If You only had one flintlock?

[tenngun]

Guns of about .50 were very popular from 1500 till now, the ball is big enough to be easy to handle, with out eating too much lead and powder at a time. and its an easy size to find. IMHO southern rifles are the best looking of the American rifles.

 

[Kapow]

I couldn't agree more! If I could only own one it would be exactly that! In a flintlock of course. If I could own a dozen of them, I would!

 

[Tilton Wilder]

Is there an inherent accuracy difference between the .45, .50 or .54? Substantial weight difference in finished rifle (offset of course by the heavier weight of the projectiles themselves)? How about that hard to gauge quality of "shootability"?

 

[nkbj]

weum,
No doubt about, a half stock 20 Ga with adjustable sights. A TC Renegade or Hawken would be just fine.
So would a 20 or larger bore full stock with longer barrel and tapered round barrel. Just as long as it had utilitarian front and rear sights.
The TC's (smooth and rifled) are familiar to me so I like 'em.

 

[Khufu]

target shooters mostly use .45 cal and its the largest bore you can get in a 13/16" barrel, so there is a weight advantage. it is the minimun legal caliber in several states (western ststes where I hunt) for deer. (elk requires .50 cal and some states require .54 cal). for me, the weight, balance, and accuracy make it the first choice. its also easier on powder and lead.

 

[Rifleman1776]

.45
All the deer I have killed with an ml rifle were with my .45 flinter. And all one shot kills with no tracking required.
Plus, these days, feeding yer rifle gun lead and powder is harder and more expensive than in the past.

 

[tenngun]

Most rifles can shoot better then people can see. Even the best iron sights won't compare to scopes, that look poor on ml. .45 will be less expensive to shoot a lot. A . 54 or 8 will have a higher mid range tragectory but will have more energy down range. Old timers had some long kills, at 300 yards or more, but in an ethical modrrn hunt some where around 100 yards should be your max. Deer for the most part are easy to kill if hit in a 1 foot circle on chest. I like a little bigger, but dead is dead. If eastern deer will be your too game a .45 will do it well. A 50 or 54 might be better if you want hog or black bear. Both have been killed with .45s. .50 is popular and easy to supply. All can clover leader at 50 yards and put small groups out at 100.

 

[dave weier]

I have a halfstock flinter with a hooked breech. It has a .45 cal rifle barrel and a .45 cal smoothbore barrel. Barrels can be swapped in a minute allowing me to shoot round ball or shot. My only problem is I use a tight ball and patch combo and I'm a cronic dry baller so I generally shoot only percussion.

 

[coloradoclyde]

.45
All the deer I have killed with an ml rifle were with my .45 flinter. And all one shot kills with no tracking required.
Plus, these days, feeding yer rifle gun lead and powder is harder and more expensive than in the past.

A .45 band wagon playing my tune..... :thumbsup: :haha:

 

[TNGhost]

I have a friend wanting to buy his first flintlock, he asked me what caliber I recommended.
He will hunt deer primarily, and maybe an occasional squirrel.
If you only had one, what caliber would it be?

For the stated purpose, .45, .50, .54, doesn't matter, all will do equally well. Use the game laws as your guide. Spend time with it, shoot it, learn its likes and dislikes.

Now if it was just the topic title, one flintlock, it would have to be the same as with that limitation on a modern weapon, a shotgun, 12 gauge or so. So I'd take a smoothie like a Bess or something a little shorter, versatility would be the name of the game.

 

[VTdeerhunter]

Only one.... :rotf:

We all started out that way, told ourselves; "this looks like fun I think I'll just buy one and try it out"....and then the disease hits and that one multiplies...

Tell you friend to get whatever, he'll soon have more!

I shoot my .50 more than all the others, but they all get a turn off the rack each year, it has taken; squirrel, rabbits, mule and whitetail deer elk and black bear....although when my aim goes a bit wide the smaller critters are not tough to skin

 

[Rick Boylan]

Currently I do only own one Flintlock rifle. It's a Pedersoli Kentucky model in .45 cal. It's a great rifle and is a hoot to shoot.

 

[Tom Compton]

Ok. I've been thinking on this off and on for almost 2 days since my .45 maybe kinda sorta post. Nope it would be a .50 but I much prefer having the .40 and .54. My next may well be a 20 ga trade gun.
TC

 

[BigBoreBLR]

How much will you shoot, where do you hunt, how good are you with irons.

-if you shoot 100 rounds or less a year, who cares the caliber. If blackpowder is not easy to come by, this might be a limitation a bit. Including flints and patches too, I shoot 100 rounds for $55 in my 54. I shoot 100 rounds of 45 cal for $35. At best the average "decent" hunter will shoot 20 to 40 rounds a year in their gun. They're few hunters who shoot their season ender that much. So, with 45 versus a 54, your saving $5 to 10 bucks a year and hitting a deer with half the lead. power of a 54 versus a 45 is quite a bit.

-Are you hunting in an open area? If you hunt with a 45, i'd not use a 45 if you need to shoot 100 yards often, assuming you'd hunt roundball. A concial in a 45 is a whole lot better, if the gun can shoot it ok. 45 will take a deer, but can you live with a 50 yard shot limitation. roundballs slow down quick, small roundballs slow down even quicker. At 50 yards, a 54 will make about 600ft/lbs of energy versus a 350ft/lb of a 45.

-the less your practice, the worse your going to shoot. A bigger bore helps a bit with mistakes.

-54 on whitetails is great. 100 yard shots no problem.

-50 is easy to find locally. however, a place that has flints, the patches your gun likes, and sells real blackpowder will have 54 cal balls. so, this might be a mute point.

I like 45 for targets and maybe a deer once, and 54 for deer hunting.

The traditional hardcoreist are not overly wild about an adjustable peep sight on your gun. but, this addition makes more of a difference than the caliber. Being able to hit your target well in low light. I also paint the front sight with glow in the dark paint.

My one gun is the one I own, a 54 cal lyman GPR flintlock with a lyman peep sight. I'd take a 45 with a peep sight over a 54 without one.

If your going to shoot it alot, your going to own more than one.

Alot of old guns were .54, .58, .62 and up for a good reason.

Another unique limitation I have is where I hunt, there good but small parcels like 10 acres or less, if the deer wanders wounded too much, it may go where I'm not allow to go get it. I hunt with bigger calibers for that reason.

 

[Walks with fire]

We can't use either a .45 or .50 for small game here in PA. No doubt that if it were legal for both I would have a .45. I have .54 and .50 for deer but if I had to give one up I would keep the .50 over the .54.

I do like the .54 and would hate to give it up but my choice would be the .50.
My GM .50 will shoot as flat as a .45 with full charges in both calibers. 180 grain ball is a good load for deer but admit the .54 has a little better performance.

Another thing is the .50 is available everywhere.

 

[hanshi]

For me it would be my .45 Lancaster flintlock. I've killed more deer with it than with all the others in my gun rack combined. It's also taken a few squirrels as well.

 

[silly goose]

I'll side with hanshi and the .45 side. I don't take nonsense shots at game of any type. And for me this would be limited to whitetail, nothing larger.

 

[Tilton Wilder]

It will be a .45 for the first one, as I concede that more will probably follow! Thanks for all your thoughts and reasoning, seems like a nice community here...

 

[Ray-Vigo]

I also think the 20 gauge is the most versatile caliber for deer-sized game and smaller.

 

[kopfjaeger]

.45 caliber