TC Maxi Ball/Maxi Hunter For Elk???

[Colorado Luckydog]

I was shooting a CVA 50 with 295 grain power belts. Now that I have a Thompson Center Bone Collector, I want to find a better bullet for deer and especially elk. Have any of you guys used the TC Ball or the Maxi hunter? What did you think? Any other recommendations on the best 50 cal bullet for elk and deer? Thanks for any input!

By the way, we are not allowed to shoot sabots in Colorado.

 

[txhunter58]

The Maxi-Ball is what you would want to use for elk. Maxi-hunter is too soft.

That said, your T/C may not shoot true conicals (like the Maxi-Ball) very well. The QLA at the end is not centered on the barrel in many of the T/C rifles. If it is not, it kicks the bullet to the side when it enters the QLA and destroys the accuracy. Worth a try, but T/C will not guarantee accuracy of conicals, only sabots. You can call them yourself if you doubt that.

So your options are to try some and see if they will shoot OK from your particular gun. They won't from mine, but will from my brothers. I finally had to cut the QLA off of mine.

Off the shelf bullets that might work for you would be powerbelts and Thors, because they have a rear bell that expands to whatever the diameter of the barrel is, and keeps the gas from pushing the bullet sideways in the QLA. Another bullet you might try is the Federal BOR 350 gr lead bullet.

One other option you could try with real conicals: put an MMA sub base under the bullet. It acts like the rear bell of the powerbelt to contain the gas. They are cheap.

 

[MSalyards]

I shoot them in my Hawkins and they are accurate. My suggestion would be Bullshop bullets. Look up Idaholewis on here he talks a lot about them as do others.

 

[txhunter58]

Bullshops are great bullets. That is what I shoot in my White. But he may have the same problem as the Maxi-Balls. No excuses are another good bullet as well, but again, they are pure conicals and may not fly well out of his T/C

 

[sdporter]

I could never get the Maxi Hunter to do anything but tumble out of my Renegade. Never tried them again.

 

[ported45]

I could never get the Maxi Hunter to do anything but tumble out of my Renegade. Never tried them again.

Dad has a .54 Renegade that shoots MaxiBalls one on top of the other, but will not group MaxiHunters at all.

 

[Colorado Luckydog]

I shot the Maxi-Ball today at the range. With 777 FFFG 110 grains, it shot very well. I think that is this years elk load! Thanks for the input!

 

[sdporter]

The MaxiBall 370 gn with 90 gns Pyro RS was all I used to shoot out of my Renegade and they did shoot very well, performed very well on deer. I recovered one or two over the years that were expanded to quarter ($0.25) size. Glad you got something that's shooting well for you. Trick is to stick with it. If you're like most, you'll try and look for something a little faster, a little more accurate, etc...etc...I have no idea how many hours and dollars I have spent in my quest for that perfect load. Never found it yet.... Guess that's why I own 11 smokepoles. I wouldn't have it any other way though. That's 95% of the fun of this sport, and 100% of the frustration.

 

[goco4game]

The one bull elk, a small 6 X 6, I have harvested in full bore only Colorado was taken with a TC Maxi-Ball. High lung shot with a TC .54 New Englander with 85 gr of Pyrodex at about 40 yards. He expired quickly 40 yards away. Out of over a dozen elk taken between my buddies and me, this is the only time I have witnessed full penetration (a good thing IMO). Too much expansion is the enemy of penetration, which is especially needed for elk. It is my impression that the Maxi-Ball will out penetrate all other off the shelf conicals, including Thors, FPBs, and Power Belts. If I didn't homecast my own bullets, the Maxi-Ball would be the conical I'd shoot. A few years ago, though, TC made a major price increase, to where they're now well over $1 each. Mighty hard for this guy to swallow.

 

[HawgHunter]

For my Colorado elk hunt I tried Thor, FPB and Federal Bor-loc. The Federals printed the best. Complete pass through at ~100 yards. Performed well.

I used a Remington mls 50 caliber with the boltnose ignition system. 77gr of Blackhorn 209. Couldn’t be happier. Seating the bullet hard on a fouled barrel ensured ignition.