I shoot 70 grains of 3Fg, launching a .530 round ball, patched with pillow ticking from a 38", swamped, Colerain barrel. When hunting I use a patch that is lubed on the side that touches the interior walls of the barrel.
I use the same load whether targets or hunting. Adding 10 (or even more) grains of powder will change my point of impact, and while at say 30 yards the change may be minimal, at 100 yards it would be significant if I went from say 70 to 90 or 100 grains. So my practicing with a "target load" would really not be training for hunting, if I upped the load when hunting.
At closer range of say 40 yards or less, using a larger powder charge will only give me a tiny change in POI, but it doesn't enhance harvesting the deer, since at that close range my standard load has much more than the necessary energy to harvest a deer. Once that bullet exits the animal, if it goes 5 yards or 150 yards beyond before falling to the earth, it's irrelevant, the damage to the animal is done.
My rifle is sighted in to 100 yards, and I have also noted the POI at various ranges in between. I have also harvested deer at the 100 yard mark, and the ball went through the deer, broadside at that range, so no reason to not trust it.
I looked at it this way when I first started shooting with this rifle. Would I trust a rifle using the .45-70 cartridge having 70 grains of black powder and a 450 grain lead bullet to take a deer at 100 yards or less? [All other factors being equal]. My answer was yes. So why would I not trust the larger diameter, 225 grain .530 round ball launched with 70 grains of powder, out to the same range? While it's half the weight of the bullet in the modern cartridge, it will also be moving at a higher velocity, and should be very close to balancing out for the lesser mass, even with its poorer ballistic characteristics. This was my theory.
So far it has proved correct, and since the vast majority of my shots have been well under 100 yards, there is no cause for concern at all.
There is also the school of thought that one should have a powder measure that is 1/2 that of the hunting load, and should use a single measure of powder for targets (or small game) while using two measures of powder when hunting deer. So in my case I should have a 35 grain measure and simply dump two loads of powder when deer hunting. While that is frugal on powder, I don't see it as an advantage when target shooting. I was taught that one trains as one would apply the rifle in a real scenario. It's not just about punching a nice hole in the paper where you aimed, but also about being accustomed to the recoil that will be felt. I also have observed that my load has no trouble harvesting the deer nor do I have a huge bruise on my shoulder when leaving the range. YET there are fellows at that black powder target range who insist on huge powder loads and heavy conical bullets while hunting in the same sort of terrain and the same sized animals which I hunt. These fellows leave the range, often not being able to raise one arm over their head due to the effect of recoil on their shoulder. I don't see what advantage they gain.
LD
