Buffalo Ball-ets?

[Lead ball 54]

When I picked up my 54 cal I all so saw 6 boxes of the 310 grn Ball-ets I know they quit making these a long time ago I think but I remember they shot really well in 1-48" twist barrels does anybody have more experience with these than I do I went ahead and bought all 6 cause they were 5.00 a box I thought that was a good deal thanks

[J Henry]

  I sighted my  CVA Hawken(1-48) in  with the 50 cals then they quit making them,Dead on the dime,you stole them at $ 5.00 a box, bad thing is when they are gone that is it. If I ever run across more I will buy all they have,

[Lead ball 54]

Yep that's what I did I will shoot RB and Ball-ets did you hit any critters with those Ball-ets

[Fyrstyk]

Good news.  It has been announced on one of the other forum sites that Buffalo Bullets is back in business, and the 50 caliber ballets will be their first item offered.  I had great luck with the 245 grain 50 caliber ballets in my T/C High Plains Sporter.  I got 3/4" -1" groups at 50 yards with 90grains of 3f.  couldn't ask for a better deer load.

[Lead ball 54]

Hot dang they better make some 54s

[OldMtnMan]

What are you hunting that a .54 PRB won't kill it? I use a .54 PRB for elk.

[Shovelbuck]

Had a bunch in .54 and never could get them to shoot in anything. Melted them down and cast round balls.

[Lead ball 54]

I'm hunting Deer and Elk and yes I know a RB is a game taker more than a lot of people realize but at 5 bucks for a box of 100 I couldn't pass it up I'll be shootn RB as well and heavy conicals it's just plain fun

[J Henry]

 Read on another site they are back in business..Sweet I shoot the 50 cal Ball-et round ball with more weight and a skirt,load easy and shoot nice.

[Mauser06]

I killed a pile of deer with them from my TC 50cal. 

Interesting to me...70gr of 3f shot the same (as far as I shot) as 90gr of 3ft and a PRB.  I was shooting Hornady balls and didn't like performance on deer. Weren't exiting broadside chest shots...so I went to the ball-ets.

Performance wise, they didn't seem to do much but they penetrated extremely well.

A penetration story...

I was in a ladder stand waiting for my buddies to wake up.  A herd of doe were coming down the ridge right at me. Big ole nanny got to about 30yds and I figured I better take the shot before I got picked off. She was quartering towards me pretty hard. I put the sights on her front right shoulder and touched her off.  I watched her take off down the hillside.  As she was running I swore a back leg was flopping wildly.  She ran 60yds or so before dropping down the ridge out of view.

I felt sick. I knew I saw a rear leg flopping..with a herd or deer running, it was hard to tell for sure...I also didn't think it looked like she was hit hard.

I waited a few minutes and climbed down. Long white belly hair and bone fragments. Anytime I've found bone fragments like that before was a leg hit of some sort.   I was sick. How'd I take a rear leg off? 

I reloaded and started sneaking on the trail. Well...followed her kicked up leaves. There wasn't any blood that I saw. 

I get to where I last saw her and looked down the hill sneaking along trying to get a 2nd round in her hoping she bedded just out of view.  As I peeked over the hillside, the leaves were all distrurbed wildly.   At the end of that destruction, she was piled up dead. 

Bullet went in right tight to the front right shoulder.  It came out right between the rear legs and continued on shattering her left rear leg. 

I couldn't believe it.  That was pretty extreme penetration IMO. Granted, besides ribs, no major bone was hit..

Buddies woke up, helped me drag her back to camp, and I proceeded to kill my biggest buck at the time.   Good day in the flintlock woods! 

[OldMtnMan]

I've always thought that a PRB that doesn't exit is caused by using too much powder. The ball expands too fast and it hurts penetration.

[Mauser06]

Very well could be.  I recovered one from a shoulder and it was fragmented...one large piece was flat and somewhere around 1/2-3/4" and 1/8" or so thick.

Also read that swaged balls maybe a different alloy or the swaging process cause them to perform differently than cast lead balls.   Didn't know any better when I started. 90gr was accurate so that's what I shot.  It killed deer. But a round ball entrance and no exit made for tough tracks even on solid double link chest hits. 

[OldMtnMan]

75gr should be plenty for deer. Maybe even 70gr. I only use 80gr for elk. I don't get a pass through but the elk doesn't go far.

[Dphariss]

Why bother? All these things are for people that can't figure out a patched round ball or believed the propaganda put out by clueless gun writers.
Any projectile in a ML that is not patched to give it bore friction is a potential bore obstruction. This is why the Rifle Musket barrels were proved with a Minie 2" off the powder.

Dan

[Hillbilly Delux]

Per Hornady, they are producing the exact as the Buffalo Ball-ets...picked up a box just yesterday for my 1:66 Hawken

https://www.hornady.com/muzzleloading/browse/50-cal-240-gr-pa-conical#!/

[Hungry Horse]

 If you get a bullet to shoot in a 1in 66 round ball twist, I will be shocked. IMO, conical bullets in a muzzleloader are a good way to wound game (mostly due to inaccuracy) and wreck rifles ( due to either the bullet not seating, or sliding forward during carrying in warm weather. Round ball perform very well on deer, and even elk. I would only consider a conical when hunting dangerous game, or moose.

  Hungry Horse

[Daryl]

Bullets shot in RB twists, might hit point-on, but are BARELY stable. Upon hitting said game, become unstable and do not follow the path they started with. This causes

wounding and lost game.  We witnessed this with slugs in the 48" twist button rifled barrels that were popular a while back. While tracking well on light animals like deer,

they failed badly on moose and elk.

Please learn to use round balls with patches. If you need more power or deeper penetration, go to a larger bore, just as our fore-fathers did. There is a reason why .53's and .54's along

with larger bores became popular for the WEST.

[Lead ball 54]

So your saying a 310grn 54 calBaffalo Ball-et won't stabilize in a 48" twist barrel?

[bob in the woods]

It's not really a question of the "ball-et" stabilizing by the 1 in 48 twist as much as the performance on game. I tried everything including Buffalo conicals, etc etc some 25+ years ago in an Italian Hawken [ .54 ]   Nothing performed as well on game as a round ball.  You don't need the ball-et. Save your money .

[Daryl]

So your saying a 310grn 54 calBaffalo Ball-et won't stabilize in a 48" twist barrel?

No - I didn't say that, did I.  I do not know if the 310gr. Ball-et will or will not stabilize in a 48" twist, but I do know that a

Maxiball at 410 or 420gr. will not MAINTAIN stabilization after impace with a moose's hide and will turn, glance, bounce around inside

following ANY other path than a straight line.

After we taught the guys to drop the maxiballs and switch to patched balls in their 48" twist commercial rifles, they stopped wounding moose and started

killing them with one shot. Thus, they did not have to chase after them. Most just never tracked a woulnded moose, saying "I got maxi's into 3 bulls this morning", but they all

ran off as if unhurt - must have just "CREASED" them. What a freaking nightmare - after the RB switch for which I applaud Trackofthewold and their Mink Oil, this "Creasing" stopped.

The game branch used to fly over the area after that late season, land and remove maxiballs from the lost, dead moose. They NEVER found a round ball in a lost moose.

Are these Ball-ets better than maxiballs? Are these Ball-ets as good as round balls? I don't know.

 I do know that decent sized round balls work and work well & have been for over 300years.

[Lead ball 54]

Good to know thanks I hear arguments both ways with evidence I will use PRB mainly and try my own experiments with the others thanks

[smylee grouch]

It's too bad that the modern press promotes the use of alot of gizmo and implies that the PRB is so inadequate when the PRB is indeed very capable and in the right guns superior to all the do-dad-gizmo . As has already been said it has worked for hundreds of years.

[Davemuzz]

Per Hornady, they are producing the exact as the Buffalo Ball-ets...picked up a box just yesterday for my 1:66 Hawken

https://www.hornady.com/muzzleloading/browse/50-cal-240-gr-pa-conical#!/

I do agree with Hillbilly here. I have shot the Buffalo 240gr. and the Hornady 240gr. interchangeably from my T\C Hawken that has a 1-70 twist Green Mt. barrel on it. 100gr. FF, and no patch or button and either will do the same as the other.

It's been my personal experience that shooting the 240gr. conical has more energy and more "killing power" than a 175grPRB. I've lost a few doe to the PRB. I've not lost any shooting the conical. I've been M\L hunting since 1980.

Just my personal experience. Your's may vary.

FWIW

[smylee grouch]

I have never shot those slugs in a round ball barrel so if they group ok in the GM deep grove-slow twist barrel with 100 gr. charge, it surprises me for sure.

[Davemuzz]

Well, if you take a look at the "product overview" here: https://www.midwayusa.com/product/730932/hornady-pennsylvania-conical-muzzleloading-bullets-50-caliber-512-diameter-240-grain-box-of-50 you will see at the beginning of the overview it states: "Features....Recommended for rifles with 1 in 66" twist
Pre-Lubed"

Try them. IMHO you will be pleasantly surprised.

BTW, the only thing that I don't like about the Hornady is they come with way to much lube on them. The Buffalo's are coated with a dry lube that is great. When I shoot the Hornady's I first take the box, and "plop" out the conicals, then I take each one and clean off as much (what I think) excess lube as possible. Believe me.....you can't take off to much of it. I remove all that "gak" as reloading in the field becomes much easier when your fingers are not "lubed" after handling one.