Blackpowder and Roundball for Elk

[david58]

After a day at the range today, I am a bit disconcerted about the teamwork my 62 cal flintlock and I were able to achieve. I am trying to get prepared for elk season, and it appears that we aren't dancing together well enough for me to tote my flinter in the woods this year.

I have a 50 caliber rifle that I built years ago, 35" barrel with a percussion lock, which has a stack of trophies and plaques to its credit out in the garage in a box. Sometimes I feel like I can shoot that thing well blindfolded.

So, here I am in NM, with a ML tag timed to be in the rut, and I am anxious. I don't know if I have the time between now and then to get the 62 shooting center at 100 yards, whereas I KNOW the 50 will shoot where I point it.

Any experience with shooting elk with a 50 caliber patched round ball? Bullets are not an option, since the rifling is slow twist and very deep (old Sharon Barrel). I would appreciate your opinion.

I am a 75-100 max range shooter - that is the speed limit I believe a blackpowder muzzleloader puts on the hunter. And at this time of the year, when the elk are in the rut, I'm not going to be taking big shots in the open, but rather putting on the sneak in the deep woods.

Again, your shared experience is appreciated.

 

[rodwha]

From what little I've read most people prefer a .54 cal or larger for a ball, but there are a few who successfully do so with a .50 cal. Those who prefer a large ball did mention a .50 doing well enough out to 50 yds.

Quite frankly, if a ball will give a passthrough on deer beyond 100 yds, it seems it would penetrate all that's needed on an elk I'd think.

My Lyman Deerstalker has deep grooves for a PRB but does excellently with the 320 grn Lee REAL when I use a wad to seal the bore. This has a 1:48" twist. I wonder if your slow twist would stabilize the shorter 250 grn REAL with a wad as well.

 

[.308 Norma]

Just one experience, years (25 or 30) ago - I shot a medium sized cow elk through the ribs with a .50 caliber roundball from my TC Hawkins. She was standing broadside to me, probably 75 or 80 away, across a clearing. At the shot, she staggered forward a few yards and fell over. She was dead by the time I got to her. The ball had exited her opposite side. When we got her home and skinned out, we found that there was about a 1" section of a rib missing where the ball had entered her lungs. The ball had slipped between two ribs on her opposite side.

I guess I could have summed the whole story up by just saying that a .50 caliber roundball worked fine for me on elk back when I used to hunt them with a muzzle-loader. But that wouldn't have been right. Like I said - I only had one experience. It worked fine alright, but the Idaho (where I live) Department of Fish and Game changed the muzzle-loader seasons around after that, and seeing as how I could only get enough time off work for a week or 10 days of deer and elk hunting, I chose to hunt with my scoped, 30-06.

 

[Choctaw]

You should ask your question in the blackpowder forum. That will be good for a rousing debate.

 

[CraigC]

Might not be ideal but you're better off with a .50 you have confidence in than a .62 you do not.

 

[Sun Tzu warrior]

What Craig said........
I would much rather have a firearm that I knew would shoot into vitals, than one which might just shoot a leg off, especially a flintlock, which might take enough time to ignite as it takes an elk to run up a mountain.
I would choose the percussion fired .50 cal, you should use what you are more comfortable with.
STW

 

[Dr. Sandman]

Plus, it sounds like you can take your .50 out in the rain!

 

[david58]

This is NM, rain is rarely the problem!

However, I have been at many shooting events where the gents shooting the flintlock did much better than those shooting percussion - all has to do with care. The cap fellers were simply not very careful, and it is possible to keep the flinter dry.

 

[desidog]

The ignition time of a percussion is definitely superior to a flintlock, which helps accurate shooting... and ethical hunting.

The US Army went from the Colt 1851's .36 to the Colt 1860's .44 because they deemed the .44 capable of taking down a horse more reliably... and that's from a pistol. With a .50 cal rifle and an elk, you should be fine.

Now, go run a mile uphill and then shoot some targets for practice...

/and don't shoot an elk if you're more than two miles from a road, (preferably uphill from it!) 'cause that's when the work begins...

 

[david58]

I know about the work. Thankfully, we have a horse packer that literally lives in the middle of the NF, in the middle of our hunting unit, 4 miles from where we will pitch camp. No running for me, I gotta put the sneak on - had a heart attack early in summer and therefore running is still off the table. Slow and steady.

Get to hunt in the tail end of the rut - if the weather stays warm for another couple of weeks, we might get in earlier than that. ML hunt is the first firearm hunt of the season, unlike Oregon when it was often the last...

 

[TimSr]

I don't know how much time you have to experiment, but my old .50 Hawkins has a 1:66 twist and only shot round ball decently. I tried EVERYTHING I could find in it. Then I stumbled across these Harvester Sabertooth Bullets, and both the 270gr and 300gr shoot well from my gun. Nothing I'm going to win matches with, but good for a 100 yard kill zone shot. https://harvesterbullets.com/index.php/products/saber-tooth These are plastic base belted full .50 cal, not sabots. I also tried the other Harvester bullet types with no success. Only the Sabertooth.

 

[Hookeye]

Never heard of a Hawkins.

Did own a Hawken

 

[Hookeye]

Killed a few deer with reg roundball in .50 cal. Worked fine.
If going for elk I'd run conical in a .50 cal.
If forced to go roundball I'd opt for a .54
Have zero experience popping elk.
Tried once, but double check for a brow time (over my sights) meant he was gone before I sent one.
Was running a Knight Wolverine then (darn good MZ for the $).

 

[Hookeye]

Oh yeah, the cheap plastic sights had been replaced with metal ones from one of my 700's.
I had to machine the rear a little I think (base). Can't remember, 20 yrs ago.
Whatever it was, worked fine.

 

[david58]

Well, found that the .60 balls I was using were the issue (actually, the issue was the idiot behind the trigger thinking a .60 would work). Went to .61 balls, with a thin patch lubed with Wonderlube, and all is good. Will be toting the flinter after all, and the discussion about the .50 is moot. 62 is more an elk sized ball, anywho...

 

[Nature Boy]

had a heart attack early in summer and therefore running is still off the table

Kudos to you for a fast recovery and good luck this year!

 

[david58]

Thanks! I still might be the camp cook, praying that my wife shoots straight and true, but I could have been on the other side of the grass. We camp at nearly 10,000', about 2000' above where I work and 3K above where I live, so I will learn a lot the weekend before when we go up to cut firewood and scout. I'll be the slowest hunter in the unit, that's for sure!

 

[LoonWulf]

Glad u stayed on this side lol. Good luck and post some pictures!