Big heavy conicals and their performance

[OnHoPr]

How do the big heavy conicals from 45 cal to 58 cal with weights above 300 gr with speeds from 1000 to 1800 fps perform on game animals? Have you had any failures with this style of boolits regardless of alloy?

[Janoosh]

Navy Arms Zouave, 58 cal, 60-80 grains of the holy black, thru and thru a large doe at @70 yds, patched round ball. 75 grns 2F, thru and thru a toyota drivers door to passenger door at 90yds, patched round ball. (Annual "shoot the car" fundraiser for local swat team). 65 grns 2F, 575213, thru and thru a large doe, at @ 50 yds. NY hunting, can't shoot far.
conical puts them down when i cast them of pure lead.

[mckenziedrums]

I'm of the opinion that when you put a half inch hole in something with a 300gr projectile (at least here in the US) it's most likely not going to survive if you do your part and aim well.

[Tatume]

I have killed many deer and quite a few hogs with large heavy bullets. None have gone very far before collapsing. Alloy makes no difference, as all shots were through and through.

[Dale in Louisiana]

.58 caliber? the darned thing comes out of the barrel at a bigger diameter than most high velocity bullets expand to.

dale in Louisiana.

[John Allen]

I have personally seen deer hit with a 50 caliber maxi ball from a hawken. A good hit will drop the deer in its tracks.

[shredder]

I have used the lyman great plains mould to cast some big 405 grain .50 cal boolits and they do hit hard. With the dead soft lead I used the deer I shot all fell like the proverbial sack of vegetables. I have loaded them with 100 grains of FFg black with a wool wonder wad over the powder and been perfectly satisfied with the 100 yard results.

I can easily keep my shots in 2 inches at that distance, and sometimes much better. No deer will escape that kind of accuracy. Often times you can hear a tremendous thwack when one of the big "trash cans" sails through a rib cage within that range. I consider 100 yards a personal limit for the woods I hunt and the type of hunting I most enjoy these days. I gladly accept rainbow trajectories to get the close range power the pure lead slugs deliver.

The penetration of these big lead globs can be impressive. I have not yet recovered one yet. I imagine a big bear could stop one on a raking shot but a broadside whitetail offers not much resistance, and complete pass through is the norm. I cant tell for sure if expansion is taking place since both the entrance and exit holes tend to be considerably larger than .50 cal. If a rib is hit on the way out the exit can be much bigger than you would think.

[**oneshot**]

I know a 50cal 350gr maxihunter or maxiball will put deer down in a hurry.

[btroj]

Things hit with very large hunks of lead tend to stay hit

[44man]

There is just something about BP and pure lead that nothing can survive. I use RB's mostly because of my twists but have used 1 in 48" with Maxi balls, .50 cal. I have never recovered a single one of either in an animal.
I have used my Ruger Old Army on deer with RB's and they really mess up a deer's day.
I love pure lead and wish I could get my revolvers accurate with it.
Most of my deer have been shot with a .45 flintlock and RB's, somewhere around 200 with all ML's up to .54. The .54 RB drops about every deer so the big Maxi Balls are also great. Just need a little faster twist and 1 in 48" is perfect.
I dropped a deer on a full out run, leaping brush, at 125 yards with a Maxi from a TC Hawken.