.45 PRB Load?

[Razor62]

I built my hunting rifle last winter and I worked up a load which shoots a nice, tight group at 50 yards which is the range that I zero all of my deer guns at for New England brush hunting.
My hunting buddy has suggested that this choice of caliber is not adequate to cleanly and consistently harvest a deer. As I am new to PRBs I now find myself doubting the gun as well and so I thought I'd pose the question to the forum members as your combined experience is worth far more than my friend's or my speculation.
Here's what I'm shooting:

.45cal percussion 28" long barrel with a 1:44" rate of twist which seems to be closer to .44 cal upon closer inspection. It measures .449" at the grooves and a standard .45 cal ball will not load without becoming severely deformed. I have found that a .440 cal ball with a lubed .005" patch loads easily and sitting atop 70 grains of RS Pyrodex (Sorry to the purists but I've got about 4 lbs laying around the shop.) will consistently hit a 3" circle at 50 yards offhand. (Probably much better from a rest.)
The balls weigh in at 129 grains and I do not know the muzzle velocity of this load.
Of course I will try to keep my shots within the 50 yard window and will pass on marginal shot opportunities.

So what do you think? Is this an adequate load to harvest a whitetail?

 

[roundball]

I built my hunting rifle last winter and I worked up a load which shoots a nice, tight group at 50 yards which is the range that I zero all of my deer guns at for New England brush hunting.
My hunting buddy has suggested that this choice of caliber is not adequate to cleanly and consistently harvest a deer. As I am new to PRBs I now find myself doubting the gun as well and so I thought I'd pose the question to the forum members as your combined experience is worth far more than my friend's or my speculation.
Here's what I'm shooting:

.45cal percussion 28" long barrel with a 1:44" rate of twist which seems to be closer to .44 cal upon closer inspection. It measures .449" at the grooves and a standard .45 cal ball will not load without becoming severely deformed. I have found that a .440 cal ball with a lubed .005" patch loads easily and sitting atop 70 grains of RS Pyrodex (Sorry to the purists but I've got about 4 lbs laying around the shop.) will consistently hit a 3" circle at 50 yards offhand. (Probably much better from a rest.)
The balls weigh in at 129 grains and I do not know the muzzle velocity of this load.
Of course I will try to keep my shots within the 50 yard window and will pass on marginal shot opportunities.

So what do you think? Is this an adequate load to harvest a whitetail?

Yes...the .440" ball in a .45cal barrel is pretty much a normal industry standard...(.010" under bore size)...I use .440's in mine as well.
I'm shocked that you get such excellent accuracy using such a thin .005" patch when an .018" or at least a .015" is normally used for a snug fit...and more importantly to survive the fire.

I've killed a number of deer with my .45cal in thick woods where the typicsl shot is 35-50 yards, one being at 60yds...never lost one yet...I go low for the heart tight behind the elbow so they don't sprint more than 25-35yds...worst case a tad higher for a double lung shot.

70grns should get it done in those ranges for sure...remember the little ball won't punch through big bones as easy as a larger / heavier ball so pick your shots with that accuracy you've got.

 

[buttonbuck]

If you cast there are lyman molds on ebay that cast a .437 ball, but it sounds like you are doing well how do your patches look? do they burn through like roundball said "survive the fire".

 

[Razor62]

Thanks Rounball for tellin' me what I was hoping to hear.

What kind of bloodtrails can I expect with this load?

I bought two thicknesses of patch .005" & .010" . I tried the thinner ones first and decided that there was no need to try the thicker ones but I was only able to recover one of them after firing and it had been burned completely through with a ragged hole where the ball was resting. Perhaps I'll find even better performance with the .010" patches???

 

[roundball]

"...but I was only able to recover one of them after firing and it had been burned completely through..."

That's why I was shocked at the accuracy you mentioned because when patches fail there is usually an adverse affect on accuracy...your 3" offhand group at 50yds is outstanding under normal circumstances, and more so considering the patch failures.

"...Perhaps I'll find even better performance with the .010" patches???

Normally...normally...tighter patch/ball combos do produce tighter groups.
As I mentioned earlier, while you'd probably have to use a short starter (as I do) .018" or at least .015" patches is what I assume you should be using with that .440" in a .45cal.

BUT...I'm not an authority on the matter...only speaking from my experiences with T/C 28"x1:48" shallow groove, and 32"x1:66" deep groove barrels...your barrel may be very different.

Blood Trails:
Personal experience from using my .45 with 90grns Goex 3F is that I always had them...but they always fell in sight / earshot of me so blood trailing was not a major issue.
I don't know if you can count on getting complete passthroughs with the 70grn powder charge...I always used more than that because I was using relatively short 28" or 32" barrels, and they were Flintlocks which loses some pressure out of the vent.

If your POI is low into / through the heart you should see him fall in sight of you, or at least hear him crash out of sight just past some trees, etc.
If not, and an internal organ slides over the entry hole, you may not have any blood trail to speak off, or you may not see any blood at all...or it might start showing many, many body lengths away from where you shot it, etc...hard to say with a single entry point.
A complete pass through creating entry & exit holes significantly increases the chance for a blood trail of course.

 

[longcruise]

I think Hornady has a .433 ball too.

I have pistol labeled .45 but it needs a .433 ball and a thin patch to get it down.

Don't hunt big game with a .45, but roundball has given you good first hand advice.

 

[Razor62]

Thanks for all of the help folks. Any more comments, stories of .45cal kills etc -etc are more than encouraged...

 

[Britsmoothy]

If you wish to stick to the thin patch, consider the thicker patch going down first so it is between the powder and ball to act as a fire wall.

May shoot 2" groups then :thumbsup:

Brits.

 

[410-er]

If you do your job and place the ball,the ball will do its job.Have 2-45's that like 50 grs and one that likes 70grs.They kill deer! :thumbsup:

 

[Skychief]

Razor, I killed two does last year and a buck this year with 45 prb's. All were one shot affairs and they all died quickly leaving ample sign to follow. Oh, my load is 60 grains of 3f and a .445 ball.

Go kill your deer! :thumbsup:

Skychief.

 

[Razor62]

Thanks everyone. Glad to see that I've got a few experienced hunters who can confirm what I suspected was the case...A .45cal. rifle is more than ample for the task of taking a whitetail.

I feel so redeemed.

 

[Herb]

Lyman's "Black Powder Handbook and Loading Manual", volume II, shows your load getting 1776 fps muzzle velocity. That is certainly adequate for your deer load.