the bullet had killed the deer so quickly and that the deer had not run further without a blood trail.
The bullets are easy to load, however it concerns me how little recoil there is with this bullet. It seems like the bullet might actually be too small for the .50 caliber bore.
I shot these deer with my CVA Optima .50 cal with (2) 50 grain Pyrodex pellets.

 

[Hornet22savage]

Obviously there needs to be more testing done. I'm on the wagon with ron that distance has nothing to do with his expansion test, however if the assumed velocity purposed by federal is inflated for that distance than his test might be invalid. Work needs to be done with a clock to get actual real world velocities. That hair test from cabela's is real disappointing for such short distances I would expect flawless performance. There is nothing worst than a bullet that fails to kill quickly, weather it be shooter error or bullet failure. I used the Remington Accu-Tips for one season out of my 12 ga. I took a buck at 70 yds. and dirt recovered the bullet lodged in the hide on the opposite side. Shot another deer later in the season it was a double lung pass through at about 30 yds. Worst thing was as I walked up to her she picked her head up and looked at me. Worst day ever as a hunter.

 

[ENCORE50A]

I have no dog in this fight. I couldn't shoot these bullets anyway from my rifle without reducing charges...

It sure would be interesting to see how the UF shoots them though with a recommended pellet load.

After reading the "hair post" from Cabela's, that's not going to happen. It concerns me that he had issues with the bullet not being very tight in his barrel. Movement off the charge could end up with a ring in the barrel. Nope, someone else has to test them.