45 OR 50 CAL. FOR WHITETAIL DEER.

[Jack Ryan]

Same powder works in both 50 and 45
patches will fit both calibers.
Caps are the same for both too.
lube is the same for both also.
Not sure how a ball goes stale, how do I tell?

Read the forum a little bit, you'll find several threads about lead oxidation.

 

[Nodrama43]

45 works just fine.

 

[Tom Compton]

Wish I’d Known about stale caps and balls when I started this game in ‘73. Nope this thread is the first. Best kept secret in MLing. Guess I’ll have to return some state championship trophies. National Territorials too.

 

[shane a gress]

I never seen a deer hit with a 45 round ball that I would trade places with.

 

[Carbon 6]

Read the forum a little bit, you'll find several threads about lead oxidation.

If your balls turn white from oxidation they have been improperly stored, exposed to something acidic. It should be a red flag.
I've only experienced white oxidation once in my life. Still have balls I molded up 30 years ago that are just fine. I have some swaged balls I bought years ago too that are ok.
Any product can "go bad" if mishandled.

 

[Gene L]

Read the forum a little bit, you'll find several threads about lead oxidation.

I don't understand your posts, please explain. Lead oxidation? How does that matter? Lead is hundreds of thousands of years old and caps (No. 11) are the same. Flint is miooions of years old. I have a .50 and recommend it, but not over a .45 for small deer.

 

[Stumpkiller]

The amount of oxidation you might pick up in a box that sits around 30 years on a shelf doesn't hurt a thing. In fact, I just looked at a box I have had for a caliber I no longer shoot that is that old and they are a little dull, but hardly "white oxidized".

 

[Bad Karma]

I spent the day Monday shooting oxidized bullets out of a .45 Cherokee... it was a blast and the rifle is entirely adequate for our western Colorado muleys.

Judging by the responses and the responses to the responses, I’d have thought it was
February, maybe even March already...

 

[smoothshooter]

What needs to be fresher ?????

Read the forum a little bit, you'll find several threads about lead oxidation.

Put a little graphite or ight oil on the balls or bullets. No oxidation will occur.
Takes decades for caps to deteriorate, if not longer.
Besides, caps are cheap if you only use the gun to hunt.
The balls can be melted and re-cast.

 

[Nessmuck56]

.45 cal....dropped him like a bad transmission...

 

[fleener]

Cut the poor guy some slack. Just because you smell a little blood in the water does not mean you need to jump for the throat.

I have a couple of boxes of balls that have been properly stored, just like the rest of them that are very oxidized. Not sure why, but they are.


Fleener

 

[Loyalist Dave]

What you need is a projectile that is accurate out to the distance where you wish to hit, AND which will do sufficient damage to humanely harvest a deer. That is all.

To illustrate my point...
Launch a 1.35 caliber, 2-bore (8 ounce/3543 grain) projectile at a deer at 8 ft per second (five miles an hour) and you probably won't do more than bruise the deer even when you're standing 5 feet from it. Launch a 128 grain .440 round ball at the same speed and distance and you may or may not annoy the deer, but..... launch that .440 patched round ball at 1100 fps at a deer at 50 yards, and you will likely blow the projectile right through the deer when the deer is standing broadside to you. Launch the same patched .440 round ball at 1700 fps and you will likely blow right through the broadside deer at 100 yards...and I haven't even mentioned soft lead vs. alloy.....

We all use..., different powder charges of different brands of powder(s),
different barrel lengths,
practice to hit at different distances,
actually shoot at the animals at different distances which are sometimes less than equal to the max distance at which we practice,
while using different sized lead or lead alloy projectiles, some are spheres, some are what we call conical shaped (which means they aren't even the same "bullets").

Thus it's pretty darn hard to say...X sized ball is better than Y sized ball when it comes to harvesting deer...or anything else.

LD

 

[sb 54 cal.]

cast your own round Ball they are always fresh

 

[Rockvillerich]

All we flintlock hunters need is powder, lead, and flint to shoot. I own .40 .54 .58, rifles, and smooth bores of .62 .69 and .75 cal. My first choice for white tail is still a hot loaded .40. If I had to kill anything dangerous, or at distance I'd be using the .58 with a bullet. Hard to argue with a 430 grain projectile.

 

[Dr5x]

I NEVER THOUGHT .45, ,50 OR ,54 WHERE INTRINSICALLY ( WOW, CHECK SPELLING) MORE OR LESS ACCURATE THAN EACH OTHER.
IT NEVER CROSSED MY MIND WHILE COACHING AT THE RANGE TO CONSIDER THE CALIBER WHEN ADJUSTING A RIFLE TO BE IN ITSELF AS ACCURATE AS COULD BE SHOOTING BENCH REST.
YOU JUST HAVE MAKE SOMEWHAT DIFFERENT ADJUSTMENTS FOR EACH CALIBER BECAUSE YOU ARE CHANGING THE WEIGHT OF THE BALL.
ONCE YOU GET A GOOD FITTING BALL/PATCH COMBINATION, YOUR NEXT MOVE IS TO RESTRICT THE DEGREE OF SLICKNESS PROVIDED BY THE METHOD OD LUBRICATION YOU HAVE ELECED TO USE.. I WAS QUITE SURPRISED TO FIND THAT LESS SLICK CAUSED, IN MY CASES,GREATER ACCURACY.

DUTCH SCHOULTZ

Neither one will have an accuracy advantage.

http://www.ctmuzzleloaders.com/ctml_experiments/rbballistics/web_apps/rb_ballistics.html

If you want to compare energy down range, use the above online calculator.

Fleener

 

[TerryK]

50 seems easier to get supplies because it is the most common. It carries momentum better that the 45, and adds a bit of range to the same shot. I am a 54 guy myself because I like the momentum.

 

[Col. Batguano]

The more oomf at the terminal end, the greater the effect of a marginal hit, or a particularly resistant target. So, effectively, the bigger your gun, the bigger your target area for a lethal hit.

Carrying this to the extreme, Karamojo Bell once killed an elephant with a .22 l.r. but it took absolutely perfect shot placement, and the cooperation of the elephant to make it work.

 

[fleener]

Yes, I am a .54 cal lover myself. Dont own a .50, or .45 round ball gun.

Fleener

 

[RHensley]

I've taken more deer with the .45 than any other caliber; one shot each. If you can't shoot well with a .45, a .50 won't help a bit.

The secret if there is one is to practice and be accurate with which ever you choose. as far as distance goes know your limitations. In my younger days I have taken deer with the 54 at 200 yards these days I try not to shoot past 70-80 yards. I also switched from 54 to 45. At my ability the 45 does the trick.

 

[SDSmlf]

I have multiple options with 45, 50, 54, 58 and 62 caliber roundball guns. All work on whitetails.

Typically make my choice on what I carry based on hunting conditions. Have a 45 Cherokee, that is short and light, and can carry all day. Have successfully hunted with it a number of times, although early on I had a bad 45 RB performance experience, but we will just call that ‘shot placement’. Have a very thick spot (an overgrown clear cut) in the mountains and I only carry short barreled 58s when hunting there. Shoulder shots only for DRT, for if a deer takes only a few steps in the wrong direction recovery could be an all day project.

Distance wise, limit myself to 100 yards. All the hunting loads in my roundball guns are sighted for 100 yards (‘zeroed’ at maybe 75 to 90). All are over a foot low at 150 and three to five feet low at 200 yards...

What can you shoot well in your hunting conditions? Off hand, moving target that may not lineup broadside, wind, unknown distancees, trees/branches and such in the way, etc. Many ‘experts’ say shot placement. Not always easy to make happen.

45 or 50 will work. Picking one, I would advise going to the larrger caliber. As the saying goes, plan for the worst possible conditions, hope for the best.