Huntin' with the 40

[NORD]

Hello,

I am possibly looking into getting a Jim Chambers 40 caliber muzzleloader and really want to hunt mule deer with it. I really like the idea of owning a 40 caliber roundball muzzleloader. Now I have read the other threads here and there on what most of you think about hunting deer with a 40. BUT I see myself as a fairly good hunter and stalker and in the past three years of hunting with muzzleloaders the farthest I shot a deer was about 60 yards using a 50 caliber roundball. :yakyak:
I don't know maybe I am just dreaming too much about a 40 caliber...
What ya all think?...suggestions and any thoughts would be great! :hatsoff:

Thank you!

 

[Rebel]

Personally, i would be leary of using a .40 on mule deer. I know that it can be done, and if that was ALL i had in a survival situation i would use one, but it sure wouldn't be my first choice. JMO

 

[roundball]

Hello,

I am possibly looking into getting a Jim Chambers 40 caliber muzzleloader and really want to hunt mule deer with it. I really like the idea of owning a 40 caliber roundball muzzleloader. Now I have read the other threads here and there on what most of you think about hunting deer with a 40. BUT I see myself as a fairly good hunter and stalker and in the past three years of hunting with muzzleloaders the farthest I shot a deer was about 60 yards using a 50 caliber roundball. :yakyak:
I don't know maybe I am just dreaming too much about a 40 caliber...
What ya all think?...suggestions and any thoughts would be great! :hatsoff:
Thank you!

I've hunted with and killed Eastern whitetails with .45/.50/.54/.58cals...and simply speaking in general terms, always felt a little undergunned carrying the .45cal, knew I'd have to be very selective and hold the distance down, etc.

I have a .40cal Flint barrel on it's way from GM and my boxes of Hpornady .395s arrived last week...I opened a box, looked at & hefted one, and decided right then there's no way I'd leave the house with a .40cal rifle for the sole purpose of going deer hunting with that tiny ball.

If I was sitting down squirrel hunting with it and a deer wandered past 20yds away and I could whistle-stop him so he offered a clean heart or head shot, I'd shoot it, but wouldn't actually go deer hunting with it.
Just my personal opinion...

 

Nord...I used to live in Wyoming, over in Star Valley....sure missed it this summer when it was 102 degrees here in the Ozarks...I miss a lot of other things about it too!!!!!!....but that ain't the question.

I pretty much agree with the other posters. The 40 is legal for deer here in Missouri and we have some whoppers "up north" in the "corn/wheat/beans" belt and along the Missouri and Mississippi river bottoms. I agree with roundball in that even tho I've killed deer with my 45 I was always a little apprehensive about it. I believed, and still do, shot placement and range had to be considered for any shot presented. I am confident I won't use the 45 again. I never had a bad experience and was using it to prove a point to myself. Point has been proved and this year the 54 comes back out.

I've always wanted to play with a 40 "just cuz". But it's always seemed neither fish nor fowl to me. Not big enough for big game hunting or small enough for small game. Sure, you can head shoot a squirrel with a 75 cal. round ball and kill a deer or black bear with a 22 LR.....but neither are the best tool for the job. I'd have to vote no, again, on the 40 for anything much over about 50 -75 lbs.

If you wanna use it to prove a point to yourself, such as I did with the 45, I suppose you oughta try it. You speak as if you're a pretty experienced hunter so you know the game. If you do, good luck and you'll probably do fine.

Vic

Vic

 

[NORD]

Well shoot...

Thank you for your honest opinions...you guys definently made your point well.

I am really sold on the 40 caliber(for some reason :hmm...and my heart is sunk that I shouldn't use it for deer...but that is life. I definently believe you should always hunt with a caliber that will not wound your game, but make a clean swift kill. I have hunted deer with a 50 caliber for three years and it definently does the job...the furthest I had a deer walk after I nailed him was about 10 yards then droping mid step...

When I make the investment to build a flinter I really want to hunt deer with it...that is important to me. So maybe I should just go with the 50 caliber for a flinter since I already have most of the jags and cleaning equipment.

What do you all think?

 

[roundball]

Well shoot...

Thank you for your honest opinions...you guys definently made your point well.

I am really sold on the 40 caliber(for some reason :hmm...and my heart is sunk that I shouldn't use it for deer...but that is life. I definently believe you should always hunt with a caliber that will not wound your game, but make a clean swift kill. I have hunted deer with a 50 caliber for three years and it definently does the job...the furthest I had a deer walk after I nailed him was about 10 yards then droping mid step...

When I make the investment to build a flinter I really want to hunt deer with it...that is important to me. So maybe I should just go with the 50 caliber for a flinter since I already have most of the jags and cleaning equipment.

What do you all think?

Well, the .45 is an excellent caliber too and IMO is a serious choice for deer hunting...just have to remember it's the .243 of the muzzleloader world and that small-ish 128grn ball does not carry a lot of energy to longer distances like a heavier 180grn .50cal ball does...if you're disciplined enough pass on long shots, and patient enough to wait for the perfect shot placement, the .45 is certainly a good alternative...and particularly if you already have a .50cal. (a couple of jags are only a couple bucks...everything else is .45/.50 compatible)...but for me, the .45 is where I draw the line...with the .40 being below the line, too light to be taken seriously as a round ball for deer[url] hunting...in[/url] my opinion.

 

[peashooterJoe]

The 50 caliber in my book is a real confidence builder. You know whats at the end othe blood trail. Build a 50 if you have never built one and that's a prize above all others to take a Deer with. You just can't describe that feeling when there is the Deer shot with my rifle.

That is the accomplishment above all others. That is when my hats off to you or anybody that is a builder/shooter. :hatsoff:

 

[NORD]

Actually I did build a GPR in 50 caliber about four years ago...that is what is bothering me about building another 50 caliber.

Have any other ideas or suggestions on caliber to build?

 

[NORD]

Thank you all for your comments by the way...you are all helping me with this difficult decision.

I have thought about the 45 but it is just too close to the 50...maybe I am being too picky...but then again it is a BIG DEAL for me.

The 40 caliber must have been developed as a target caliber and not so much for hunting?

please bear with me...

 

The .40 will kill a smallish eastern whitetail if you get real close and place your shot very well. Crockett is even reported to have killed many bear with one--but he cornered them/treed them with dogs and shot them at very close range--and still had to finish many off with a long hunting knife! But the .40 is a marginal to poor choice these days for deer hunting--my state of LA outlaws .40s. There is a bigger difference between a .45 rd ball and a .50 than you might think--and .45 is my personal minimum choice for deer. Listen to roundball, he has probably killed more deer with a MLer than most of us here. The .40 makes a decent squirrel/turkey rifle (I prefer .32 or .36) and a great target rifle or varmint rifle. My .40 hangs on the mantle 'cause good old LA outlaws it for small game too!!!!

 

[Java Man]

.50 definitely gives you more room for error. I have a couple .40's and love them for target shooting. I think .40 is ideal for that. If hunting deer would be the main use for this gun, I'd suggest something bigger. If you have another primary use, then make it a .40, take it deer hunting, and don't shoot till the perfect setup is available. Shoot one deer, and go back to the other .50 you have.

 

[Rebel]

Since you are in elk country too why not build a .54 cal.? Then you can use it for deer and elk and not have to worry about it being to small.

 

[roundball]

Since you are in elk country too why not build a .54 cal.? Then you can use it for deer and elk and not have to worry about it being to small.

Heck, if deciding to go larger, just go on and build a .58cal :grin:

 

[NORD]

Ya I thought about that but I decided not to go larger then a 50 because of economy reasons.

 

[OTHERN]

Nord
Based on my experiences, I doubt if you will be real happy with the 40 on deer. Remember, generally mule deer are somewhat larger than whitetail and generally the shots are longer. NOT always the case, but generally. As the others have said you can try it once, to prove to your self that it can be done, then put it away. My experiences for me have shown that a 45 more marginal than I personally like, so I use a 50 or larger. I have killed an elk with a 45, which is probably similar,ONCE, never again unless in a survival situation. The animal deserves better in my view. BTW missed you at the Pie shoot.

Othern

 

[NORD]

Well I don't think I will be going with the 40 for deer hunting reasons.

Well...what about a 28 guage/54 caliber fowler? I see Jim Chambers has one, and I really like the looks of his Pennsylvannia fowler. Plus the 46" octogon to round barrel is very interesting!

How far can you shoot a roundball in a 28 guage smoothy for deer hunting?

 

[Lone Carabiner]

I've never used anything BP but a .50 deer hunting but have killed with a .22 that dropped them with brain/upper neck/ back of head shot. And heart/lung shot one with .308 that ran 50 yards!
Good bit of it depends on some variables such as range/ability to put shot where you want it/how the target presents itself.
I've one-shot killed 2 wild hogs with BP revolvers, one dropped due to head shot another ran aways heart/lung shot.
You might try a double PRB load for experience sake on wet catalogs/newspapers. It's what the old-timers called 'loaded for bear' and I use it with my .50 on deer. They ain't going far heart/lung shot with that.
:thumbsup:

 

[roundball]

How far can you shoot a roundball in a 28 guage smoothy for deer hunting?

FWIW, I've got a .54cal GM Flint smoothbore that shoots darn near like a rifle at the 50yds I've tested it...haven't tried longer distances but would guess things would keep unraveling past 50yds

 

[Bill/Ms.]

I don't chime in here very often, but I will this time. I have taken 27 deer with muzzleloading rifles through the years. 17 of those were taken with a .54 caliber Hawken replica at ranges varying from 20 yards to 128 yards- all one shot kills. Two of them were shot with a .32 caliber shooting a .323 round ball ahead of 30 grains fffg, one at 20 yards and the other at 35 yards- both one shot kills. The other eight were taken with a .40 caliber flintlock at ranges varying from 10 yards to 55 yards- all one shot kills. The longest distance any of these deer went after being shot was 30 yards and that was one of the deer shot with the .54 caliber. The .40 caliber is a good deer rifle as long as you can shoot and know where to shoot the deer. My .40 caliber load is a .400 round ball with 70 grains fffg. My latest obsession is to take a deer with my .38 caliber flinter- haven't had a shot yet. If you make a bad shot, it doesn't matter how big a gun you have- you're going to lose the deer.
Be Well,
Bill R.

 

[NORD]

WELL...I was thinking your way when I first started this thread and now I am not so sure. I know for a fact that any hunting with a round ball or moderate caliber rifle takes good shot placement to be fair to the game. I concider myself to be a good and careful hunter...if I can't get a good shot that I feel good about then I try to get closer or get in a better position and if the game runs off while I am trying to get there...well that is the fun of hunting.

My main concern is if the 40 has enough knockdown power to cleanly bring down a mule deer if I do my part.