I watched this, it has me questioning "bullet technology"

[CVA Fanboy]

after the observation you decide.

 

[deerstalkert]

not saying that there hasn't been wonderful things done to bullets in my lifetime, but bullet makers, and legislators must keep making new product, and new laws. never mind that the bases are covered, new sells, especially with the one eyed salesman yelling "its the newest and bestest!.
i have used a mind blowing array of bullets over the last 60 years. i started with cast lead, and i am finishing with cast lead.

 

[CVA Fanboy]

not saying that there hasn't been wonderful things done to bullets in my lifetime, but bullet makers, and legislators must keep making new product, and new laws. never mind that the bases are covered, new sells, especially with the one eyed salesman yelling "its the newest and bestest!.
i have used a mind blowing array of bullets over the last 60 years. i started with cast lead, and i am finishing with cast lead.

As I am discovering that cast lead to the softer is very formidable, well "stopping power"

 

[Hanshi]

Soft lead balls are extremely lethal as any deer hunter shooting them can attest. I've never needed more than the first shot (one ball) to permanently ruin a deer's day. Conicals are not needed because dead is dead with a prb hit in the vitals. I've killed deer up to about 100+ yards with prb in a flintlock. Most shots have been well under 50 yards with an average of probably 30 t0 40 yards and many coming under 20 yds.

 

[deerstalkert]

As Hanshi says, soft lead isn't soft at speed. over the years i have gone from cast to the latest wonder constructed bullets, from smoke belching to the current super slayer tyrannosaurus slaying magnum's. i have only once killed a deer at more than 100 yards, with most within smelling range. a .458 jacketed wonder going close to 2600 fps will not kill a deer or elk any deader than a prb at half the speed when placed right. don't get the idea that i dislike the wonder rifles. if it goes bang i will find a place in my collection for it. but for sheer smiles and giggles, coupled with a sense of achievement i will patch a dead soft ball and wait for the smoke to clear.

 

[snapbang]

deerstalkert, I get caught up in the bullet craze myself. Yet about half of the deer I have killed was with a patched round ball. That killing spree started when I was about 32 years old. Im 67 now. I averaged about 4 a season for freezer meat. Thats 35 years killing about 4 deer a year. Used to be we used MZs to extend our hunting season. (50 cal.) I still hunt bucks early and fill the freezer late in the season. A PRB is a fine projectile to kill deer. May have to get a little more skilled at stalking and shooting but properly placed a PRB will kill deer just fine. I didn't always use soft or pure lead. I found 90lb of wheel weights for a friend. Told him I wanted a lifetime of balls. I killed a pile with those hard balls and frankly never noticed a difference.

 

[Bushfire]

Being in Australia I don't have any weapon specific seasons so I can hunt with what I please.
I choose PRB mostly because I've found it kills deer just as well as modern bullets as long as you put them where they need to go.

I've shot 4 deer with PRB this year, 3 down on the spot, the last was quartering more than I thought. Went in through the shoulder but come out the opposite gut. Clipped the lung and smashed the liver. She went 100 yards and fell over. Can't say a modern gun with modern projectiles would have done any better.

 

[Shorty]

plus them old smoke poles balance in your hands better, look alot more majestic, and are not as loud when hunting on ones ears….

 

[1874sharpsshooter]

plus them old smoke poles balance in your hands better, look alot more majestic, and are not as loud when hunting on ones ears….

And easy to feed. I have several hundred pounds of lead so I am all set . And if the grid goes down and I cant plug my lee pots in I can melt lead over my campfire

 

[Garbler]

I commented on this hunt on several forums but I took a good sized cow Elk around 400 - 450 lbs. I had a Colorado tag up on Grand Mesa and took my two year old Pacific Rifle Zephyr 20 bore under hammer. It’s a ball gun shooting dead soft 30-1 + - 32p grain balls. I was laying against a rotted log watching a string of cows and calves when big cow walked right up behind me ( enbarassing ). I don’t think she scented me as was down wind but saw me and took off about 50-75 yards then stopped looked and kept off at a slow trot. My shot was a quartering angle from the left stern. She made it another 25 yards uphill and fell still alive. That ball missed her hind quarter but angled forward taking out a rib, her right lung but shattered her right front shoulder bone and stopped in the big muscle group. I was amazed at how that ball performed guessing the shot was about 80 yards stepped off. But I must say little if any real meat damage. That’s my story and I’m sticking with it

Rick

 

[Confederate rifleman]

Where ya hit 'em is more important then what ya hit 'em with.
Within reason.
Even a .22LR in the brain beats a .458 in the guts.