.45 caliber RB enough for deer?

[William Lincoln]

Properly loaded, with a practiced shooter, the .45 is deadly out to the 75-100 yard range.
In the 1970s the buckskin crowd used .45s to kill whatever could be hunted. Even before
the primitive/mL laws came in ,there were many people using the .45 RB during the regular
gun season and taking their limits. Florida limits those with convictions to muzzleloaders,
and they would hunt with MLs alongside everyone else, taking large numbers of deer.
Now Florida deer are not the biggest in America, but not the smallest either. Today the big
craze is wild hogs which, much like deer, are over-running yards ,parks and farms. To me,
the 45cal ML with RB is similar to a 20 gage shotgun slug in actual use. Not a long range
tool but definitely lethal for deer within range. The key question is can you shoot it
accurately with your skill set?

 

[appalichian hunter]

Rooster, I am very fortunate too hunt where I do, have the whole mountain too myself since my father passed, I have always liked the big bores even in the un-mentionables, most of the deer I have shot (there has been a bunch over the years) are under 100 yards. furtherst one was took with a .54 mountain rifle at 95 paces he went perhaps 40 yards was a double lung pass through shot, left a blood trail a blind man could of followed The .62 smacks em hard too the point of DRT. Getting too old too run wounded deer around the mountain. No qualms with the .45 crowd shoot what you feel comfortable with.

 

[hanshi]

The heaviest blood trail I've ever witnessed in the deer woods was from a 8pt whitetail I shot with a .440" ball from my go-to .45 Lancaster style rifle. The shot was NOT a through and through but it painted trees & bushes red, not to mention on the ground, and I was astonished. He fell barely out of sight in the deep woods. I've never lost a deer even with a .45; and the percentage of DRTs has been higher (I don't know why) with the .45 prb than with the .50s I've used. Not sure it makes a difference but the second most shocking kill I've made was with an old CVA .50 capgun. Blood trail couldn't compare with the above but I was amazed at what all came through the exit hole at point of impact.

 

[appalichian hunter]

Heart shot hanshi, I have seen them pump like a garden hose and watched them run and slowley drop.

 

[Dave Dworshak]

.440 rb with 70 gr 2f- works fine for me

 

[s2harry]

Hey just joined. I just got a .45 CVA Hawken 28 inch from 1975? Dont know what powder charge to use with round ball. Is there a max load and min load and what about conical bullets. they have those too? Harry

 

[dragnetbill]

Hey just joined. I just got a .45 CVA Hawken 28 inch from 1975? Dont know what powder charge to use with round ball. Is there a max load and min load and what about conical bullets. they have those too? Harry

Info from a 1976 CVA manual: 45 rifle : .440 round ball; .012-.015 thick patch; starting load of 45 gr. of 2f or 3f; max load of 75 gr. of 2f or 3f.
There is no load info for conicals or maxi's in the manual.

 

[Rock Home Isle]

The .45 calibre is great for antelope and deer sized game.

A good place to start when developing a PRB load is around 45-50 grains of powder. From my experience the .45 is one of those calibers that works well for either fffg or ffg…though most of my shooting is done with fffg. Lots of people here will disagree on using ffg in a .45 calibre, to each his own.

PRB loads for hunting usually fall into the 55 grain to 70 grain range. My personal .45 calibre muzzleloaders fall into 55 to 60 grains for hunting loads. You'll not need to use big powder charges in the .45 calibre.

Conical bullets, maxi balls etc. usually shoot best with a twist rate of 48” or faster…though I've seen enough PRB barrels shoot conicals just fine, so hit or miss. Loads for conical are going to be in the 55 grain to 75 grain range. Most of my .45’s these days are PRB guns, though I still have one rifle that is just so accurate with conicals. It likes a load of 65 grains of fffg.

Regardless of your projectile type, you'll want a load that is accurate out to at least 100yrds, even if you limit your shooting to much closer shooting situations. I've taken maybe one deer at or maybe just beyond 100yrds, while the vast majority of my deer, taken with a muzzleloader, have been between 20yrds and 60yrds.

As a good published resource…Lyman had a Blackpowder loading book, that was fairly comprehensive. If you can find a copy of that publication, it would be to your benefit.

https://www.amazon.com/Powder-Handb...1&s=books&sprefix=Lyman,stripbooks,175&sr=1-2

 

[Johnny Tremain]

Standard load for .440 round ball is 55gr 3f = 1633fps
My full load is 74.5gr 3f @ 2033fps.
Either load knocks them dead.

 

[gabedard]

I’ve used 70 grains fff as a hunting load 28” barrel.
No problem as an effective whitetail killing load.
Eighty yards has been my longest shot.

 

[pamtnman]

A .45? Why that’s a pea shooter! It’ll kill ants or butterflies. Only real manly hunters use .577 and larger for deer. I myself use a .600 NE. Limits the length of the blood trail, because I was never very good at blood trailing anyhow, tell the truth. Now I just find blood. Period. Nothing else. I feel vindicated. Happy hunting!

 

[Flintlock]

When you say deer that covers a lot of ground, huge deer of the north and west or large dog sized deer common in some areas.

 

[Smokey Plainsman]

No.

The animal deserves a quick, clean kill.

I hunt with a 2-bore bronze swivel gun that I strap to the tree with ratchet straps. My usual hunting load is a 3,500 grain lead ball with 800 grains of 1Fg black powder.

 

[skwerleater]

You will experience success with a 45 round ball. Keep your shots reasonable and it is fine. I have been using a 45 for deer for the past 8 years. My shots have been from 30 to about 70 yards and I have dropped all the deer that I shot at. I use 60 grns. Fffg. I use the same gun for squirrels with 40 grns. and it’s a tack driver.
Good luck with your efforts.

 

[frankie]

First off, I hunt with my muzzleloaders. Thinking of a .45 cal. ML for deer hunting. Is there anyone who thinks that a .440 patched RB at 1231 ft.lbs of muzzle energy isn't enough for deer size game?

Even a 240 grn. Maxi Ball is only 1485 ft.lbs. of muzzle energy at 100grns. of FF.....

I've never hunted with anything less than a .50cal. using a .490 RB at 1739 ft.lbs. of muzzle energy.

yes absolutely.

 

[Flintlock]

No.

The animal deserves a quick, clean kill.

I hunt with a 2-bore bronze swivel gun that I strap to the tree with ratchet straps. My usual hunting load is a 3,500 grain lead ball with 800 grains of 1Fg black powder.

Caliber really depends on the size of game you can shoot gophers with a .58 but smaller guns suffice but I would feel uncomfortable using a .40 or .45 on 200lb + deer but would probably hunt 80-90 pound deer with the same.

 

[Roundball2319]

It will work but don't forget to check your hunting regulations for the minimum bore size allowed for muzzleloading season.

 

[Gordoncourtney]

A .45? Why that’s a pea shooter! It’ll kill ants or butterflies. Only real manly hunters use .577 and larger for deer. I myself use a .600 NE. Limits the length of the blood trail, because I was never very good at blood trailing anyhow, tell the truth. Now I just find blood. Period. Nothing else. I feel vindicated. Happy hunting!

Oh come on where’s the skill in a 577 it’s a cannon be great on Russians But I have a few and a .6 cape rifle for Bear but non in Uk. Do whatever makes you happy , oh guess back to Zulu times lived in Africa. So I’ll go along with a .577 double anyday. Just funning with you if you can afford the lead. My favourite ,36 & 400. Best of all .5. So who’s arguing about .077”.

I wish you well. Having a hot bath. Uk

 

[Rock Home Isle]

Honestly…if you doubt the .45 calibre on deer. You should truly try it…the experience will be very enlightening.

 

[Wildrangeringreen]

No.

The animal deserves a quick, clean kill.

I hunt with a 2-bore bronze swivel gun that I strap to the tree with ratchet straps. My usual hunting load is a 3,500 grain lead ball with 800 grains of 1Fg black powder.

Obviously you're stand-hunting? you should look into buying one of those "game changing", mass-marketed, personality sponsored gun-carriages to spot-and-stalk?