Adequacy of .45 Roundball

[hanshi]

...and Skychief made sure he wouldn't get any older. That's a very fine buck, Skychief. A .45 round ball will do that all day long. It's my favorite and the perfect caliber for deer up to at least 75 yards.

 

[deermanok]

Those are some great testimonials to the 45. Makes me want to get one now.

 

[Critter Getter]

Nice mass on that deer Skychief! Greg

 

[Skychief]

Pwbsmokey, he was estimated at 5 1/2- 6 1/2 years old. I remember his weighing 220# dressed. No match for a well placed .440-.445 roundball within 75 yards or so, as Hanshi describes. Thanks Greg and all.

Best regards, Skychief.

 

[Magungo1066]

How does the .45 roundball do at 100 yards? Still effective?

 

[user 36911]

If you can put a hole through both lungs. It's up to you to know if you can do that 100% of the time. If you can't say yes to the power of the load or your shooting skills. Get closer.

Get closer anyway.

 

[GANGGREEN]

Yes. This question comes up frequently here, about the .40, the .45 and even the .36. "Primitive firearms" require the user to know his limitations and be brutally honest about them, but in general, a .50 is better than a .45 for deer and a .54 is better than a .50. Just sayin'...….(For what it's worth, my avatar photo is a .45 that I built shortly after dumping a nice, northern whitetail, so of course a well-placed .45 roundball will kill deer).

If you can put a hole through both lungs. It's up to you to know if you can do that 100% of the time. If you can't say yes to the power of the load or your shooting skills. Get closer.

Get closer anyway.

 

[hanshi]

Here’s another buck I killed with a 45 roundball. The shot was 60-70 yards as I recall. He was hit broadside through the lungs and traveled maybe 20 yards. Complete pass through.

Most memorable was how cold this day was. What do you think of the hat?

View attachment 32247

Skychief, you got a couple of grand trophies, congratulations. The .45 is plenty for the biggest whitetail any of us are apt to come across.

 

[Kansas Jake]

Many, many years ago in the middle of the 1970s I was looking to get a TC Hawken kit to build into a rifle to replace a piece of junk CVA kit I had put together. The CVA a was a 45, but I got the 50 TC just on the outside chance I might want to hunt elk some day. Now most folks consider a 45 almost a squirrel gun and a 50 barely adequate for white tail deer. My how times have changed.

 

[Bassdog1]

Been shooting the 45 TC Hawken I picked up on here and getting pretty good results at 50 yards but still get a flyer here and there but I am very confident in the guns capabilities. Plenty of time before season rolls around planning on using PRB even during regular gun season and only 32s with PRB for squirrels this year. Been a rough year so far and the coming hunting season will hopefully bring a much needed distraction from lifes stresses. Sold off all but a few of my guns and hopefully the ones I kept will stay with me for many years. The pics of deer taken with these guns inspires me to get back to the woods.

 

[Greg Blackburn]

Years ago the guy that taught me how to hunt said "the .45 caliber was a very popular muzzleloading caliber in WV."

 

[TraderVic]

Interesting discussion for sure. I've been thinking about the Kibler SMR in 45 cal, but am wrestling with the "is the 45 enough gun" for whitetail or should it be relegated to targets, etc.
Then, I think about The Jordan Buck (aka The Danbury Buck) which held the world record for a whitetail for quite some time.
Anyway, in 1914 Jim Jordan was hunting along the Yellow River, south of Danbury, WI. Jim was carrying a Model 92 Winchester 25/20 and killed the buck with this. My point being, a 45 cal prb must have more ft lbs of energy than a 25 cal flat point cartridge of that time.