.50 round ball doe

[hc18flyer]

My TC New Englander and patched RB worked perfectly Saturday evening. Sitting inside a blind, without enough light for rear Fire Sight to show up, had to level sights. At 40 yards thru the ribs, right behind the shoulder, did a little hop. No blood for first 40 yards, then a blood trail Ray Charles coulda followed, made it 150 yards into the cedars. Grandson asked why I use the rb? " Cause they work at ranges I am comfortable shooting at! Now the work starts, hc18flyer

[CastingFool]

Good job! I have a New Englander, too, but have not shot any rb through it yet.

[Friends call me Pac]

I thought I was the last one to shoot roundball. My hawkins has a sharp edge on the butt plate that digs into my shoulder when I shoot a maxiball type bullet. However, a roundball has far less recoil making it comfortable to shoot and kills them just as dead. Congratulations on your deer.

[Jniedbalski]

I like the round ball also. not much Kick and good for target pratice and hunting.

[Texas by God]

Round ball- making meat for 300 years. We don't have a ML season but if we did a PRB(not the beer) would be my choice. Years ago I painted the boulders red with one after it sailed thru a DRT doe by the Llano River. It made me a believer.

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[rking22]

Nice going! Another believer in prb here too, actually the only thing I use in my muzzle loaders. Been doing the job for hundreds of years, just put one in the right place and break out the silverware. Pbr ain't all that bad either

[megasupermagnum]

Why did it go 150 yards? Did you hit both lungs?

[mart]

Why did it go 150 yards? Did you hit both lungs?

Because they are wild animals with a tenacity to hang onto life. Everyone is different and every shot reaction can be different.

I once saw a mule deer doe, shot with a 30-06, run just a few yards short of a mile across open wheat stubble with her lungs destroyed and the top of her heart shot off. Looked like someone had drizzled red paint across the stubble for a mile. It was no problem to find her. She left an adequate blood trail. She just didn't know she wasn't supposed to make it that far.

[Texas by God]

Because they are wild animals with a tenacity to hang onto life. Everyone is different and every shot reaction can be different.

I once saw a mule deer doe, shot with a 30-06, run just a few yards short of a mile across open wheat stubble with her lungs destroyed and the top of her heart shot off. Looked like someone had drizzled red paint across the stubble for a mile. It was no problem to find her. She left an adequate blood trail. She just didn't know she wasn't supposed to make it that far.

The first deer that my brother and I blood trailed was a very similar story except it crossed a canyon in Post Oak woods and still went a quarter mile before we found it. The blood trail was easy to follow. It was hit in both lungs but not the heart with a 308 180 grain bullet. The deer just did not know that it was dead. The "hunter" that shot it didn't help look. I don't like lung shots much.

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[megasupermagnum]

Because they are wild animals with a tenacity to hang onto life. Everyone is different and every shot reaction can be different.

I once saw a mule deer doe, shot with a 30-06, run just a few yards short of a mile across open wheat stubble with her lungs destroyed and the top of her heart shot off. Looked like someone had drizzled red paint across the stubble for a mile. It was no problem to find her. She left an adequate blood trail. She just didn't know she wasn't supposed to make it that far.

If that were true, you would be hunting zombie deer! Seriously though, with no blood to the brain, there should be just seconds to live. I'm sure that deer still had a enough pump left to make it. I'm just trying to take a more clinical approach to a sport full of anecdotes. In my book, a deer that makes it 150 yards is bad news. I've been fortunate that the only time I've seen it happen was a bullet failure, and could be corrected. I'm sure there are flukes here and there, I'm just wondering if this case may have been a marginal shot. He did say he couldn't see the sights well. I've yet to shoot a deer with a round ball, and up until now I've heard nothing but good things. A deer that makes it a mile with a good shot like that is a failure though. I hope you corrected the problem.

[ole_270]

Also have a New Englander, more accurate with a round ball than any bullet I've found. I've been sighting in the last few years with a Lee REAL bullet, but since our ml season is early/mid sept. and usually still in the 90s I haven't gone out. RB did pretty well on the ones I got years ago with it.

[725]

Good going. Been makin' meat for years with a RB.

[Edward]

If that were true, you would be hunting zombie deer! Seriously though, with no blood to the brain, there should be just seconds to live. I'm sure that deer still had a enough pump left to make it. I'm just trying to take a more clinical approach to a sport full of anecdotes. In my book, a deer that makes it 150 yards is bad news. I've been fortunate that the only time I've seen it happen was a bullet failure, and could be corrected. I'm sure there are flukes here and there, I'm just wondering if this case may have been a marginal shot. He did say he couldn't see the sights well. I've yet to shoot a deer with a round ball, and up until now I've heard nothing but good things. A deer that makes it a mile with a good shot like that is a failure though. I hope you corrected the problem.

It" s simple to explain , unlike a( center fire) a muzzle loader shooting a PRB kills a little different (more like an arrow).Theres a lot of trauma/tissue /bone damage with a high velocity round where hit the wrong spot and there"s a lot of damage as in loose the shoulder,maybe both.A round ball with soft lead at moderate/slower speed you can literally eat up to the hole .In my experience my 54 RB under 75-80yds is going to expand and at least in one case 83 yds (ranged) broke a shoulder quartering in and was found and under the hide behind the opposite shoulder (no blood on 6'' new snow)and went 180-200 yd piled up lungs trashed . I am told more yardage would have had less velocity and less distortion on the RB and a high probability of a exit hole and a blood trail . I will try and find the photos as they illustrate a better story than my poor typing /Ed

[mart]

If that were true, you would be hunting zombie deer! Seriously though, with no blood to the brain, there should be just seconds to live. I'm sure that deer still had a enough pump left to make it. I'm just trying to take a more clinical approach to a sport full of anecdotes. In my book, a deer that makes it 150 yards is bad news. I've been fortunate that the only time I've seen it happen was a bullet failure, and could be corrected. I'm sure there are flukes here and there, I'm just wondering if this case may have been a marginal shot. He did say he couldn't see the sights well. I've yet to shoot a deer with a round ball, and up until now I've heard nothing but good things. A deer that makes it a mile with a good shot like that is a failure though. I hope you corrected the problem.

How is it a failure? The bullet, a 165 grain Speer, lopping along at about 2700 fps, entered the chest cavity, passed through the left lung, the top of the heart, the right lung and exited leaving about a 1 1/2 inch exit wound. No bones were struck. Examination of the wound indicated the bullet expanded as it should have and exited the animal. In the area my partner killed the deer it was one mile between section roads. The deer was shot about fifty yards from the road as we started working a little brushy finger draw that cut through the wheat field. The deer took off on the run at the shot and piled up about fifty yards from the next road over. My wife and I have killed right at 70 head of big game, and I've been a party to that many more with hunting partners. I know a little something about hunting and bullet performance. I never saw a deer before or after that one run so far. I've seen them take the same exact hit from the same exact load at the same distance and pile up on the spot. I've watched some deer collapse from marginal hits like they just gave up. I've also seen some of them stay on their feet with multiple good hits from some big magnum rounds and not go down right away. Never saw one run quite that far though. I'll admit it was a rare incident. But a failure. No.

I don't know how that can be considered a failure. Bullet did what it was supposed to do. Shooter made a good shot. Deer was recovered. I guess in the future, I'll look for deer that don't have such a tenacious hold on life. That would correct the problem.

[megasupermagnum]

mart, if you were invited to my place and had that happen, no big deal. If you came back the next year with the same rifle and load, you would be kicked out immediately. A deer that runs a mile when shot good is a failure. To think otherwise shows zero respect for the animals or hunting partners.


If deer shot with a round ball really do go 150+ yards on a good double lung shot, any sane person would give them up immediately. A good bow is more effective than that. I'm talking "typical", not the one in a hundred that drags itself for all it's worth. I'm using a 54 caliber with a round ball this year, this is the last week of muzzleloader. Now you guys have me really worried.

[Beerd]

One thing for sure, those deer that run off aways before you find them ain't going to do it again.
..

[Texas by God]

The deer we spoke of were one offs but there's no set rules on dying. Go forth unafraid with your .54 and get some venison. My .54 plains pistol set a facing me 8point down on his hiney with a severed spine. It's prb is barely outrunning an arrow

[mart]

Don't loose any sleep over whether I'd accept that invitation. I wouldn't. It's insulting to accuse me of not respecting my partners or hunting over something that was truly not a load failure. No one I know has more respect for hunting or the game I pursue.

That deer's run was a freak thing. As I said, in all the game we've killed none before and none after ever did that. Once again how can it be considered a failure if the bullet expanded, caused substantial internal damage, and did exactly what it was supposed to do? The deer just did not know standard deer hunting gunshot protocol. Feel bullet impact, hear gun shot, fall over DRT.

My point wasn't that deer running that far after a shot is normal thing, or even a frequent thing but that we don't know from one deer to the next how it will play out. Some deer show great tenacity. Others not so much. The same hunter used that same load to take many other deer over the years. I know because I helped him reload his ammunition. He wasn't a well to do man. He had an old sporterized Springfield and I let him use my equipment and helped him to reload so he could practice some and hunt. Most of the deer he shot were does and most dropped on the spot or after just a few steps with that load.

It wasn't a load failure. It was a deer's failure to let go of life.

[megasupermagnum]

I hope so. Ignoring all else, only on deer I have shot (about 20), 100% have gone 0-50 yards. Half or more dropped on the spot, most with shotgun slugs. I can't see any reason a 54 caliber round ball will be any different. I've been using a new Englander, but am probably going to use the 54 caliber TC scout pistol this week. The pistol shoots better than the rifle! From the rifle, the ball is going about 1670 fps, and from the handgun, about 1150 fps.

[megasupermagnum]

Don't loose any sleep over whether I'd accept that invitation. I wouldn't. It's insulting to accuse me of not respecting my partners or hunting over something that was truly not a load failure. No one I know has more respect for hunting or the game I pursue.

That deer's run was a freak thing. As I said, in all the game we've killed none before and none after ever did that. Once again how can it be considered a failure if the bullet expanded, caused substantial internal damage, and did exactly what it was supposed to do? The deer just did not know standard deer hunting gunshot protocol. Feel bullet impact, hear gun shot, fall over DRT.

My point wasn't that deer running that far after a shot is normal thing, or even a frequent thing but that we don't know from one deer to the next how it will play out. Some deer show great tenacity. Others not so much. The same hunter used that same load to take many other deer over the years. I know because I helped him reload his ammunition. He wasn't a well to do man. He had an old sporterized Springfield and I let him use my equipment and helped him to reload so he could practice some and hunt. Most of the deer he shot were does and most dropped on the spot or after just a few steps with that load.

It wasn't a load failure. It was a deer's failure to let go of life.

The deer ran nearly a mile! Good grief, the level of ridiculousness this forum. A DEER SHOT IN THE LUNGS AND RUNS A MILE IS A FAILURE! A failure on your part, the bullet? I don't know, maybe try a shoulder or neck shot if you get runners like that. A good shot, with a good load, deer should not be running far, 20-50 yards is 99% of what I've seen of running deer. 10 seconds or less and lights out should be the goal, and is obtainable. Every deer is different, but come on now. A mile without a heart? Now I've heard it all.