AmericanLongRifles Forums
General discussion => Black Powder Shooting => Topic started by: K.akers on January 15, 2026, 06:36:20 AM
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Longtime Hunter but just recently got into muzzle loading. It’s addicting! I hope to have a more traditional flintlock before too much longer.
This is a Traditions, “Kentucky” rifle in 50 caliber. I was shooting a 240 grain PA conical and 90 grains of Pyrodex. I know I should be shooting real black, but haven’t sourced any yet and don’t wanna pay the hazmat.
I went with the conicals for extra downrange energy, but I would be interested in hearing others experiences with 50 caliber round balls on elk. 90ish yards broadside top of the heart. Went through the meat of the near side shoulder and shattered the offside shoulder. She didn’t go very far. I’m curious how a patched round ball would’ve performed at that distance.
(https://i.ibb.co/pjczGrB0/IMG-7524.jpg) (https://ibb.co/fdfpBGz1)
(https://i.ibb.co/6RkrNd8j/IMG-7520.jpg) (https://ibb.co/Y7xPbrXH)
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This is the offside shoulder. The conical was stuck in the bone just under the ball of the joint.
(https://i.ibb.co/v6F06xH0/IMG-7545.jpg) (https://ibb.co/hJ63JRy3)
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Fantastic! Thanks for sharing the photo.
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Congratulations! Well done!
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very well done hunting elk with a flintlock is the ultimate experience
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Congratulations on your elk!
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Perfect bullet placement! Congratulations all around.
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very well done hunting elk with a flintlock is the ultimate experience
Looks to be percussion to me. No matter on which you used. My congrats.
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I won't be a lot of help with your question on round ball vs conical because I like 54 caliber for larger game. I only shoot with a flintlock and only use real black powder but I have shot elk, big black bear and large Russian boar with mine using 75 grains of 3F black powder and a greased patched pure lead round ball. The bear and the boar never took another step. The elk only went a few yards and crashed. It's all about ball (or bullet) placement more than what projectile you use.
Congratulations on a fine elk. Where and what state were you hunting?
Thanks for the great post.
"Muskrat" Mike
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Congratulations on the elk. .50 cal. round ball would have done as well in killing the elk, but likely would not have broken up the leg bone.
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Excellent!
"First" elk, I like your optimistic attitude :)
Since you want to get a flinter before too much longer anyway, make it a .54
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I won't be a lot of help with your question on round ball vs conical because I like 54 caliber for larger game. I only shoot with a flintlock and only use real black powder but I have shot elk, big black bear and large Russian boar with mine using 75 grains of 3F black powder and a greased patched pure lead round ball. The bear and the boar never took another step. The elk only went a few yards and crashed. It's all about ball (or bullet) placement more than what projectile you use.
Congratulations on a fine elk. Where and what state were you hunting?
Thanks for the great post.
"Muskrat" Mike
I’m on the eastern edge of Oregon, thanks for the reply!
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Excellent!
"First" elk, I like your optimistic attitude :)
Since you want to get a flinter before too much longer anyway, make it a .54
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Well, not exactly my first elk, just my first with a muzzleloader😉
I am eyeing a Kibler kit in 54 pretty hard.
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Thanks all for the replies!
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Can't go wrong with a Kibler kit.
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I can understand your want of a flintlock; they are magical, but a "90ish yard" shot placement like that with that rifle is saying something.
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Thanks, for a super budget friendly “long rifle shaped object” I’ve been super happy with this rifle. shot it quite a bit this summer in preparation for the hunt and got to shoot some competition with it at a local rendezvous. It’s a lot of fun. It shoots the conicals OK but the best I can get with them so far is a 4 inch group at 100 yards. So I decided I wouldn’t shoot anything past that.
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Four inch groups at 100 yds is fantastic with open sites! Congratulations on the elk and the great shot!
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Thanks!
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Good shooting.
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Congratulations on the elk. .50 cal. round ball would have done as well in killing the elk, but likely would not have broken up the leg bone.
I shattered the Humerus on a big cow with a 54 RB years back 60 yards or a little more (?) went through and took out the aorta knocked her down she got up and ran blind it seems down hill (toward the road !!) and piled. I had her cut up and they failed to save teh bone fragments. The ball now seriously malformed, skidded up the offside chest wall and was lost in the field dressing. But I shot a Mule Deer doe with a 9” barreled Hawken type 54 pistol at 20-25 yards. Shattered the Humerus took out arteries or top of the heart. Lodged against the far side hide. The ball has nice bone imprint on one side and a is expended on the other side with tissue imbedded in the roughtness. So it rotated but the would channel was straight here and in the elK. Deer made maybe 25-30 yards. This illustrates why with low verlocity lead projectiles so many amputations were done in war.
The pattern on the bone side of the ball is interesting did not see it in that detail until I photographed it.
Site is fighting me will try again
(https://i.ibb.co/kt7Q91q/IMG-5283.jpg) (https://ibb.co/sZfy6Hs)
(https://i.ibb.co/hFM2PZs4/IMG-5280.jpg) (https://ibb.co/SwxVhdNM)
(https://i.ibb.co/FL25FmTm/IMG-5282.jpg) (https://ibb.co/MxrcmZ0Z)
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I have a Kibler Colonial I have shot quite a bit and a Kibler 45 SMR I shoot in matches. Both are excellent. For Elk a 54 is the low end IMO but a 50 will and has worked with the RB. If you agonize over penetration harden the balls a little. Lack of ADEQUATE penetration with a RB has never been an issue with anything I have shot or seen shot 100 or so various critters. Just as with any hunting rifle shot placement trumps everything. Besides I once shot completely through a Antelope buck at about 25 yards with a .50 6” belt pistol with 45 ge of FFF. threw such a cloud of dirt up beyond I thought I had missed. Some hunter with a HP had shot him in the mouth from side to side and I happened to find him and put it down. It got ate by a needy family. Same pistol on a down but not out MD buck penetrated through the heavy muscle just behind the humerus to the off hide at the diaphragm. It never expanded just egg shaped. This is a 180 gr ball at 800 fps, yeah I had a chrono back then. Its penetration in baffle boards was about that of of the 50 cal rifle at 150 yards. A 54 maxi gave about 30% more penetration. If I took the time to find it I wrote it all up in the old “Buckskin Report” John Baird talked me into it. But unless a large bone is encountered the 54 pure lead RB will give about 30” of penetration. I have only shot a maxi in testing and have once used a percussion bullet rifle I had made for a LR (Virginia City Buffler Runners) match. Other than that I have never shot a bullet from a ML rifle. Oops I did make a swage and played around with a 40 cal Picket bullet at one time. Back when Green Mountain was making 40 cals with a 48” twist. Don’t have any idea why they switched. Given I have shot various critters with 40-44-45 and 50 caliber BP load lad bullets brass suppository rifles and some others as well. I see no reason to shoot a conical from a ML for hunting. When sized right for the game, used within their range they are as good as anything. Actually preferable to some of the “new and improved” loadings for modern 45-70 and some other stuff I have used or seen used.
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I would look up a ML club or some such. They usually order from time to time for members and you might get in on the next one. If you use P-Dex much you might find BP does not work well. Used LOTS of warm to hot water to clean. Its WAY more corrosive than real BP. I used to do barrel warranty examinations for a US maker of BPCRs and can tell a rifle used with this stuff to any extent at a glance.