54 Cal ?

[Lonegun1894]

Hey, quit using logic here. Of course you can kill something deader with a .54 than when you use just a .50. Geez, some people just don't understand.


I know, I know, let me do it for you and save you some trouble. :slap: :stir:

 

[nkbj]

Gentlemen: I live in Easton, PA and currently own a Left Handed 50cal Flintlock Lyman Deerstalker. I've harvested a few deer with this gun and love it, but was thinking of getting a 54cal. All of my shots are under 75yds. Should I get another Deerstalker with a 1-48" twist and shoot connicals or should I go with a PRB and get the Lyman Great Plains or Great Plains hunter?

Thanks...Ed

With the lefthanded Deerstalker I'd get aholt of Hoyt and have a long octagonal to round .55 smooth barrel made.

 

[stinkyfeet]

Ahhhh yes my friend but its the rate at which it gets dead. With the 54 caliber they die from freight even before they get hit. Heck I was standing outside my truck loading my gun a small 7 point walked right up got in the back of my truck and died, the gun wasn't even loaded yet now that's the deadly power of a 54 caliber. :blah: :rotf: :bull:

 

[hanshi]

Doesn't even take that. When I spot a deer in the hunting woods I just get its attention, raise my .45 and tap it with my finger. Ever seen a deer on two back legs with the two front raised high over its head? They even drop to their knees and go face down. Normally I just cuff 'em and give 'em a hard time before letting them go. Actually, I'm not sure if it's the mighty .45 rifle or my unbelievable shooting that they fear. And by the way, there are three stages of dead same as there are three stages of pregnant. :shocked2: :hmm:

 

[stinkyfeet]

HA HA good one. I love my 45's to me its the perfect all around caliber. But you the man I have never had a deer throw up its hooves and surrender. Your the man :bow:

 

[M. De Land]

Actually I think it's the BS that's getting them long before they see the rifle or hunter! Do you wear hip waders when deer hunting? :rotf: Mike D.

 

[Semisane]

Didn't know there were three stages of dead. Always thought there were two - dead, and mostly dead.

If you've ever had a mostly dead gator in the bottom of your boat, or have held a mostly dead turkey up by its legs for a picture you would know the difference.

 

[kaintuck]

I have to put salt on my 54cal bullets BEFORE they are even loaded, I kill so fast and so far....the meat ruins if'in I don't~ :stir:

 

[Ole Frog]

I have to put salt on my 54cal bullets BEFORE they are even loaded, I kill so fast and so far....the meat ruins if'in I don't~ :stir:

Ding Ding Ding
We have a winner!
:rotf:

 

[stinkyfeet]

Your doing it wrong most salt rock pellets for the water softner system will fit right down a 54 cal barrel, I just shoot them with the salt pellet. Ok I just made that up but it might fit who knows.

 

[50flinter]

I got my first flintlock deer in Williams Township. I'm from Easton,PA. I used a .50 caliber T/C Hawken with a maxi ball; it was the last year to use conicals before the state went to roundball only. After 20 deer, I decided to try a .54 roundball. I just had a .54 barrel made for my Hawken and in the process of finding the right load. In my experience, the .50 roundball is OK, I would like to hit the deer a little harder to make tracking easier. I'll know if there is a difference after I hunt deer with this new barrel.

 

[mooman76]

Ahhhh yes my friend but its the rate at which it gets dead. With the 54 caliber they die from freight even before they get hit. Heck I was standing outside my truck loading my gun a small 7 point walked right up got in the back of my truck and died, the gun wasn't even loaded yet now that's the deadly power of a 54 caliber. :blah: :rotf: :bull:

If that's the way it works I'll just use my 58 and won't even have to leave my house. I'll just find him hanging from a tree out back! :rotf: :slap:

 

[nkbj]

A .54 would be kinda over gunning around here.


This one grazed a while by the back porch today and then went over by the shooting bench.

 

[PA16th]

Lyman Great Plains Rifles weigh more then a deer stalker. You might want to consider that if you do a lot of walking.

 

[Rifleman1776]

In my experience, the .50 roundball is OK, I would like to hit the deer a little harder to make tracking easier.

Tracking? If you are placing your shot properly there will be no tracking.
I use a .45 cal. round ball, my deer drop where they stand or take no more than two 'reaction leaps' and drop.
Bigger calibers will not improve shot placement.

 

[Semisane]

Tracking? If you are placing your shot properly there will be no tracking.
I use a .45 cal. round ball, my deer drop where they stand or take no more than two 'reaction leaps' and drop. Bigger calibers will not improve shot placement.

You either know something very secret about shot placement, or are very lucky. Are you restricting yourself to high neck shots? That's the only shot I know of that will drop a deer like that every time.

With round balls I almost always take heart/lung shots. Yes, I've had them drop on occasion. But even with .54 or .58 balls I've had deer with pass through shots in the heart/lung area travel 50 yards through some very nasty brush.

 

[2172]

ED I have both Lyman in left hand the GReAT plains weighs too much for me. hank

 

[stinkyfeet]

I will say in my overall hunting experience I have had half the animals hit through the heart or lungs drop in their tracks upon impact. Now keep in mind I grew up hunting Michigan in the shotgun zone and a 54 cal ball/maxi or a 1 oz 12 ga slug was the ammo of choice. The other half the deer have ran off anywhere from 5 up to around 100 yards. The last deer I shot was at 20 yards and I hit him through the front shoulder destroying the lungs he still went 100 yards (towards the truck), Rifleman is correct there no substitute for proper shot placement. But in my experience anything short of a spine hit is no guarantee the deer will drop in the tracks.

 

[nkbj]

Shooting deer is like anything else. Sometimes they flop dead and sometimes they don't. There are varying degrees of don't.

 

[Rifleman1776]

I have no secret. I place my shots just behind shoulder about 3/4 way down from spine. My wife uses same hold, same results. Both of us use .45 cal. prb. Compared to others, I am only a fair to middlin' shot. When hunting I do not shoot unless I am sure of my hold (placement). I have let trophies walk away because I was not sure. Well.... :redface: ....not always. I let one walk because he was standing next to my truck and I didn't want to kill my truck. :grin: