[blackpowder]

shot 2 steel targets yesterday with the .62 cal. 50 yards 1/8" steel plate, went through it. 100 yard 1/4" steel plate, 1/2" bulge on the back. 90 gr 3f and .600 pure lead home cast prb. I think the prb is one of the most under rated projectiles out there for people that have never shot bp much.

 

[410-er]

And I'm killed deer with the 45 RB and 50grs. with no problem!I only wish we could use the 40cal's.
Put that RB in the boiler room and it ain't gonna live!

 

[TRAPJAW]

Funny I should look down and on my computer desk was this. A 50cal I recovered from a deer a number of years ago, now more like 3/4". Smacked a rib going in both lungs and the heart, found it under the skin on the far side. Didn't go far, needles to say. If you look close enough you can still see the cloth pattern embossed in the lead.

 

[USAF_SP]

PRB gets all kinda ugly on deer. Only 3 I've ever recovered

 

[tdd]

I read a lot of praise for a PRB for various things.... magical penetration, amazing trajectories, unimaginable accuracy, and more.

It's a marble of lead. It works. It's what could be produced when firearms were in that phase of development. They went away when projectiles developed further....and for a reason.

Regardless, they are effective, but note we have a few anecdotes of balls recovered from deer shot at high-percentage angles and not long distances, and the balls stayed in the deer.

That is one of the reasons that, when I went to a custom rifle, I went up to a 62, shooting a 0.600 ball. They aren't magic either, but there's a LOT more mass in a .600 ball than there is a 0.490. The 490's run in the 180-ish range. The 600's are 320+. That's nearly double.

Just my view on it, but in a lead ball projectile, "there's no replacement for displacement."

Small calibers can work, sure. CAN.

Optimal? I don't think so, personally. Advisable? I would say only for experienced hunters and solid/capable flintlock shooters. Just my opinion.

 

[bob1961]

all my .50 PRB went right threw any deer I hit, hole in and a hole out....never found any of my round ball's....

 

[good ole boy]

I have a recovered RB and it distorted nicely and produced a lot of cutting edgesin penetration.I have had complete blow thrus too.

 

[tdd]

all my .50 PRB went right threw any deer I hit, hole in and a hole out....never found any of my round ball's....

I shot a half-dozen or so with a 490 PRB. Same thing...none recovered.

 

[USAF_SP]

My favorite is the .54 cal. Never recovered any of those though.

 

[Retired_Rusty]

Tdd,

You just like to lob those baby howitzer balls at Bambi!

 

[tdd]

Who said anything about lobbing them? It's like loading the 16" guns on a battleship when I load up.

 

[blackpowder]

having shot many deer the last 25 years with my .62 smoothbore and 70 gr of 3f, I feel that the current load of 90 in the new rifle is really over kill. but with the likely hood of a moose hunt next fall, that is what the gun will be set up for. I have only had 2 that weren't pass throughs and they were both almost head on shots traveling pretty much full length after hitting bone and lodge against bone at the other end. its all about shot placement, no different than a center fire.

 

[tdd]

I shoot 120gr of 2F, and while it's a lot for deer, that's where my sights/barrel are regulated as I want (+2.5" at 50, -1" at 100, zero'ed somewhere around 80yds).

That's really the only reason I run that charge.

But it's got some serious oomph to it. Recoil isn't nearly as bad as a lot of people think it would be.

 

[Blue Bird]

Regardless, they are effective, but note we have a few anecdotes of balls recovered from deer shot at high-percentage angles and not long distances, and the balls stayed in the deer.

I'd rather the ball remain inside the animal, expending all of its energy inside the animal instead of wasting some of it into the hillside or a tree if it passes completely through. This is why I only use an 80grn charge of 2fg in my .54 caliber. I want that ball to mushroom and expend all its power within the deer....

 

[410-er]

I aim for the lungs and maybe thats why I'm getting pass thru even with low charges.
I have never found a RB.

 

[USAF_SP]

Only had one broadside that did not pass thru with my old .50 cal. That was the big buck at 45 yds that hit a rib going in and hit one on the off side where the ball lodged just under the hide. The other two balls I showed in the pic were the only 2 I ever shot head on. I figure only 3 out of just over 2 dozen deer with that .50 cal ain't bad. Never lost any and most did not go far. Under 50 yds and a couple dropped where they stood.

My old Traditions PA Longrifle (aka: Smokey). Took a LOT of deer with it in MO and PA before my .54 early Lanc (aka: Big Smokey)retired it. This is the Buck that I did not get full pass thru on a broadside thru the lungs


After taking a few with my .54 and seeing what it does, I retired that old .50. Now that I started building I figured I wanted a .36 (next build), .45, a nice .50, with another .54 in the future as well. The new .54 is planned as my primary deer rifle, don't need more than that for the deer I hunt. Still want to take 1-2 with the .45 though.

 

[Six-Gun]

A couple of seasons back, I got invited to a friend's farm in Tennessee for muzzleloader season. The "L" deer unit of TN that he lives in is so overpopulated with deer that the state allows you to shoot *3 does per day* and several bucks per season on a regular hunting license (no tags required) in an effort to get the numbers down. Accordingly, this was a shoot-on-sight hunt.

If you've never seen a true southern whitetail, know that they are so small that you can just about 1-arm the average deer into the back of a pickup truck. On the second morning of the hunt, I smacked a spike buck on a quartering angle with a .54 cal roundball and he went down on the spot. I jokingly lamented to my friend about the fact that I couldn't recover the ball. He quipped back that I would've needed to shoot 2 of these deer standing end-to-end to have a prayer of getting that ball back. I've guess that he wasn't far off from the truth in that statement. I've yet to see one recovered.

 

[tdd]

I shot my 62 into water jugs.

Now, if you haven't done this, a few things to know.

I line up filled 1gal water jugs 10 deep with no gaps between them.

I did this same test with other rifles. A good point of reference is my 45-70.

I have a 350gr Kodiak (jacketed hollowpoint, bonded...I think) going 1750-ish from my Guide Gun. I shot it into the jugs at 25 yards. I recovered it in the 5th jug expanded out to about 0.800" and retaining nearly 100% of its weight.

Pretty cool, right?

I shot my 62 into the same setup. 324(ish) gr lead round ball on 120gr of 2f, haven't chronoed it, but trajectory matches up to about the same speed as the 45-70's bullet in the test above.

The ball went through the 5th jug and deflected off a jug handle on the exit and I didn't recover it.

I will need to redo this test at some point and try to actually catch one.

But the point is....it did go through as much water as a 45-70 round.

 

[Varmintmist]

PRB's are underrated for the same reason people think they need a magnum to take a deer. To many gun rags and hunting shows tell them so. Deer are not armored.

I have never recovered a ball from a 50 or 54 cal flinter. The 50 did a complete pass through at over 80 yards through the neck of a large doe hitting the bone.

 

[tdd]

See, I'm not really "there".

I don't think I NEED a magnum to kill deer, but I sure do like using them. And I do.

I don't NEED a 62-caliber flintlock to kill deer, but I do like using it.

Deer aren't armored, but it sure does stink to lose one. And stuff happens, to the best of us, and when you least expect it.

That's why I went with a 62.

Sure, the deer I've killed with it so far probably would/could have been killed just as dead with 50. But they're also dead with the 62. And as far as I know, those balls are still flying.