Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Muzzleloaders 50 cal. for elk

Smokepole, my comments were in no way directed at you, except for the copied and pasted comment, in which I agreed with you 100%. They are simply statements to the readers---- An explanation of your comment and why it was right, and what to do about it.

GoexBlackhorn, I don't know where you can buy them. I always made them.

A Lee .490 mold is less than $25 I believe. If you have a pot (old cast iron well cap is fine) a ladle (again cheap and easy to get) a set of leather work gloves and a hole in the ground with a charcoal fire in it, you are ready to make hundreds of them in only a few hours

Interesting that a 50 caliber slug at 350 grains or so has twice the energy at 100 yards as the round ball. Again some "experts" say 1000 FPE is needed for elk, and with a 100 grains of powder the 350 grain maxi has that energy at 100 yards or so, and the round ball has half of the recommended energy.

I agree with szihn, energy figures and recommendations by "experts" don't mean a whole lot. "Experts" are writers who need to sell books and articles, so they need to generate interest in what they write. Throwing around recommendations like that is one way to generate interest. But if you asked them what those energy figures were based on, they'd have a hard time convincing you of their value.

I have a book by Craig Boddington where he gives 2000 ft lbs. as the recommended energy for elk. A big, slow hunk of lead can't be evaluated the same as a sleek jacketed bullet at 3000 fps. Because in the energy calculation velocity is king. With a big hunk of lead like a 350-500 grain bullet, velocity doesn't mean that much. So given a light bullet that gets its 1000 ft lbs from velocity vs a heavy one that gets the ft lbs from mass, I'd take the heavy one every time.

szihn, thanks for the explanation, sorry for the confusion.

I will say that if I ever want to hunt elk traditionally with an RB, personally I'd go with a .58. Or at least a .54.

W.W. can be found a tire changing place on smi tires

Sharpsguy and I cast some round balls for my 58 out of 20 to 1 alloy, complete penetration on two deer so far with taking out a shoulder on both on the way in.

Is that Semi Tires? I didn't think Semi Tires are balanced.

Most tire dealers now are recycling lead wheel weights if they still use them.

Yes, I have my semi tires spun balanced and also use the hub balancers, keep a 6 pack of equal bean bags in the glove box if I get out and have a roadside flat.

It doesn't need to be semi tires.

szihn

I found a source for hard roundballs on another blackpowder website. Thanks for your reply.

Considering the expense and effort involved, if I were fortunate enough to have an opportunity to hunt elk, I'd be inclined not to risk a marginal choice of rifle and load.

If, on the other hand I had elk in my backyard and tags could be had with little effort, I'd feel a bit more casual about it.

Pappy, Although not in my back yard, but I have elk fairly close and I'm no casual about what I use.I was using a 295 gr conical,but stepped up to 348 gr i nmy 50 cals

Steve nice to see your post. The .54 flinter you built for me would do it.

Hummmmmm??

Rich?

Tom?

Terry C.

Ahhh Terry

How are you?

Did you make any meat with it, or just win more ribbons and trophies.

That rifle is famous from Hell to Texas. Yes, ribbons and trophies. You did a fantastic build on that rifle.

Thanks Terry.

Sound like wise choices. RBs run out of gas pretty quickly, and and elk is too grand a critter to risk using a marginal load. A .62 seems about right for RBs to me!

a 62cal just hits with a bigger hole. It still loses energy like a 50cal and won't hit with a huge amount more.

You can't judege round balls by current modern day ballistics.

What cleared elk from the eastern forests? Sure in hell wasnt the Winchester

I was thinking of those underhammer guns made out in Orygun, I believe. They use some mega-powder charges and yield some pretty good velocities and energies. Also cost a small fortune. October Country use to sell a big .62 side hammer too.

Your point about the Eastern elk is a good one. Actually, a .54 is what I'd probably choose, balancing velocity and diameter pretty well. Still mourning my Pedersoli Mortimer, sold during a tight spot while one of my sons was in college. Exellent shooter, once I got the ignition tweaked.