buffalo ball-ets

[toomb68]

long time lurker .....first time poster. anyone shot these. i have a tc hawken .50 cal flintlock. thought of using these for deer. also bought some tc maxi hunters. i have only used round balls before. have read that the ball-ets are the best of both worlds. anyone with first hand experience?

thanks
chris

 

[Steve499]

I've not used them but mec has. his is the last post in this thread.

http://thehighroad.org/showthread.php?t=202388&highlight=buffalo+ball-ets


Steve

 

[arcticap]

Some guns like them better than others. They are relatively easy to load, and with the 1 in 48" twists, one shot may be great and another not as good.
I gave some to a friend with a GPR caplock 1 in 66" twist along with wonder wad bore buttons to try and he liked it a lot and said that it shot to the same point of aim as a ball out to about 70 yards. But he only shot a few of them.
Some people do use them with bore buttons (wool wads) underneath and some don't. These act like a gas check and often improve accuracy.
Also, be careful that they don't creep forward after being rammed into the breech. They are only .001 or so over bore size, so they loosen up once they are rammed home.
Another similiar bullet is the Lee REAL which is offered in 250 grain (most like the Ball-ets) and 320 grain versions in .50 caliber.

http://www.leeprecision.com/cgi/catalog/browse.cgi?1160233801.5932=/html/catalog/blackpow.html

 

[Low Key]

I've been trying them out in my CVA hunter bolt, 50 cal. The barrel has a 1 in 32 twist, I wish it were at least 1 in 48 but 1:32 is what it is. I've fired about 20 shots and am grouping about 4in at 50 yards...not great but I haven't gotten dialed in to the charge the gun likes with this bullet yet. I think I can get good groups from the ball-et's if I find the right powder charge. Problem could just be my shooting right now, I've been shooting revolver more than rifle this year so I'm a bit out of practice with the long gun.

This gun likes the lead powerbelts and 100gr of pyrodex RS, but the powerbelts are expensive for targets and this gun doesn't quite have the twist I need for round ball.

 

[Plink]

Low Key, with that fast of twist, you might be better served by a longer conical. The Ball-ets are pretty short. Let us know what you find out though.

 

[Low Key]

Yeah, I know that 1:32 is pretty fast and mainly for conicals like sabots and powerbelts. That rifle does like the powerbelts and can lay a group under a half dollar at 50 yards. Buffalo ball-ets are about half the price though, and I thought maybe I could find a powder charge that the rifle likes to shoot them accurately. I've never hunted with them, but I would guess that they would produce more than enough power to lay a deer over if one wanted to do so...they smack my target logs pretty hard.

 

[JWINKS]

I would suggest that you try the longer ( 350 grain ) REAL bullet. That twist rate you have should be ideal. You could cast yourown and double the fun. Jwinks

 

[armedandsafe]

I have the REAL mold and am pretty impressed with the shooting side of them. However, they load so hard in my CVA Hawken, I don't use then for hunting and seldom for target. I don't like having to carry a 16oz hammer on my belt.

I haven't tried the REAL in the T/C, yet, but I suspect they might fit better, as it has to use 18thou patches, rather than the 15thou the CVA likes.

Pops

 

[sundance44s]

Sundance44s

I tried the ballets in my T/C 50 cal side lock Hawken 1 in 48 twist ..they shot good ..better than i thought they would ..i only Quit useing them because of the cost .. i do alot of shooting ..they are about twice the price as round balls . Now i`m casting and would like to find a mold to cast them .. no luck yet though .

 

[Hobie]

My friend had an older cheap muzzleloader and tried these as the only "conical" that would stabilize in that particular gun. We went into a deer positive area and he scored in about 25 minutes. MOST of our time was spent in moving that deer out to the truck. Yes, one shot was all it took. Charge was one ball-et, 80 gr. BP (GOEX 2F IIRC), and a #11 cap.