.45 vs .50?

[hanshi]

Excellent descriptions, Dan, of actual deer taken with various calibers and loads. All my black powder deer were taken with .45, .50, .54 and .62. In every case their post shot reactions were very similar regardless of which gun/caliber was used. I've had deer drop DRT in their footie prints with all four calibers. When they ran they ran about the same distance regardless whether .45 or .50. It's also true that in the five seconds (or more) a deer might live after the shot, he can easily make 100 yards or better. There seems to be (to me) no rhyme or reason for a deer's post shot reaction even with identical hits. No deer I've killed with prb in any of the four calibers required a second shot.

 

[Johnny Too-Tall]

I have only shot a buck twice one time and I spined him on the first round and he was doing the arrrrrrrrhhhhhhrrrhhhhh noise and was parylized so I reloaded fast and ended it. Dead is dead no matter what you shoot it with. some say a 54 is over kill, some say a 45 is under kill some say a 50 is perfect. I say theres no such thing as overkill or underkill dead is dead. I shoot targets with a 40 and 45 cal, squirrels with the 40, and deer with the 54 cal just because it makes a big hole and big holes lead to more blood which equals dead deer, even on a crappy hit.All will kill but I like dead

 

[ebiggs1]

I am sorry; I may not be making myself clear.
The only suggestion I am making is......

The only thing it proves is we don't know for sure.

Using the analogy of the pyramids, just because we don't know exactly how they were built does not compel us to conclude Aliens did it. Because you don't know EXACTLY how the fore-fathers did something doesn't prove they were not capable of doing it. It simply means we don't know how.

Mr.Phariss is, on the other hand, making statements. :hmm:

 

[ebiggs1]

Seen all those pictures before Mr. Phariss. I am still waiting for the, my grandpa used to shoot deer with a 22 and killed every one, statement. It is also trait and worn out.
The fact that a certain method can kill an animal does not indicate in any way that is should be used by the general hunting population.
In fact most states have minim caliber restrictions and why is that? Because, apparently unlike you they realize some if not most hunters would wind up wounding more deer than they took. Plus unnecessary suffering of the animal.
I still firmly state we are supposed to be Hunters not killers. A definition that seems to get lost from time to time.

 

[William O.]

I have two barrels for my Kentucky rifle, a .45 and a .50. Can anyone think of a circumstance in which I might want to use the .45 instead of the .50?

Circumstances in which you may want to use your .45 instead of your .50;

-your .45 is more accurate than your .50
-most clear shooting lanes/spaces/areas are 80 yards or less
-your .45 is lighter than your .50 by a noticable amount
-the area in which you hunt is densly wooded and your .45 has a shorter barrel
-your .45 is more reliable than your 50 caliber
-you are out of .50 RB
-your .45 prefers 3f while your .50 prefers 2f and your are out of 2f
-vice versa

I will give you an example of when weight influenced my decision of carry my .54 instead of my 50 caliber. Both rifles where Lyman GPR's and I had practiced with both enough to know that I could put a shot in the vital zone of a deer or hog using either one inside of 80 yards (my self imposed limit). All other things being equal I chose the .54 because the barrel is lighter and I would be taking an offhand shot after carrying it while walking in to the area I would be hunting. If I had been driven to a hunting blind were I could take a supported shot then I think the 50 GPR would have gotten the nod. Perhaps this will help you decide what is best for yourself and I wish you the best of luck.

 

[M. De Land]

I've not killed a single deer with a muzzle loader personally so am always glad to hear of the experience of those who have.
Killed lot's of deer but most of them have been on Kodiak Island and my front stuffers never seemed the proper tool while encountering Brown bears most every day.
Actually I am even a little skeptical about using a Rolling Block hunter I'm in the process of putting together in 45-70 or 45-90 using the round nose Government bullet and a duplex load of smokeless and black.
I have this tendency to find a nice buck about evening and have to pack it back through the alder brush in the dark to the cannery and I'm more nervous than a cat that jumped over a fence into a dog pound! If I still lived on the farm in Michigan I would use nothing but a muzzle loader. MD

 

[Dphar]

I have to admit that I fail to take as many photos as I should usually its an after thought.
I shot 4 deer last year and only took a photo of the MD doe.
I will see if I can come up with some photos you have not seen.
This is Roy, me and John outfitted to hunt people, really.... Real hand grenades and everything...

Just in from a hunt too, all we found was some too green Bananas. Some other guys found some Tiger tracks though.
Did you know banana trees can be cut down with a pocket knife? That the sap is really syrupy and gums up the knife?
Did you know that real grenades don't work as well as Hollywood grenades?
Did you know that an M-16 will drop a Sambar with a spine shot? Froh shot one one day.

South Vietnamese had a party off it.
Some other guys shot a great big snake 15-16 ft long one day but I did not have my camera... Sorry. Had a neat row of bullet holes in it too.

Here I am ready for inspection, really.
Note my highly pressed trousers and how clean I am. But the gun worked just fine... I only had one uniform at this time so it only got washed when they brought me a clean one to wear.

Sorry no photos of dead people. Not cool.
I can tell you some interesting stuff though.
Did you know that when you roll a man over shot in the head with 7.62 ball that his head kinda crunches as the broken bones of the skull rub together? I suppose a broken Ostrich egg in a bag would sound similar. I still have his ink pen and knife if you want to see a photo of those.

No matter what you see in TV or the WWW a 50 BMG will NOT blow people in two. Even with two hits in the waist area (auto weapons often make multiple holes). He did not run off to die a lingering death though. Don't know who shot him though I was just following the drag marks that lead to his body.

How about something gross.
Here is the infection I found in a WT Buck's chest I shot last year. Cool huh? Big chunk of tissue and like congealed puss. Warden gave me a new deer tag... The Biologist looked at it as said "eeuuu!"

Here is a fish I caught once, this was before I took up people hunting.

No I didn't have to shoot it.

I did shoot this though.

This one went in B&C. You remember that 44-90 I mentioned? This is it.

Hope some of this is stuff you did not already know about or had not seen.
Would not want you to be bored.
:rotf: :rotf:

Dan

 

[410-er]

What we do know is nothing lives with a hole in the heart or lungs!How you put it there or size of hole doesn't matter.
It just gets dead!

 

[hanshi]

Your post made me realize that my statement about deer dropping with one shot could possibly be construed as misleading. While yes, every deer I've ever shot with a prb did drop after the first shot, there have been around four that were still breathing when I walked up to them. Since I normally carry some sort of side arm I usually put a coup de grace shot at the base of the skull. On two of those occasions I had only my long gun and used that. :v

 

[Geraldo]

It is also trait and worn out.

Trait: a distinguishing quality (as of personal character)

Trite: hackneyed or boring from much use : not fresh or original

To say that something is trite and worn out is redundant.

That ends the Sunday morning English lesson. :grin:

To the original question: .45 or .50? Pepsi or Coke? Ford or Chevy (or God forbid, Dodge)? Does one shoot better than the other? If so, that would be my pick.

 

[ebiggs1]

Sorry for the mis-spelling. I need to replace this keyboard because it does't know how to spell words very well. :hmm:

To say that something is trite and worn out is redundant.

Never-the-less, it was! I could have added "very" in front of it, too.

 

[ebiggs1]

Mr. Phariss thanx for your service to the country. You are a true patriot. :hatsoff:

The rest we need to just let go as a disagreement of methods. Neither is going to change the other's mind as to what is acceptable hunting conduct.

 

[Dphar]

Gentlemen. I would like to apologize to anyone that may have been offended by my previous post and especially to those who may have had things come up better kept in a dusty corner...


Dan

 

[Woodbutcher]

Mr.Phariss, Thank you! And your thoughts are always greatly appreciated, and carefully considered. Woodbutcher

 

[CrackStock]

Unless you have a particularly accurate rifle in .45 which you intend to use at the range, I am not a .45 fan. At least not for muzzleloaders. They seem like a bad compromise round. Not particularly impressive for deer and too large for small game. I have a .45 barrel collecting dust in a closet. I keep it simply because it was our first ML gun and has nostalgic value. That barrel was replaced with a .50 many years ago.

CS

 

[Johnny Too-Tall]

Well I appreciate it not very often people tell ya your on to something made my day..