Remember, that whatever starts out faster, slows down faster. Those muzzle velocities may suggest that you stuff all the powder you can to get more velocity ( the Ol' More Is Better " hype- ), but if you look at down range velocities, you will see that much of that extra velocity is shed very shortly after leaving the barrel, and by the time you get to 100 yards, the difference between the slower velocity and the highest velocity can be measured in a couple of fps. No animal will tell the difference between being hit with the faster or slower load.
So, understand that penetration is more a function of the weight of the ball, than the velocity. Do you own penetration tests to confirm this. Use whatever trips your trigger: Ballistics gel, boards, newspapers, phone books, wet paper, dry paper, drywall, plywood, sandbags, etc. I fiddled around with all of them, and you will learn the same lesson I did.
Use a load that is accurate, and has as flat a mid range trajectory as you can hold and shoot accurately. If you don't hit it you can't kill it.
A .45 is adequate to kill deer to 50 yards, and some yards beyond if you place the ball right. A 50 is good to 100 yds. A .54 will kill well past the point when the ball is dropping too fast to use it while estimating yardage. Stick to 125 yds or less, while it will kill well past 200 yds. When you consider calibers bigger than .54, the weight of the ball and the recoil forces generated to try to flatten the trajectory becomes rather brutal. But the .58 and bigger calibers will put a big hurt on any deer inside 100 yards.
