Round ball for elk

[wadu1]

I hunt with a .54 with bullets, one year I helped an old timer with a nice spike he had taken. When we rolled him over to start gutting it I saw one small hole and asked what was he shooting his reply was a .45 patched round ball (it was legal then). He took it on the run at 80 yards one shot one lung and lodged in the heart. For helping he gave me the heart and liver and someware in my junk I still have the ball.

[bearpaw]

I feel compelled to add my 

I have seen multiple animals wounded by roundballs. Here's a prime example of why the pioneers started using elongated projectiles.

When we could still run hounds in WA I had a bear hunter using round balls. My dogs bayed up about a 350 pound bear, we slipped in within 20 yards in heavy cover, dogs are running all around us, bear is putting charges on the dogs trying to grab them, he was too big and slow to get them, finally we had a clear shot at 20ish yards, boooooommmm, smoke clears bear is loooking at us seemingly unharmed, quick reload, pretty quick bbboooommmmm again, bear takes off running and goes a half mile or so, we catch up and slip in close again, bbooommmm smoke clears and bear is still unharmed, this crap goes on for about 6 or 8 shots until hunter is out of ammo. The bear was wounded pretty good by now but by no means dead, we had to wait for quite some time, finally I was able to slip in behind the bear, I made a quick slash with my knife at his throat and got out of the way. Finally after about another 30 minutes he bled to death.

Upon dressing and skinning the bear we found that the roundies would hit, flatten out some on impact, and not get enough penetration to kill a big animal like that.

One year we were restricted to round balls during a muzzleloader mule deer season in Idaho. We had killed lots of bucks with MZ bullets and now all we could use were round balls. The balls never killed a single deer, we lost 7 bucks, we did get 1 buck but we had to run up and hold it down while we cut its throat. One hunter quit hunting after 4 wounded bucks, it was the most disgusting mess I ever saw.

RB's should be illegal for big game due to lack of effectiveness. Just my opinion....

[HEADSHOT]

I haven't used a .54 ball for elk, but last year I took this bull with my .62 T/C Hawken and a single patched round ball.  One shot from less than 50 yards and he was down in 14 long steps.  The numbers game would say round balls are terrible for game, but results like this and Hangfire's above would say otherwise.  As to the need to keep shots close, I'd say yes for any muzzleloader as that's kind of the name of the game, right.

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I second this! I know were you shot that critter! it was out by djkasldfbeeqlrfuqerl house! I knew it! And you did it with round ball? How many mules have you killed on the beast side of the state?

[MagKarl]

The guys I know who hunt with round balls by choice are generally pretty serious and effective.  Ever been to a black powder round ball match?  I have no problem with the idea of killing elk provided the shooter knows himself and his gear.  It's no different than hunting with any other weapon, take responsible shots within your effective range and you'll be packing meat. 

[Hangfire]

I have never used a roundball on a bear and I probably wouldn't with hounds as I would want to put it down with out getting a hound injured. Like wise I wouldn't used archery under the same circumstances. That said, I can't believe a bear hit through the lungs with a roundball, wouldn't go down within 100 yards. The only elk that I ever witnest not being put down was with bullets. In the end the 4 point bull was jumped and put down with a 54 cal roundball. I can't imagine loosing 7 mule deer by shooters that had any idea what they were doing. I knew a fellow when I shot in the Yakima muzzle loader club in the 70's. He used a 58 cal Zuave. He had to back off on his loads as he was shooting clear through a mature cow elk at 50 yards hit behind the shoulders.
It is more, know where to shoot a animal,  how to hit that spot, and know your range. It is like all guns and archery, to many people push there weapons to where thy are no longer effective, be it archery, muzzle loader or 300 magnum.

Why use roundballs, plan and simple accuracy. You can't put them down if you can't hit them correctly. Round ball guns normally are very accurate. A number of years ago a fellow I believe named Bill Faulk, won the hunting rifle match at the Spokane gun club. He was shooting a half stock 45 cal muzzle loader he had built, with round balls. The rules were, off hand, any rifle leagal for deer, any sights. His iron sighted muzzle loader won. When I was target shooting you better be able to shoot 2 inch or smaller groups at 100 yards if you wanted to place. That was off cross sticks and iron sights.

[KLRKeith]

Several mule deer I've killed with patched round balls never traveled more than 25 yards.  All were shot under 75yards.  I've seen caribou up in Alaska that were gimping along and had over four arrows stuck in him before he was killed with a rifle.  I've shot several bears up there that had .30 caliber bulllets in them.  My point being that all weapons wound animals when not placed in the kill zone.  My rifle shoots patched round balls very accurately and I wouldn't hesitate to shoot a elk or moose with a patched round ball.

[bearpaw]

Perhaps those bigger calibers get more penetration with round balls. Perhaps my comment was a bit harsh on making the roundballs illegal, that actually goes against my normal phylosophy of supporting each other, and yes any weapon can wound animals, but I have to tell you, I have had no good experiences with round balls, all have been negative. I know that good Bullets perform very well in MZ's and can see no reason to risk losing an animal with a round ball when a guy can shoot bullets.

A bayed up bear is hairy with any weapon, but that situation was not good, unfortunately I had forgotten my pistol in my truck or I would have handed it to the guy to put the bear out of it's misery. I have a great respect for the animals I hunt and just hate to see unnecessary suffering. I felt really bad for the bear waiting for it to slowly die after I had to cut it's throat.

I am a firm believer in hunting with all weapons types, but I feel we owe it to the wildife we kill, to kill them as quickly as possible and to use as effective equipment as possible whether it be bow, pistol, rifle, or muzzy.

[h20hunter]

I would be very interested if anyone has some after shots of ball ammo taken from a downed animal.

[bobcat]

I think round balls are a terrible choice. If you do use them, you should limit your distance to the same as what a bow hunter would. 50 yards would be a good max as I said before. For deer I could see shooting a little farther, up to 75 like KLRKeith did. Also with round balls the caliber makes a big difference. 54 caliber would be a good minimum for elk, IMO.

[Dan-o]

Balistic tables don't lie...... But I'm an old Elmer Keith fan.

[KLRKeith]

A few recovered bullets.  Left to right... Thats a brass tack on the horn mount right behind the bullets.

54 cal, 1,600fps--passed thru shoulder of mule deer exited and recovered in hair on exit side.  60 yards

.45cal fmj, 900 fps --point blank range--pancaked on skull of grizzly bear; cracked skull but no penetration.

.30 cal Nosler partition 180grains--2,400fps----120 yards--Grizzly bear behind front shoulder; stuck on off side hide

.30 Cal nosler partition 170 grain--1,900 fps 130 yards --Caribou double lung but no bone hit.  Found against skin exit side, no exit

.30 cal Nosler partition 170 grains, 1,900 fps-80 yards--Moose rib shot then stopped on spine

[MagKarl]

I find it hard to believe how many nay-sayers there are when you have several personal accounts of success listed right here in this very thread.  If you did a little research on the traditional side of muzzleloading you'd find that round balls are plenty deadly within the ranges that most folks can place shots accurately with primitive sights.  

I'll admit I've only shot a couple deer with round balls, but the 3 shots I've taken were all pass thoughs and quick kills.  No lost animals, no balls recovered.  54 cal, between ~30 and 70 yards.  

To say they are non-lethal or imply their use is unethical or unsportsmanlike is ignorant.  

[DeerThug]

Despite the pic of a great spike, and unless you are a crack shot  no way on the round ball.  I have seen too many elk hit good with way more that one round ball go way too far - some to never be seen again.

Unless you are 100% traditional - stick with good heavy lead.  You only get one shot at a time, why go small when bigger is better.

No on likes a crash when it comes to muzzle elk...

[Skillet]

I have a good .50 cal heavy boolit slinger, and am looking at a Lyman Great Plains slow twist .54 for roundball, with the intent to use on both deer and elk. 

My personal rules of the road for round balls, in no particular order -

#1 - .54 is my minimum round ball gun for elk.  Projectile weight is important on these animals to ensure penetration.
#2 - I basically hunt like I have a bow.  60 yards maximum, double lung is the rule.  No frontal shots, no shoulders.  Quarting away is ideal.  If I don't get the shot, I don't force it.  If tagging an elk was the only goal, I'd be carrying my .50 cal slinging heavy boolits out to 100 yards.
#3 - Burn a lot of powder this summer.  Practice, practice, practice.
#4 - Plan on blood trailing as per bowhunting.  Even with the RB pancaking, you're not putting the punch on them that 400 grains of lead conical can. 

If you do your job by practicing often, exercising self restraint as far as range and shot placement, then the round ball will do its job.  But if you expect a round ball to do a sabot's or a heavy conical's job, you will be disappointed and probably have wasted an elk, to boot.

[bobcat]

Great "rules" Skillet. My problem with round balls is that I assume most people won't have the self restraint that you have. Especially when all they know is they see guys on TV and read stories on the internet about 200+ yard shots with muzzleloaders.