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FlySubCompact · July 15, 2012, 12:38 PM

My daughter's boyfreind has had little exposure to any kind of firearms (city kid, raised by a single mom). I've been teaching him safety and shooting.

Decided to dust off my old .50 CVA rifle. I've been building a deck so I had lumber scraps for targets for him. I loaded with 50 grains of powder under a patched round ball. Target was a 2x6 (dry pine). Was thinking the board would stop the ball. Wrong.... Two, sandwiched together didn't even stop it. Finally grabbed a 4x4 chunk of post. That stopped the RB.

Disected the post with a bandsaw. Found that RB stopped only 1/4" from the other side of the post. The wood target was set at an angle, so the RB penetrated 4" of hard, dried yellow pine. Actually, a little more because at the end of it's travel it j-hooked to the right about an inch. Had no idea a RB could do that.

I never hunted with this BP rifle. I'm figuring a round ball could go right through a medium sized deer? Especially with a stouter charge than 50 grains?

July 15, 2012, 12:38 PM	#1
FlySubCompact Senior Member Join Date: February 16, 2012 Posts: 306	Little round ball....amazing penetration My daughter's boyfreind has had little exposure to any kind of firearms (city kid, raised by a single mom). I've been teaching him safety and shooting. Decided to dust off my old .50 CVA rifle. I've been building a deck so I had lumber scraps for targets for him. I loaded with 50 grains of powder under a patched round ball. Target was a 2x6 (dry pine). Was thinking the board would stop the ball. Wrong.... Two, sandwiched together didn't even stop it. Finally grabbed a 4x4 chunk of post. That stopped the RB. Disected the post with a bandsaw. Found that RB stopped only 1/4" from the other side of the post. The wood target was set at an angle, so the RB penetrated 4" of hard, dried yellow pine. Actually, a little more because at the end of it's travel it j-hooked to the right about an inch. Had no idea a RB could do that. I never hunted with this BP rifle. I'm figuring a round ball could go right through a medium sized deer? Especially with a stouter charge than 50 grains?