Effective Deer Loads for .45 and .50?

[Marc Adamchek]

I have been a bird hunter forever, but have yet to hunt anything else (a san adult, that is. Forget childhood rat huntsat the dump!). Well, I want this year to be thefirst I hunt deer, and I'm not going into the woods without my .45 flinter or my percussion .50 . The time to work up loads is now. I'm hoping to save a little time by asking you guys how much of a charge for either calibre have you found to do the job cleanly? I'll be in the New England woods, so shots shouldn't be that far, I'd imagine. Thanks for the help

 

[Stumpkiller]

Anything that ends up outside on the backside is a good load. ::

I use 84 gr FFg and a 0.018" patch with a .490" ball in my .50 with very satisfactory results. I've only ever recovered one ball and that was a frontal diagonal that lodged under the skin on the offside hip after 32" of penetration (40 yard shot).

 

[roundball]

I have been a bird hunter forever, but have yet to hunt anything else (a san adult, that is. Forget childhood rat huntsat the dump!). Well, I want this year to be thefirst I hunt deer, and I'm not going into the woods without my .45 flinter or my percussion .50 . The time to work up loads is now. I'm hoping to save a little time by asking you guys how much of a charge for either calibre have you found to do the job cleanly? I'll be in the New England woods, so shots shouldn't be that far, I'd imagine. Thanks for the help

In my TC Hawkens with 28" and 32" barrels I've used the following deer loads for a number of years with excellent success out of those percussion and flintlock rifles:

90grns Goex 3F
Oxyoke wonderwad
.018" TC lubed pillow ticking
Hornady .440 or .490 balls

Good luck with your season!
:front:

 

[Dale D]

Took my deer in MA with a T/C Renegade .50 using 90 grns FFg, .490 round ball and .010 patch. Shot him at around 40 yrds through the lungs and the ball exited the other side. Deer ran about 30 yrds uphill towards me then ran back down to about where he was standing to begin with and dropped. This year I'm taking my .45 Southern Mtn. flinter with 70 grns FFFg, .440 round ball and .010 patch. DALE :front:

 

[peeweet]

I use 90grs of pyrodex RS select(goex is harder to find than hens teeth in these parts)and a 495 RB with a .015 patch and a wonder wad between them.
:results:

 

[rudy parnell]

I have taken many deer in woods,swamps,and mountains in the Carolina. I have hunted in the rain and cold for days in trees and ground blinds or just slippy footin along. Use your caplock. Load it with 90gr. of Pyrodex and a Thompson Center Maxi-Ball [not the maxi-hunter]. Make you up some quick loads. Don't have to have the store bought ..you can put your powder in a film canister and put your projectile in plastic wrap. Go get um fellar and don't be shy about pouring in another shot on top of a shot animal. It's good business. Be extra careful with your shot angle, at the moment of truth and always wear a FALL RESTRAINT. I have alot of respect for you Mr. Adamcheck....tell us how you done! adios!

 

[Runner]

If you are going to shoot conicals, much depends on the range you are looking for. The 385 Hornady GP is a very good deer bullet over 100 grains of powder in the fifty. Hit by a truck is the normal reaction to a good shot with one. The Lee Target Mini is a very good short range conical that also produces the hit by a truck results. The REAL is a dependable exiting bullet that does pretty good. They all produce lots of recoil once you get into the heavier loads. I shoot a 495 roundball over 70 grains of 3f these days. It does just fine inside the range I limit myself to. A deer at 100 yards is safe unless I have a good rest handy.

 

[rudy parnell]

Congradulations on your success. I'm sure that those are all killing combinations that you have recommended. My experience with the Hornady Great Plains projectile is that it is rarely as accurate as the softer lead and simply does not open up on soft-skinned game animals..ie. Whitetail. I would concur with you that it would be an excellent choice for Elk or Bear and you can use the extra powder to a point.. Finally, I have never witnessed knock down power out of a muzzleloader,[ except maybe to the operator]. Even spine hit animals donot exhibt sever knock down, not to say that the wound is not a killing shot. Knock down does occur with the centerfire class of shoulder fired guns and the big bore black powder shotgun at close range when properly loaded. My experience is that an arrow shot from a BOW is more devastating than black powder rifles commonly used for Whitetail. Finally, pouring on the powder is a mistake in the launch of the black powder projectile as well. Mostly, 70grains of all the substitutes and the real thing,"Blackpowder", will get her done! adios

 

[bpollock_sr]

Iuse 80 grns of 3f in my 50 and 70 grns of 3f in my 45 flinter with good results . Ranges where I hunt rarely exceed 75 yds and most shots are within 50 yds so heavy charges ure unnessary.I get complete pass thru with both.

 

[SimonKenton]

Were you the hunter mentioned in an article in NY Conservationist a few years ago? I often refer to that article when some "expert" (usually some techno-pimp promoting inlines) opines that round balls out of .45 and .50 caliber guns won't kill deer.

-Ray :RO:

 

[fatboy]

Outa my TC Hawken I have used 80gr 3/f an 490 ball and 80gr 3/f and buffalo ballet's 240gr I think ,to take deer both work well. I havnt had a chnce to shoot at at a deer yet with my .54 york rifle

 

[revehuntsman]

I've taken deer (South Texas) with both a T/C Hawken .45 percussion, 90 gr fff pushing a MaxiBall; and my DGW Tennessee Mountain Rifle .50 flint, 80 gr ff pushing a .490 roundball. The .45 was at 125 paces (longer than I would like to have taken, but the buck was too big to pass up and too big to miss at that range;-))THe ball punched through the chest without hitting bone. Tracked blood tail about 100 yds and found him plowed into the ground. His rack hangs in my den.

I have taken smaller animals with teh .50 simply because I have not had a chance to take anything as nice at that one buck.

Bullet placement is all the game. A .22 will kill a bull if the shot is placed just right. Be sure of your ability to hit what and where you aim.

 

[brubincam]

did you get your york rifle at cabin creek?

 

[fatboy]

Yes Brubincam mine came from Cabin Creek

 

[brubincam]

when you have a load figgered out would you mind posting it on here???? :thanks:

 

[Mark Nasim]

.45 flinter I use 70g of 3F with a .445 ball.

One guy at the muzzleloading rage I go to hunts black bear with a .45, I say more power to him, he has killed several with a .45. He tells me that the ballistics on a .45 cant be beat.
I am beginning to belive him.He says he is going to take me with him on a bear hunt soon, Im looking forward to it. I never have hunter black bear before.
In the end--------Its all about placement

 

[roundball]

He tells me that the ballistics on a .45 cant be beat.

I happen to agree with that...and have posted here before that if I could only have one rifled muzzleloader, it would be a .45cal Flintlock with a 1:48" twist barrel.

.440 round balls and 255grn Maxi-Hunters are tack drivers in that twist and with that pair of projectiles, you can do most anything fom economical plinking, to small game, big game, etc.
:thumbsup:

 

[rudy parnell]

I would certainly not argue that the computer generated ballastic charts would strongly give the edge to the 45cal. I am sure I am singing to the choir :yakyak: But fellars the sectional denisity and the longer conical shape of the projectile.....blobity blobity[url] blobity....ain[/url]'t got nothing to do with the downrange effectiveness of the 45cal. in the type of guns we are talkin about,which is muzzleloaders. If you gonna stuff one of them [we ain't suppose to mention] guns full of pellets and plastic and solid copper and telescope in on something ...well you might get something done on paper. The fact is that the lighter the projectile,the faster it sheds velosity...And fellars...especially you Roundball,[good friend], we depend on mass not[url] velosity...in[/url] our LINE [notice I didn't say the word] of firearms. Now if there has been some new developments and discoveries that have shaken these basic truths...then, please post it on here so we can all get a look at it. Not saying you can't drill nice straight holes with your 45cal. but, I wouldn't celebrate with them bears and buffalo and elk and moose. And with iron sights in low light [HUNTING], most of us are maxed out on range inside of 100 yards. To put it simply, the bigger gun is better. But, that's just me! :thumbsup: adios

 

[pathfinderifh]

It's all about placement. Before my state put a cal. limit on muzzleloaders,I frequently took deer with my .40 smooth bore. {put the ball in their ear, they drop like a rock} When I teach muzzleloading hunter safty or muzzleloading in general, the question ALWAYS comes up about a target load and a huinting load. Mt answer is always the only difference between the two is the placement of your feet, Are they on the target range, or in the woods? What difference does a load make if you can't hit the vitals, unless you listen to the inline makers that say you can now take big game at up to 200 yards. I can only speak from a lot of personal experiance when I say that I've shot the 200yd NMLRA sillouett match with a .58 cal
Hawkins, and at 200yds, my ball dropped @ 4 feet. Thats with 110 grs. of 2f!{yes,I hit all 4 bears!,don't ask me to do it again!} :yakyak:I personally don't take shots over 75yds + or-. So work up your most accurate load and practice,especially your follow thru. Remember, it's called hunting, not gathering!
Godd luck and stay low
Pathfinder

 

[roundball]

I would certainly not argue that the computer generated ballastic charts would strongly give the edge to the 45cal. I am sure I am singing to the choir :yakyak: But fellars the sectional denisity and the longer conical shape of the projectile.....blobity blobity[url] blobity....ain[/url]'t got nothing to do with the downrange effectiveness of the 45cal. in the type of guns we are talkin about,which is muzzleloaders. If you gonna stuff one of them [we ain't suppose to mention] guns full of pellets and plastic and solid copper and telescope in on something ...well you might get something done on paper. The fact is that the lighter the projectile,the faster it sheds velosity...And fellars...especially you Roundball,[good friend], we depend on mass not[url] velosity...in[/url] our LINE [notice I didn't say the word] of firearms. Now if there has been some new developments and discoveries that have shaken these basic truths...then, please post it on here so we can all get a look at it. Not saying you can't drill nice straight holes with your 45cal. but, I wouldn't celebrate with them bears and buffalo and elk and moose. And with iron sights in low light [HUNTING], most of us are maxed out on range inside of 100 yards. To put it simply, the bigger gun is better. But, that's just me! :thumbsup: adios

Let me clarify this discussion for you...the thread was about loads for deer...not buffalo, bear, moose, etc.

I usually drag out a .45cal and take at least one deer with it every year using a .440 or a 255grn maxi...there's absolutely no question about the capability of the .45cal.

If you feel the need for a more massive muzzleloader, by all means mass away...I respect everyone's right to use whatever they want.....AND.....I dont make any negative inferences about their choices.

eace: