For whatever reason, only two of the dozens of whitetails I shot at close range with my long friend Pedersoli .45 flintlock actually came to hand. All the others went down and got up and were lost, or were clearly hit in the vitals but left the scene and were unrecovered. I used 70 to 75 grains of FFG, got excellent accuracy, and was glad to sell it to a friend who wanted it over his fireplace. Go ahead and lecture me on shot placement, my tracking skills, distance etc. My success at hitting deer in Maryland and Pennsylvania with the Pedersoli .45 was high. My success with bringing those wounded to hand was very low. It’s why I went to a .54 long ago, and recently built a .62 for our early season here. There was a reason the pre-Pennsylvania long rifle Jaeger rifles were from .58 to .72 caliber. They hit hard and if they hit correctly, left little to chance.