Pistol?

[squirrellluck]

I have decided to put my cartidge guns up and hunt fully traditionally next season,squirrel and deer. I'll be using my longbow and sidelocks. I always carry a sidearm when I'm deer hunting with firearms. I seem to get one at 10 to 15 feet while I'm sitting against a tree and can't raise my rifle without getting busted. I just shoot them with my pistol. Heres my question. Can I cleanly take a deer at that range with a sidelock pistol?

 

[Celt5494]

What type of "sidelocks" are you planning to carry? I can be just as accurate with a flintlock pistol as a modern one in the 25 to 35 yard ranges. Much depends upon what you are intending to use for larger game. I think it's great you are taking a more traditional approach to your hunting I'm sure you will find it much more enriching. Just my opinion though. There are a lot of extremely experienced folks on this site that will have some seasoned advise for your question.

 

[Zonie]

The Lyman BLACK POWDER HANDBOOK says they found that a .50 caliber sidelock pistol with a 8 inch barrel shooting a .490 dia. roundball over 40 grains of 3Fg GOEX had a muzzle velocity of 1036 fps. At 15 feet range that velocity would not drop a great deal.

This compares very favorably with the 100 yard velocity of a .50 caliber 1:60 twist 32 inch barrel rifle shooting a .490 dia. ball loaded over 90 grains of GOEX 2Fg powder.
That test said the 100 yard velocity was 1042 fps.

Few people will deny that a .50 cal roundball at 100 yards, placed in the right place on the deer will bring down the deer quite easily if the shot is well placed.

Personally, I have a hard time signing up for using a pistol to hunt deer, primarily because at 25-35 yards their already low muzzle velocity drops off quite a bit and it is darn hard to judge the range accurately out in the bush but if you can keep the range to the 15-40 foot distance you should not have a problem (assuming you can keep your shots in a 2 inch circle at that distance).

 

[squirrellluck]

Zonie I don't plan to use it as my primary but as an example This year I had 1 pop up on the ridge I was sitting on at about 35 yards and watched me as it came to me. Sitting on the ground with it watching me I could not raise my rifle so I shot it with my pistol as it turned sideways to leave the ridge. The distance was less than 40 feet. Could count whiskers!

 

[Coot]

I have a .50 flint pistol built from a Jim Chambers kit. The bbl is 12" & I normally shoot a load in the 25gr range. With the long sight radius & rifled bbl, accuracy inside the 25 yd range is not an issue. Once I doublecharged. :redface: With that 50gr load, I have no doubt that the .490 ball would easily pass thru a deer at the short range you mentioned.

 

[larry wv]

Killed a med Doe with a .44 bison cap and ball rev 27 grains 3f. Was about 12 yds hit in lungs no exit went 100 yds. Won't try again feel it is under powered. A bp pistol with a conical should be ok at reasonable range. Larry Wv

 

[Dphar]

I have decided to put my cartidge guns up and hunt fully traditionally next season,squirrel and deer. I'll be using my longbow and sidelocks. I always carry a sidearm when I'm deer hunting with firearms. I seem to get one at 10 to 15 feet while I'm sitting against a tree and can't raise my rifle without getting busted. I just shoot them with my pistol. Heres my question. Can I cleanly take a deer at that range with a sidelock pistol?

If you place the shot well and shot 50 grains or more in a 50-54 you should have not problem But you may not want one of the 22" twist pistol barrels for this.
I make pistols from rifle barrel cutoffs and then work fine.

This .520 ball produced a one shot kill at about 25 yards on a grown mule deer doe. Percussion pistol with a 7-8" barrel.

Ball shattered the bone, took out the heart and lodged under the far side hide. Deer did about 30 yards and crashed.

This was 72" twist and required 70 gr to shoot well. I have a 54 with a 66" twist right now that does well with 45gr. This was 25 yards with a rest while regulating the sights.

I would not hesitate to shoot a deer with it at this distance.

Dan

 

[Dave Rosenthal]

Have you ever tried 35 grains and a wonder-wad with that foot-long barreled bison? A little more push may help you break the sound barrier. Friend of mine used it this way and it worked to great success.

Dave

 

[rafterob]

I think the answer to your question-as stated -is yes. Check your regulations though. In my state no black powder pistols are allowed for hunting.

 

[larry wv]

That sounds like a good idea Smokin 50. :thumbsup: Have not shot it for awhile just checked it last night and thought about shooting it. Will try your suggestion. Thanks Larry Wv

 

[Dave Rosenthal]

In order to get the 35 grains into the cylinder more easily, you'll either need a loading stand or to compress the charge and wonder-wad down into the cylinder before attempting to load the balls.

Good luck and let me know how it shoots. My Stainless Pietta Buffalo seems to like this charge and the 35 grains have no trouble burning in the foot-long tube!

Dave

 

[larry wv]

Mine has the brass frame. Do you think that will be strong enough? Thanks Larry

 

[Dave Rosenthal]

A few shots while hunting won't shake it to pieces, just don't give it a steady diet of hot loads. Sort of like a K-frame S&W .357 Magnum. It'll handle the hot loads, just not all the time or you can beat it up a little.

Dave

 

[tv_racin_fan]

Wish I knew then what I know now...

My first BP revolver was brass framed. I dunno 100% what caused it but when I stopped shooting it the barrel was loose from the frame by about 1/16th" or so. It may have been that I was loading as much as I could stuff in er, or it may have been that I was hanging off the loading lever to stuff er that full or it might have been just that the wedge was soft. I dunno where that thing is now (believe it was stolen with a few other BP firearms) but if I had it now I would fix it and enjoy it with a slightly lesser load.

 

[Dave Rosenthal]

Yeah,

That's why I told him a FEW hot loads, while hunting. Otherwise, tame it down and enjoy the revolver almost forever.

Dave

 

[tv_racin_fan]

Well I dunno nuffin sir. BUT I would think that if one had a remmy style revolver even in brass frame you couldn't do much hurtin by shootin as much as you could stuff in er. A colt style is a different matter to me. Mine was the colt style.

 

[Dphar]

Killed a med Doe with a .44 bison cap and ball rev 27 grains 3f. Was about 12 yds hit in lungs no exit went 100 yds. Won't try again feel it is under powered. A bp pistol with a conical should be ok at reasonable range. Larry Wv

I have had them run that far shot with a good side to side lung shot with a 44-90 with a 400 grain soft FP bullet in front of 92 gr of FFG Goex. It was certainly not underpowered and the range was about 50 yards.
The conical is not going to make much difference. You need a bigger bore size in a pistol.

Dan

 

[larry wv]

I know all that Dan I have killed several hundred deer. For my feelings it is under powered with the 27 gr load. I would shoot a deer with a.45 and not rev with a conical though. Or a bigger cal and prb. :v Larry

 

[Dave Rosenthal]

Well I dunno nuffin sir. BUT I would think that if one had a remmy style revolver even in brass frame you couldn't do much hurtin by shootin as much as you could stuff in er. A colt style is a different matter to me. Mine was the colt style.

Let me start by saying that I don't own any brass-framed revolvers. The poster had reservations loading a Remmy with a foot-long barrel up to max. I own the Pietta stainless buffalo model with the same sized barrel. So does my friend who takes the revolver deer hunting with great success. Like I said before, A FEW hot charges won't hurt it, but a steady diet will. It's been proven by other members of this forum who have admitted doing it to their brass framed guns.

Shot placement is everything. I know someone who needed to survive and harvested a deer with an eye shot from a .22 LR plinker.

Dave

 

[redwing]

Dave what you say is so true. If it has a brass frame stay on the light side. It matters not what style, Colt or Remington. The brass castings will streach over time even if care is taken in loading. You, get what you pay for. :hmm: