Hanshi;
I never used buck, and ball, until the rendezvous I attended regularly, decided to put on an event they called a brush hunt. The event was a team event that required four hunters ( or as many that survived) to complete a hunting course. Taking enough game to sustain the group was a requirement, but surviving hostiles, terrain,and dangerous animals, was all part of the fun. The club had drawn up a simple set of rules, and anything not covered was fair. I discovered that although birdshot was not allowed, buckshot was. I started experimenting with buck, and ball, loads because straight buckshot loads sometimes hit everything but the target. I took my trade gun, and a trade pistol, while the rest of the crew shot rifled bore firearms. The buck, and ball, loads allowed me to take multiple heads of game with a single charge,(powder was rationed, as were percussion caps) and I dispatch multiple hostiles on one occasion as well. Heck, this old fat man and his team took this event the first two years it was offered. The third year the course was way long for my old hide, and the rule book looked like the Old Testament.
Hungry Horse