If you're a deer. 80 yard shot with him bedded. A .570 ball with 105 grains of Swiss did him in. Season only lasted 3 hours. Time for bird hunting.

Beautiful buck and rifle. Who built the lefty? Congrats

That is a John Bergmann rifle. Has an old school Green River Rifle Works barrel. And thank you.

Yeah, they do. Black powder is useless too.

Congrats on overcoming the handicaps.

I once shot a smaller bodied deer with a 54 Cal round ball out of a Great Plains Rifle.

After the stupid black powder smoke cleared, I saw the buck right where it was standing - DRT ... WOW

man i hate them danged round balls. Worst things ever invented as they just wound the animals and make'em run for miles.

Nice Rifle!!! And Buck too.

They absolutely suck........................to get hit by.

Nice buck, 30338!

Very good job.

That is a beautiful rifle AND a nice whitetail!!

I think it was Sam Fadala who said, "round balls kill all out of proportion to their paper ballistics." I've yet to find fault with that statement.

Damn nice buck 30338!!! Waidmannsheil!!!!

Nice shootin’!

Bergmann builds great rifles!

Great deer! Beautiful rifle! Don’t think your day could of been any better. Congratulations.👍👍

Well done sir, man and rifle. Doubly so, since these newfangled caplocks are known to be a rather unreliable source of ignition.

Beautiful buck and rifle, good work done for sure.

They don't tumble and unless they hit substantial bone they don't slow down very much.

30338, good deal! Good hunter to get a bedded whitetail and what a beautiful piece to do it with.

I never got into muzzleloading because I never had a nice piece to do it with. That kind of piece could get me into it again.

Cheers!

Well i guess if ya gotta go bird hunting and just hafta stop deer hunting, that will do LOL

Good stuff, congrats.

Beautiful buck! Beautiful rifle! Pretty much sums it up!

Awesome!

Congrats!

Todd

Nice buck! Great shooting - Congrats!

Awesome buck, love that mass!!

What's the finish on that barrel?

Now that's some, pilgrim!

Nice rifle gun and a hell of a buck!

Great buck. And love the correctly handed rifle.

I shot a giant feral rabbit yesterday with my little 32 cal flintlock. Right at 20 yards, 15 grains of FFFg and a prime of 4F. It has always surprised me how much damage that little ball will do with that charge. Kind of like a blackpowder 22 magnum.

Not real sure what that finish is. The gentleman I bought the rifle from had Mr. Bergmann build it "in the white" for him and then he finished it. On another note, it weighed in at 8 pounds 14 ounces so really nice in the hand.

Yes Sir, they certainly do ; ] great rifle, buck and shooting 303338.

Beautiful rifle and buck - congrats on both and great shooting!

PennDog

Well Done!!!

How can you tell if they tumbler or not?! Lol! And remember, smokeless powder IS a black powder substitute!

Beautiful rifle and great buck, congrats!

Been sucking for 5 or 6 hundred years.

Nice buck and rifle.

Nice buck and a nice shot. Nice mass on those horns too.

Good Deer, nice stalk, good shooting, cool rifle.....well done!!!!

WOW! Awesome buck and great shooting! Congrats buddy!

That's just frickkin cool all the way around. Congrats.

32’s and 58’s are where it’s at

LOL, I have 36 and 58's, love em all.

Beautiful rifle and heck of a nice deer!

I guess I'm in the minority when I say I'm not a fan of round balls. Nothing to do with accuracy, I've just had instances where I shot deer through the heart with them and watched them run for a long ways before dying. They only left blood the last half of the trail. One I watched do a huge arc in an open field so I knew where he lay,I just followed the trail to see what sign he left. The other just stumbled upon luckily while gridding due to no trail left at all. Discovered she only left blood the last 15' and it wasn't much but there was a bunch of it inside and around her where she lay. It was enough to convince me to switch to inline and use saboted 300 grain xtps. I do like shooting with rounds balls and the #11 caps but not at anything furry

Thank you sir. I've never experienced anything like that yet shooting 54 and 58 caliber roundballs. Actually find the on game performance to be quite amazing with them. But shoot enough stuff and odd things happen I reckon. What caliber where you shooting out of curiousity?

I killed my first deer with a 54 cal round ball this evening. A nice fat 8pt came out of some blow downs and eased up the ridge. I shot him around 50yds at a slow walk. Sparks flew, smoke boiled and I gave him a few minutes before I started tracking. He only went around 30yds after taking a .530 round ball to both lungs.

Congrats Bearcat! Its a cool way to hunt.

I love muzzleloader season with usually great weather and plenty of deer moving. I have used and Encore with a fixed 4x Leupold, BH299 and sabots. After this I think it will be spending more time in the safe.

“Balls!”, said the Queen.

“If I had two I’d be king.”

The king laughed because he had to.

Heck of a way to spend a day! Good work.

Beautiful gun and buck. It's been many years since I used the smokepole. I shot a doe at 15 feet with my Old Army and about 25 gr fff. I even cleared my throat and she just kept coming. She almost jumped into my smoker. You might try 100 gr powder and two patched round balls. With my 58 percussion at 50 yards they printed side by side, about 3/4 inch between. I am not sure that is legal where you hunt. But it can sure leave a shorter blood trail. Especially if you are in heavy brush. Just a suggestion. My other load was a 705 gr minie and 100 gr powder. It never was tested on a buck. None ever came by me and said "Shoot me." My buddy took the Hollow base plug in his lathe and cut it down and reinstalled it to make the minie that weight. A great accomplishment to stalk up and shoot a deer with one of those old contraptions. Be Well, RZ.

Rusty, it's not too late to retrieve your pioneer status and bow to Lord Black.

Great buck and a very nice rifle!