54 or 62

[Billnpatti]

Great story. I could almost smell the pine and other trees and hear the sounds of your woods. Really good telling of a sweet hunt. Loved the picture. Great looking hunting woods. Looks a lot like the woods I used to hunt in Indiana before moving to Texas. :thumbsup: All is good......as far as it went but.......what about some pictures of that rifle and the two deer. :idunno: Didn't you take any of them?
Bill

 

[jdkerstetter]

Maybe I missed it but you only reference barrel styles and not what style of rifle you are having built. The overall architecture of the style of rifle you choose is going to play a part in how much felt recoil it can absorb...not transfer to you.

For example a Beck or an early Eastern PA rifle with a straight comb and little drop is going to be more comfortable to shoot than a Lehigh or Bucks county gun.

Anyway, mule deer and antelope are not difficult to kill but as you indicated in your OP the ranges can be longer than that normally encountered in the Eastern woodlands.

To shoot a .62 for the same trajectory as a .54 to 100 yards you will have to stoke it up more. That and the additional weight of the ball results in more recoil.

The .54 (or .58 for that matter) will be more versitile. Likely I were building a dedicated Western plains gun I would opt for a .52 or .54 caliber. I just need an excuse to build a .52 :wink:

Regardless it's going to take practice to consistently shoot for vitals through 100 yards, especially with traditional sights. There's no magic bullet in ML.

Good luck with your choice....and Enjoy the journey, J.D.

 

[roundball]

All is good......as far as it went but.......what about some pictures of that rifle and the two deer. :idunno: Didn't you take any of them?
Bill

They're posted further back up in the thread when talking about .58cals...later somebody asked about the story

 

[Billnpatti]

Oops :redface: Boy, is my face red!!

I went back and looked at them. Sa-weet looking rifle. Both good looking deer appear to be a good bit larger than the deer that we have here in Texas. Both also appear to have freshly broken tines. I wonder if they had been fighting with each other shortly before you put an end to their rivalry?

 

[smokepole tc]

Thanks guys for all your help chse 54 cal. 42"rice c barrel chambers virginia lock wooden patchbox took her home yesterday Thanks again hope to see you at dixons saturday anyone going have a safe trip Thanks Ken

 

[roundball]

chse 54 cal. 42"rice c barrel

A new toy is a good thing. I used the Rice 42" B-weight in a .54cal Early Virginia 'smoothrifle'...fast becoming an all around favorite. Good luck with yours

 

[Blackbruin]

You'll love your rice barrel, couldn't have gone wrong with anything from him.