Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Muzzleloaders What bullet and propellant for elk in Hawken 50 traditional.

MMMMm?.

anyway . i can tell you ever elk i have killed , with muzzleloader , bow and center fire .
i could today take a person to the exact spots and tell you what rifle i used , what caliber , what bow , using what arrows and probably within feet of where I was when I made the shot and where I ended up collecting the meet .
Now I don�t know about the rest of you . But after making 5 trips , packing out meat . those are things you just don�t forget . Especially with an elk

With a muzzleloader I have taken 12. Of those 12 , 5 were with a 50 cal rifle .
3 were cows , 2 bulls .
Of those only 2 were with PRB . 1 bull and 1 cow .
The cow was taken in Calamity meadows on Cuddy Mt ID . The bull was a 4X5 and it was taken at the head of Deep creek , just below Tripod saddle lookout in 1986 .
Cow was shot at 25 yards and the bull at 50 using a Traditions , Pennsylvania in 50 cal .
The load was 100 grains of 3 F .
I can tell you that if you put the ball where its supposed to go it will do the job . But when it comes to bulls , they sure seem to be able to go along ways without a hart or any lungs ..
The above mentioned bull went over 500 yards before he dropped and that was missing both lungs .
After that I went to a 425 grain conical for my 50 . . I took 1 more bull in that same area in 1990 .

In 1991 I went to a 54 cal for elk . I have found it to be a much better cal . Though I still will not hunt for bulls in the hells canyon or salmon river canyon , without a big conical ..
that�s not because the RB will not do the job , it will . But when hunting in an area where 50 yards can mean the difference between packing out meat vs. standing on the rim of a canyon looking at a bull rolling end over end , down into a � mile deep canyon that even a billy goat would think twice about going ??? Well you get the point .
So my advice to you is to plan accordingly . Know your hunting area . Know your rifle . If you chose the PRB , 2 thumbs up . Know your accurate range . If you cant hold a 3 inch group off hand at 50 . Then don�t shoot past 50

Cap,
Jeeez man! Try to keep up will ya?

If Swampwater is shooting elk by the "hundreds" I am sure the poor guy is too busy running from wardens to be bothered with the details of killing them. If he is taking them legally then he must be on the road every day of the season to get to different states and he must have a terminal case of writer's cramp from filling out applications.

Show a little compassion will ya??

As far as stopping an elk from going downhill after the shot - I don't think it can be done. There is something in their genes that tells them they must find a steep walled canyon to die in.


Johnny $

I do like that 370 maxiball. Going to mess around with some 320 maxiballs this year as well. And have never shot a head of game with a patched roundball and hoping to try a .530 hornady on something as well.

It will be a long wait to see what muzzleloader tags we draw.

If the Maxiballs were accurate enough they would be fine. You'll need to get very close with them.

+100

Doc

So now you are stating that a patched round ball is more accurate than a conical, as well as packing a bigger punch? You honestly have no idea what you are talking about. You lost me pretty good with the hundreds of elk.

I would go with 90-100 grains of GOEX 2F and a conical....probably the T/C 375grain maxiballs. That load always shot well from my .50 Renegade and has lots of knockdown.

LOL they do in fact seem to be able to do find the steepest crap to get to when its available.
1 a year is frankly enough to pack out

here we are aloud 1 a year . 2 if you get into a depredation hunt . but since the wolves have been brought back . those hunts are few and far between .
i read somewhere one time that our average for an elk hunter was 1 in ever 7 years .
i find that a stretch as most of us locals fill our elk tag every year . so i guess they were not talking about us .

so if one started at age 12 . they would have to be 112 to get 100 elk at 1 a year . 62 if you were lucky enough to draw a depredation hunt every year .
myself i have only been lucky enough to get 2 of those emergency depredation tags and one of those was do to being home on leave when the hunt was called ..

Again IMO its not the size of the projectile but the placement that�s key .
You don�t need complete pass through . But in heavy country its nice to have especially if your tracking skills may be on the slim side .
For that pass through a hard ball is very good , even at distance . But in the steep canyons , a big heavy conical , shot at close range , just flat out does a lot of damage

T/C MAXI BALL is 370grs.
T/C MAXI HUNTER is 350grs.
Use 90grs of Goex 3F and your good to go.
T/C Hawkens 50 cal with 1 in 48 twist rate.
Have taken 18 + deer without a hitch. They don't go far. Been using this load since 1986. Hasn't failed me yet.

Ken

490 gr. Bull Shop or No Excuse conical, with 80 grs. or so of Goex 3f.Especially since you're not planning on shooting much past 100 yards.

Actually the Bull Shop conical I use is 460 grs., not 490.Sorry...

Thor all the way,

Bigblock455 thats a very nice grouping

I shoot everything with Powerbelts in my GPH 50 flinter, 1:32. For elk the 338 platinum is a fine choice if your twist will stabilize it. Taken moose with the Powerbelt 444FP but I doubt it will stabilize in the Hawken twist.

No excuses 460 would be the beast of those mentioned. That said the 370 maxiball or 385 great plains have good track records on elk.

deg967: Great group, but isn't the bullet your using a sabot? Sabots and scopes are not allowed in Colorado. If that group was shot with an open sight, I not playing war with you!

Have been tempted to try Thors in a traditional, but they can be a tight fit and not sure what I would do if I got one stuck down in the barrel without a removable breechplug. I love them in my inlines.

Harvester makes bullets with skirts, like powerbelts, as well as saboted bullets.

Will a 1-48 twist in a Hawkin stabilize a heavy conical 400-500 gr?

Mine shoots 410 Hornady Great Plains bullets pretty well.

Nothing is worse than Powerbelts.

They rarely stabalize conicals. I've owned over a dozen.