45 cal round ball

[glenn]

Any of you guys hunt with the prb? I shoot the Ky rifle and enjoy hunting with it.

[treefarmer]

Back in the 70's I traded for a plains style .50 cal. muzzle loader kit. I shot .490 round balls in it at first, then moved on to more modern projectiles as I realized I was not a purist but a meat hunter! Killed one deer with the round ball, then got corrupted and began using .44 cal 240 gr. bullets with sabots. Still muzzleloading when required by law, but with a Knight in-line topped with a 3X9 Redfield, like I said, not a purist but a meat hunter. Treefarmer

[rangerbluedog]

Used to, but now use a 525 grain .577 caliber minie bullet in my replica 1853 Enfield.

Still like to play with my .44 revolver w/ lead ball.

[glenn]

RBD, bet that Enfield would take a elk at short to med range.

[coffeecup]

Built my first flintlock as a 9th grade shop project (then re-built it over the following summer with the guidance of someone who knew what he was doing!). I hunted with the .50 for a few years, then built a .54. A year or so later, the .50 got swapped a 24 gauge trade gun made by Dave Samples. That lasted a few years (til I started running into too many big bears), so I traded for a cut-down Brown Bess. The Bess was my main gun for about 15 years, through a fair amount of shooting (wore out a couple barrels and locks, etc) before I finally re-built it and gave it to a friend. I'm currently shooting a .54 flinter acquired this past spring, an original double 11 gauge, and a Ruger Old Army. There's a .54 on the bench if I ever get around to finishing it, and most of the parts for a .45 sitting in a corner.

The .50 was enough for mule deer and elk. I took a couple mulies with the trade gun. Over the years though, I've mostly relied on the Bess and various .54s to take deer, elk, bear, hogs, moose, and a couple of bison. I've dabbled with minies in muskets and the like, and slugs in a couple of slug guns, but round balls have been adequate for all the ML hunting I've done.

With the weather lately, I've not been shooting as much. Building a few powder horns, and published some patterns sets based on original hunting bags: in my old age, it is much nicer to write near the AC than to shoot out in the heat! Last match I shot (a few weeks ago), it was 100F in the shade (and there was no shade) and no breeze. Eight hours of that is just too much for me these days!