.50 round ball doe

[brewer12345]

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.

I don't have any reason to doubt this account as an exceptional case of a deer running on pretty much pure adrenaline. The post mortem butchering does not lie: double lung and the top half of the heart damaged would be tough to misunderstand.

Last month I shot a jackrabbit with a BB goose load. This thing took a few pellets to the body and both hind feet were broken and hanging on by a thread, yet this jack took off and ran fast enough that I gave up trying to run him down (so I could put a 38 through his brain) and shot him again with the same load. Motivation can sometimes count for a lot.

[DIRT Farmer]

In comment to the first poster, there is no wayba PBR can kill a deer as I sit here chuckling thinking ofthe 50 flinter that I load with 60 grains of ffg and a round ball, have taken as many as 8 deer in one season with it. and in my years of hunting have taken more than 60 deer hunting several states and on DP permits. All but a very few have been taken with a round ball from 45 to 58 cal.

As a retired medical professional with advanced training in cardiac care, and any one who has taken a CPR class the brain can live 4 minuites with no blood flow. A deer can run a long way in 4 minuites if the heart is destroyed and with partial blood flow live even longer. What the old dead guys all knew and some of us who have studied the past slow down the load. I have shot several deer that flinched at the shot, looked around then went back to eating before stiffning and falling. One I wasnt sure of and reloaded and shot again, both shots were just behind the shoulder both were double lung and pass through. I have only recovered two balls in all of my years of hunting, both hit the far shoulder bone.

[Blammer]

You're not the last to us PRB in 50 cal. I scored a doe several years ago with PRB, in my caplock, a high shoulder shot and she flopped over and rolled down the hill to me.

[irishtoo]

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.

early pa muzzleloader..i shot a large doe at apox 30 yds with my .54 flintlock 80grs of 3f and a prb. it took out the great vessels and clipped the spine. she never took a step. irishtoo

[RU shooter]

I don't feel undergunned in the least with a 50 cal ball at moderate speeds . Depending were their hit they may run a ways but it will kill the average 140 lb deer . Heck our long ago ancestors killed wooly mammoth with pointy sticks ! I'm sure they didn't just fall over either . Put a 1/2"dia. Hole through the lungs and it's dead .

[Pioneer2]

I once put a .54 ball through the apex of a small WT bucks heart at 90 yards and he ran off like nothing was wrong no blood.Charge was 100gr of FFG. Found him DOA under a small balsam tree 75 yards away.When opened he was full of blood and I could put my thumb through the hole in his heart.

[CITYREPO61]

Congrats !

[waksupi]

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.

Those aren't meant to be shot on the shoulder. Move them down on your arm to just above the muscle.

[Hogdaddy]

Congrats OP !! That's why I like neck shots, all DRT ; ) PS Small FL Deer
H/D

[sharps4590]

Congrats sir!! I'm a bit surprised it went as far as it did but, they're all different.

I killed a few deer with the 50 cal. and the PRB, oh, BTW, the beer is "PBR", and none went over 50 yards with either lung or heart shots. None were excited so that had to help, I would think. I eventually went to the 54 just 'cause I like bigger bullets/balls. Several deer taken with various 54's have fallen in sight with less than 50 yard runs or, went down where they stood. I killed two with a 45 cal. PRB. One went maybe 50 yards and the other went down where she stood but I hit the spine. Darn close to a pulled shot on my part. I have no qualms using a PRB and will use them til I quit hunting. They do kill all out of proportion to their paper ballistics.

[Friends call me Pac]

Those aren't meant to be shot on the shoulder. Move them down on your arm to just above the muscle.

I don't think muscle memory or training would allow me to shoot in such a manner. Best bet for me is to stick with the prb.

[daniel lawecki]

I wasn't there so all I can say is nice job getting your deer. No two shots or deer are the same.

[OnHoPr]

IMO if the ballistics physics lab people ever came up with a type of the so called energy dump efficiency concept scale the PRB would be upwards to the top of the list for the average whitetail woods weapon. The 50 cal pure Pb PRB with 90 grs of powder doing in that 1900 fps spectrum flattens out fast in average woods ranges while holding together dumping its energy from start to exit quite well. It is a very deadly projectile. Its only real detriments are range and wind, but in the average whitetail woods those are not usually in play to speak of.

[Hogtamer]

A man has run 100 yds in less than 10 seconds. A deer fueled with adrenalin? Maybe 7-8 seconds to go 150 yds? Nice job on the doe!

[Texas by God]

Those weren't Pabst Ribbon Blues? and Patched Ball, Round? it seems you caught me with my acronyms bass ackwards, Sharps!