Big Slow Lead Bullets

[RKenSparc]

There seems to be among ML hunters a certain awe about the heavy slugs these guns can throw down range and their performance on game. I know how effective they are, but if you look at ballistic tables and consider nothing more than energy delivered at the point of impact, MLs are not exactly great weapons for hunting.

However everyone who has ever taken game with a ML knows there's more to the equation that just energy. So what is it about these big slow slugs that make them so effective?

 

[bluelk]

RKenSparc: My belief has always been that the more lead you can throw downrange the more effective you can be. This is also why I recommend the sighting in procedure that I do for guys to develop their optimum hunting load. In other words, don't adjust your sights until you know where your bullet/powder combination is going show your tightest group.

I agree that, on the surface, muzzleloaders are not the most effective hunting weapon around and that is why muzzleloader shooters have to be better hunters. We just don't have a weapon that is effective at longer ranges, so we have to compensate by being better hunters.

 

[MBM]

I believe that a big slow conical is devastating at muzzleloader velocities and at ranges under 100 yards. Three years ago I killed a cow elk at 70 yards with a 58 cal 500 grain conical. It went through both shoulders and she was down for the count.

This year a buddy and I bought inlines and tried using sabots, we both shot 300 gr XTP bulles out of 50 cal Knight Bighorns. My buddy killed a deer but his bullet hit a rib and kind of blew up. There was no exit wound but the bullet fragments took out the heart and lungs. I hit a deer in the shoulder at 50 yards and I think my bullet blew up on the shoulder bone and I got no penatration. We trailed it for over 400 yards and I jumped it one more time but did not get a shot, he was bleeding from the middle of his shoulder down his leg. I have no dought that if I had been using a big conical I would have harvested that deer with that shot.

I got caught up in all the publisity about using sabots and shooting 200 yards. Some guys like them and have had sucsess with them but I have no faith in using them again. All of the shots where I hunt are under 100 yards. Next year I will be using a powerbelt (a heavy one) or a No Excuses Conical.

Mark

 

[Fire_Hawk]

I have killed two bucks with heavy conicals and one with Saboted slugs. I can honestly say that I like the way the conicals performed much better. Both were complete penetration. One immediately fell, the other ran for 30-40 yards with a heavy blood trail before it died. Both times I lost very little meat.

With the sabots I lost meat, significant amounts, and the bullet stayed inside the animal (85% weight retention aint bad either though). Again it ran off but I was able to find it without any problems.

My rifle prefers the heavy No Excuses Conical. I shoot a .54 cal TC Fire Hawk and 535 grain Conicals. I did learn the hard way though that I must shoot a powder charge to foul the barrel before hunting with the "underbore" No Excuses conicals. I shot powder and a primer at a decent 4 point buck this year. Seems the loose fitting slug slid out of my spic and span barrel. This was the first time that had happened. Live and Learn I suppose.

Anyway, shoot whatever shoots best in your rifle, but you can't go wrong with a heavy conical for bone crushing energy. FH

 

[Omega]

I don't have the time in hunting with a muzzle loader that you guys have but my wife and I have harvested 2 bull moose and 2 buck antelope this year using 240 grain sabots over top of 150 grains of powder. All were one shot kills and ranged from 90 to 134 yards. The 28" barrel on the Omega has these bullets exceding 2200 fps at the muzzle. In comparison the old 30/30 which has killed untold numbers of moose and elk in my neck of the woods pushes a 17o grain bullet out the muzzle at 2000 fps. I've never been a fan of big bullets in a given caliber, my favorite loads for my 300 mag is the 165 grain and I shoot nothing but 185's in my .338. But each to his own, that is the great part isn't it? We have the choice and then can spend the winter defending it on boards like this one.
Take care, Rich

 

[sheephunter]

I think with round balls or conical lead bullets that more is better but with jacketed bullets, I don't believe that holds true. We are getting high-powered rifle performance out of these bullets so I see little reason for using heavy chunks of lead if sabots are legal where you hunt.

I've killed everything from 1600-pound moose, musk-ox and elk to whitetails, hogs and coyotes with my .50 cal and I've killed them all with 240 XTP bullets. Shoot them in the lungs or heart and they will die. Heavy bullets are no replacement for poor accuracy. Find a powder/bullet combination your rifle likes and stick with it.

 

[bobcatbess]

These big slow lead bullets are no joke! I shoot 600 grain slugs with 90 grains of 3f black powder through my inline.I dont really like the black powder but that is what the gun likes.I tried every brand and weight of sabot and slug,tried 4 different types of powders,tried different powder measurements.Could not find any sabots that would group at all.The big slow lead bullet doesnt do the shoulder much good,but you ought to see what it will do to big game animals.The big slow lead bullet does by far more damage than my 7mm mag or my 2 300 win. mags ever thought of doing.Ive seen hard hits with rifles of big calibers,but nothing that compares to this.rule # 1,put em down with something that will keep em down!