Great Plains & Buffalo Bullet Advice?

[Fiddler]

I've got an old .50 Lyman Deerstalker with a peep sight, and have been having great fun working up the best load for it. I finally settled on a .495 patched ball pushed by 70gr. of Goex 2f black. Pretty good accuracy and mild recoil.
Anyway, lately I've been reading forum posts and watching YouTube videos of guys hunting with Hornady Great Plains Bullets. These guys were talking about knockdown power and mushrooming, etc.
Well, today I stopped into a gun shop in a distant town and found Great Plains 385gr and Buffalo 350gr bullets. So I bought a box of each to experiment with.
Idaholewis says he likes to put a .54 caliber wad over his powder when shooting .50 caliber conicals. I've got wads.
I've heard opinions saying yes to wads behind conicals and no to wads behind conicals. Who should I believe?
What's the minimum amount of black powder to get decent performance out of these rather heavy conicals?
2f or 3f? I'd like to hear all opinions on this, because I'll be hunting soon and I'd like to have a hard-hitting round.

 

[Renegadehunter]

Really hard to say what your rifle will prefer. I'd say if you have some 2f and 3f around give them both a try. With a .50 I'd start around 80 grains of 2f and go up 5 grains at a time and look for the best group, not exceeding 100 grains. 3f I'd start around 70. Perhaps someone with the same rifle has tried them and will chime in.
I shoot a .54 Renegade with the same 1 in 48 twist you have and mine likes 100 grains of 2f with the Hornady GPB. I can go up to 120 grains of 2f safely, but haven't tried it. Can't say if it shoots any other charge well or not, 100 is where I started and it shot it so good I just stopped. I will say it recoils a tad more than PRB. I do not use a wad and have no accuracy issues, but do see a bit of leading. Idaholewis does say he see's leading all but go away with a wad. Since you have some on hand, I'd start off trying them.
As for performance, I shot a whitetail with one of the 425 grain Hornady GPB last year. Shot was 54 yards, deer went about 55 yards after the shot. I hit it high, very top of the lungs. Out of all the different calibers of rifles and projectiles I've shot deer with, PRB and modern, last year was the first time I've ever seen blood and lung bits on BOTH sides of the deer at the initial spot it was shot. Used to only seeing some on the exit side, if at all. Most times I don't find blood until 20-50 yards from the POI. Those things must hit like Thor's hammer. I of course didn't see the impact, there was a bit of smoke obstructing my view, but I'd imagine he must've humped up pretty good when that thing hit him.

 

[Muley Hunter]

Have you tried to load the Great Plains bullet yet? They're a big diameter and load hard in tight bores.

With your short barrel, i'd try 3F and see how it does. About 80gr or so.

 

[Sparkitoff1]

The GPB has a skirted base and is not supposed to be used with a wad. The skirt expands to make a gas seal. Although that is conventional wisdom, I think I'd still look at groups with and without a wad starting at 50-yards.

 

[exMember]

Try it both ways. Normally a hollow base conical does not need a wad.

 

[Fiddler]

Thanks for the replies!
I fired one Great Plains Bullet this morning with a wad and 90gr of ff black at 50 yards. It looked pretty good. About two inches left of the bullseye. Tomorrow I'll try 100 yards.
One shot, you may ask? Since I live in a rural area, my longtime habit when sighting in any hunting rifle is to fire on shot from a solid rest, and then go back in the house. I then thoroughly clean the gun and come back much later, usually the next day. I don't want groups. I want that one shot to be from a cold, squeaky-clean barrel, just like if I was on a big game hunt. If I were at a public shooting range, I'd want to stay and get my money's worth of shooting, but here in the woods, I can keep doing this procedure.
The main reason I'm experimenting with the heavy conical is my next muzzleloader hunt will be for wild hogs. This area is really thick and I dread the thought of tracking a wounded hog through those impenetrable palmettoes. I want as much knockdown power as I can get.
The year before last I got lucky with a brain shot on a big sow. This was with my usual prb load. If I had hit her in the heart/lung area, I might have had a hellish, perhaps even dangerous, tracking job on my hands.