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Roundballs for deer hunting

7K views 18 replies 12 participants last post by  Sootburner 
#1 ·
It's been a while since I've posted on this site, but last week's Illinois' deer season gave me a reason to do so. A nice 8-pointer came by my pop-up on the edge of a mowed fescue field and at a ranged 68 yards. I put the crosshairs on him and squeezed of a 12 gauge load involving a .690 roundball out of my H&R Ultra Slug Hunter. After the shot, I watched him run the 100 yards to a creek, climb the far steep bank, and disappear over the upper edge into a picked soybean field. His tail was up all the way. Knowing that this load will shoot a 2"-3" group at 50 yards, I was sure that I'd hit him. Finding no blood all the way to the creek, I finally found a spot where I could cross and went to the soybean field, looking for blood. I walked a couple of hundred yards and was about to convince myself that somehow I'd missed when I spotted 5-6 drops of blood on some leaves at the edge of a woods. I looked around for more blood, even backtracking, but found none. There were several fingers of high ground running into the woods. I began to move slowly into the woods and had only gone 50 yards when I spotted his white belly. On cleaning him, he was full of blood and both lungs had huge holes through them. From my years of hunting with a flintlock, I was aware that a roundball has limited knockdown ability and that it is very important to follow up on any shot. Not having had this prior experience, I'd probably not even had walked to the creek looking for sign since he never indicated in any way that he'd been hit. I think I'll return to the Slugs-R-Us which has worked so well in the past.
 
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#2 ·
I really don't know what to tell you. You seem to know what you are doing & are not asking a question. I assume you just want comments. I have never killed anything with a shotgun slug or a pumpkin ball, as bore size round ball loads were once called. However, I have killed deer with most everything else that utilizes powder as a propellant. I have both a round ball barrel & a faster twist barrel for conicals for my Lyman plainsman cap lock muzzle loader. I find that the .54 cal. round ball (.535) works quite well. I haven't killed a ton of deer with it but so far, no deer has gone more than about 50 yds. after being hit. Deer sometimes exhibit extra ordinary tenacity for life but what you describe is not what I would expect to be the norm. I have to believe that any deer hit with a properly placed 12 ga. size round ball will not go far if he goes anywhere at all! Exceptions do occur but it had a happy ending. You found the buck!
 
#3 ·
I think the moral of the story is always check for a hit. I've shot geese that flew a hundred or three hundred yards before dropping out of the sky. This year I shot a decent buck in the heart and it ran 50-75 yards without leaving a blood trail. A friend of mine shot an old doe in the heart, with a 7mm magnum granted, and it didn't just leave a blood trail, it left a blood road. But you will never find the one that doesn't bleed if you don't look. Sometimes deer can run a good ways before they start leaking. That hair can soak up some blood sometimes.

Gotta check each shot, each time.
 
#4 ·
I had a similar experience with a doe I shot earlier this year with the crossbow.
Blasted through both lungs and watched it run into the thicket. I had good blood for 20 yards or so, then nothing. Fortunately the leaves on the ground were thick and wet, and I could see the direction she ran in. When I found her she was full of blood on the inside. The deer had so much body fat on her that the fat plugged up the holes made by the arrow. Fortunately she didn't go far, and I had good footprints to follow, because she went into the thickest brush she could find.
 
#5 ·
My purpose for posting my roundball deer story was that we need to have faith in our equipment and our ability to use it. It would have been easy for me to convince myself that I'd missed the deer based on its behavior after the shot. I couldn't help but remember a hunting story related by an acquaintance from several years ago and his first experience with hunting deer with a roundball out of a caplock. He reported to me that he'd shot at several deer that morning and none of them fell, unlike his experience with shotgun slugs. In response, he took the muzzleloader home and returned with his shotgun. I suggested that he spend some time walking and searching in the directions that the deer exited after the shots because, in all likelihood, he would find a deer or two. I don't know if he ever took my advice. My own convincing experience with a roundball came while hunting in the snow. I shot a doe at under 50 yards only to watch her walk up an incline and disappear over a small hill some 150 yards away. After 15-20 minutes trying to mentally evaluate what just happened, I crawled down out of my stand and walked over to the where she was standing at the shot. No blood was seen nor was there any as I tracked her snow trail. Just over the top of the hill, the doe was laying on her side and the only blood was around her, none in the trail leading up to her. Have faith in your equipment and your ability to use it.
 
#7 ·
I need to qualify myself first. I have never shot a deer with a round ball or slug. However, after many years of using a rifle, I have found that the high shoulder shot anchors any deer I have shot immediately. Same guy, same rifle, same load but dramatically different results from when I shot them through the lungs.

I guess I am wondering if that would also work with a round ball or slug.
 
#9 ·
oyeme said:
I need to qualify myself first. I have never shot a deer with a round ball or slug. However, after many years of using a rifle, I have found that the high shoulder shot anchors any deer I have shot immediately. Same guy, same rifle, same load but dramatically different results from when I shot them through the lungs.

I guess I am wondering if that would also work with a round ball or slug.
You are right in that shot placement can make a difference in the deer's reaction to being hit. Since I'm more interested in the meat than the horns, I try to avoid shoulder shots and instead go for the heart/lungs area. The roundball destroys very little meat and, through the ribs, is about the best placement for minimal meat damage. A head or neck shot would be even better, but the chances of just wounding the animal is too great for me to try it.
 
#10 ·
I sometimes opt for the neck when using buckshot or the head with a rifle if I am confident I'm going to make the shot. I usually play it safe & go for the heart lung shot. I am a firm believer in Murphy's law that says, "If anything can go wrong, it will go wrong". I recall a doe I killed many moons ago with my trusty thurty thurty. She was running in cover & I shot a number of times. When I cleaned her I discovered one of the bullets had hit her in the neck. It was flattened against the neck bone but didn't break the neck! If it wasn't for my last shot that took off a front leg, I most likely would never known I hit her!
 
#11 ·
TRG3 said:
It's been a while since I've posted on this site, but last week's Illinois' deer season gave me a reason to do so. A nice 8-pointer came by my pop-up on the edge of a mowed fescue field and at a ranged 68 yards. I put the crosshairs on him and squeezed of a 12 gauge load involving a .690 roundball out of my H&R Ultra Slug Hunter. After the shot, I watched him run the 100 yards to a creek, climb the far steep bank, and disappear over the upper edge into a picked soybean field. His tail was up all the way. Knowing that this load will shoot a 2"-3" group at 50 yards, I was sure that I'd hit him. Finding no blood all the way to the creek, I finally found a spot where I could cross and went to the soybean field, looking for blood. I walked a couple of hundred yards and was about to convince myself that somehow I'd missed when I spotted 5-6 drops of blood on some leaves at the edge of a woods. I looked around for more blood, even backtracking, but found none. There were several fingers of high ground running into the woods. I began to move slowly into the woods and had only gone 50 yards when I spotted his white belly. On cleaning him, he was full of blood and both lungs had huge holes through them. From my years of hunting with a flintlock, I was aware that a roundball has limited knockdown ability and that it is very important to follow up on any shot. Not having had this prior experience, I'd probably not even had walked to the creek looking for sign since he never indicated in any way that he'd been hit. I think I'll return to the Slugs-R-Us which has worked so well in the past.


I'm surprised that a hard hit deer ran with "its tail up", and that a .690" didn't drop it almost immediately. I hunt with a flintlock, and my experience with .562" and .605" roundballs is that they kill decisively. I've not had one run more than 25 yards, and it was a double lung with the .562" ball. The .605" weigh 3/4 oz and hit like Thor's hammer. I hunt in thick cover (mostly), so try to avoid following.

I've watched an ultra-slow motion video of .730" roundballs @1250fps going through ballistic gelatin and then into a thick lead plate, and the results have to be seen; I load and shoot a lot of roundballs in 12ga through smoothbores for close range work and trigger time. .662" and .678" in shotcups @ 1300fps (yes 12ga target loads) and have witnessed them rip through 1/4" angle iron. They are what I carry in my 20" double when checking game cameras because of the confidence I have in them.

I'm glad that you were able to find the deer, but really surprised that it went any distance at all.
 
#12 ·
My observations of .50 caliber roundball effect on deer -
If you get the velocity high enough to flatten the roundball, it has an added shock effect.
At lower velocity, the roundball just drills a one diameter hole, which is eventually fatal.

I have to say, that I am surprised at a 0.690 roundball taking that long to be fatal. There is a whole lot more mass there.
 
#14 ·
I hunt during muzzleloader season with a .50 cal. slow-twist cap lock and round balls. Sometimes, you have to decide whether you need to anchor them ASAP with a shoulder shot and lose a little meat, or double-lung them and hope for a short trailing job.

I have a buddy who has given up the lung/heart shots with his front-loader and takes shoulder shots only. You only have to lose one deer to make up for a lot of bloodshot meat...
 
#17 ·
hmmmm....can't edit

The above photos were of a .605" ball that expanded to 7/8" x 15/16" and lost no weight. Muzzle velocity was estimated at 1550fps and impact about 25 yards through the shoulders of a 300# live WT


The point is that even a ball that is not pure lead will expand if it has sufficient velocity.

I've been shooting .665" in shotcups from my 20" cyl bore double. The original intent was "stopper for bear", but the process of load development for the double has been an enlightening journey. This photo is of the best group I've shot, 25 yards with only a bead front sight, and 2 shots from each barrel.


These images are the normal, but again, just a bead front sight, 2 shots each barrel at 25 yards. The aiming point is about 1-3/4" square.



These same loads and others shoot better through several different pumps and semis with as snug as .710" M choke. I've since settled on 22gr Green Dot in Federal GM hulls, F209A, 12S3 wad, 1/4" felt filler under the .665" ball. An overshot card almost guarantees a perfect fold crimp every time.

Unfortunately genuine Federal 12S3s have been discontinued, and the CB clone has ribs in the petals, so are too tight. I've never had the Downrange 12S3 clones to try, so don't know. Federal 12S4s will work, but might need a little more filler under the ball.

A substitute for the 1/4" felt is a 20ga nitro card and enough cornmeal to fully support the ball. Support is important or else the wad will try to wrap itself around the ball and fail.
 
#19 ·
I've been shooting pimarliy flintlocks with round balls for 30+ years now. In my experience, those soft lead balls leave nasty wounds and very bloody trails. I use 54 for elk and 40, 45 & 50 cal for deer. With the exception of a 150 yard, 54 cal, shot to kill a mule deer, most of my game was killed within 75 yards or so. I don't recall ever following up more than 50 yards for any animal. I try to get broadside shots when I can and often get completet pass throughs. The balls that don't exit really flatten out. Once, a chubby spike elk kept staring at me at 40 yards and wouldn't turn for a shot. I finally decided to shoot him straight in the radiator. He dropped like a rock. The ball ended up somewhere in the messy parts after tearing up the important plumbing. I never did find that ball. Just my 2 cents, but if shooting round balls, keep the lead soft and limit the shots to bow type ranges. Good shooting!
 
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