I just picked mine up last December, so I have not gotten the chance to hunt with it, but it should be a great performer. It has much more "paper energy" than the .45-70, but to be honest, I don't see how it could kill a deer any quicker or deader, as the .45-70 has always been a real sledgehammer. But, I "needed" a .50 for my Encore. I shoot a 12" SSK Encore barrel and have shot 450 gr. Barnes Originals, 570 gr. Woodleighs, and 750 gr. Hornady A-Max. The 475 gr. LFNGC bullets from Beartooth have not arrived yet, but they are going to be the bullets I use from now on as I suspect they will be the best performers.
Using Re. #7 powder, here are the stats. Never does the bullet rise more than 3" above line of sight.
450 gr. Barnes Original, 59.0 gr. 1728 fps, 2983 ft-lbs energy at muzzle. At 100 yards, energy is down to 2264 ft-lbs. With 150 yard zero, bullet is down 3" at 175 but starting to drop like a rock, down to 8" at 200 yards. Energy is still 1718 ft-lbs at 200 yards.
570 gr. Woodleigh, 54.0 gr., 1445 ft/sec, 2644 ft-lbs at muzzle. At 100 yards 2331 ft-lbs, 125 yard zero, 3" drop at 150 and 2189 ft-lbs of energy. 7.6" drop at 175 so it too is dropping like a rock by this range.
It should be noted that both the Barnes and the Woodleigh need 2000 fps to expand, which is not possible in a 12" barrel. However, with a 1/2" hole being puched through, not much expansion is needed. The flat nose of the Barnes should open up quite a wound channel, but the RN of the Woodleigh may not be quite as affective. This is why I believe the 475 gr. LBT LFNGC bullet will be the best performer. Accuracy with both bullets is 1.5" at 50 yards for 5 shots.
750 gr. Hornady A-Max, 43.0 gr, 1142.1 fps. Energy for this load is not important, nor is trajectory as this load was for "kicks and giggles." It's recoil was more fun than I want to have again, but accuracy was quite good with 5 shots going into 1 ragged hole measuring .6" c-c at 50 yards.
I suspect that with a 475 gr. Hardcast LBT bullet I should be able to push the bullet to 1800 fps without difficulty. The above loads showed no signs of pressure so I feel that if I want to push the load to max with the 475 gr. bullet, 1800 fps should be doable.
It's an excellent round and I am going to have an 1895 GS rebuilt to .50 AK just as soon as I can lay my hands on one. I just hope I can connect with a deer this fall and see if the paper figures agree with real world performance, but I would be very surprised if they did not. Get one, you won't regret it.
