expansion of a 45 PRB

[N5JIF]

I thought this might be a good reference for the often asked question of is a 45 cal. enough. Here are 129 grain pure lead ball fired out of a 32 inch barrel with 65 grains of 2f, and impact was 50 yards. Flint lock of course!

 

[Phil Coffins]

What did they hit?

 

[N5JIF]

I was sighting in and some hit the stand that was 1.5 inch heavy pipe. Plenty of retained energy at 50 yards. Some day I'll see about 80 or 100

 

[Flintlock]

Yep, if you hit something hard enough they will come apart like everything else.

 

[olskool]

well. a 45 cal. RB when it hits a critter like a deer, it ain't gonna bounce off,,,,,,,,,,,,

 

[Freedom]

Not sure if distortion and deformation, should be properly identified as expansion...lol

 

[hanshi]

These balls were taken from deer I killed. The one on the right is a .50 and the other three are .45s. A .45 ball expands well in a deer and usually stops just under the off side skin. If it goes in and out then it may not have expanded. It's not easy to say what the maximum distance is for a ball to not expand because of variables such as velocity, lead softness, etc. But a non-expanded ball would be expected to go thru under those circumstances.

 

[N5JIF]

That is some very effective deer medicine!

 

[jackpine54]

I've shot several deer with .440 roundball in my old CVA. All recovered, none went far. The farthest shot was +/- 80 yards the closest about 15 feet. The closest deer was shot through both lungs, ball went clean through. It ran the farthest, 150ish yards, but left a nice blood trail. No problem getting it done with .45.