What happened to the .45s ?

[bob243]

Magnumitus may have infected the ML community?

I think that is a good part of it. Alot of the same crowd who think they need a 300 ultra mag for pa whitetails.

This will be my first year to give it a try with the ML. I'll be using a 45 :grin:

 

[Pork Chop]

I know what it is. The deer were laughing so hard at the on paper ballistics of the .45 that everyone was shamed into going up bore...

 

[jethro224]

Now I have never even fired a BP .45 so I can't say as to their effectiveness, but what I have been lead to believe is that the .45 may just be the perfect all-around gun. BUT it is not the perfect best-choice for ANYTHING in particular.

I've heard over and over that the .45 is a bit large for small game while being a bit small for big game.

:yakyak: :yakyak: :yakyak: :yakyak: :yakyak:

 

In many states the .45 [or .44] is the smallest legal big game caliber. That influenced my choice back in 1978 when I built my first ML rifle, which, I figured would mostly be shot at paper. I chose a .45 Green River barrel of 42" length. It still is my most accurate rifle with either .445 or .440 ball. With modest powder charge you can achieve impressive velocities and a pretty flat trajectory [my hunting load is 65 gr fffg]. The .45 hole makes up for lack of "on paper" energies downrange. Friends who have killed alot more deer than me say they never recover the balls--they pass through--and they harvest their deer cleanly. For sure, however, the bigger .50s and .54s will put down deer very well, and folks who want more certainty in their lives gravitate toward the bigger bores. My second rifle build was a .58....

 

[Ohio Joe]

"I think tg has it right on the Magnumitis."

I agree! I use mostly .45's for all around hunting and target work... Problem is that most of the folks making the hunting rules don't understand ballistics. Regardless of the caliber used in a hunting situation. The shot must be placed in the kill zone to insure a quick kill and recovery of that game animal. Same applies to modern firearms.

If you're not a good enough shot to make it into the kill zone, the caliber doesn't matter. I doubt a person will recover a poorly shot animal if it runs off into the next county to eventually die or become coyote meat that night of the day it was shot. I bet this happens more times then not...

 

[shmrck1]

I quess anyone that has read some of my post
on the subject know that the .45 is my rifle
of choice 90% of the time.I do and will use
my .50 even my .54 on any given day.Due to the terrain I hunt the longest shot I think I have
ever taken with any of them is 60/65 yrds.Most
inside bow range,40yrds or less....That is why
I use my .45 as much as I do.Besides it is the
rifle I am most confident with,so that is why
I like to deer hunt with it so much.Just my opinion.
snake-eyes :hmm:

 

[redwing]

Yes, I have noticed these fellows with their plastic guns and long slugs. The "New Crop" of side lock shooters with the pistol slugs and Sabots. The new wonder powder products. They shoot bucket sized groups at 50 yds. and think they are ready for the world championship.

Why they need 400 grs. of lead to kill a little ole white tail deer is a true wonder. I have a friend who has taken 18 big Wyoming Bull Elk with the .50 cal. long rifle. :wink: He shoots 90 grs. of powder and a PRB. The .54 with balls made from WW lead will go thru an Elk breaking bones and tearing holes. :applause: Oh well as I have said to each his own. I will take a PRB and some charcoal please. :thumbsup:

 

[PreglerD]

Hello from Germany!

Here in GE the .45 is the most common cal. for ML. But here it is mostly used for targetshooting. Certainly the .45 will bring down every deer, even with a PRB. I made measurements of muzzlevel. and find out that the velocity and energy is very good. Even at 50 m the bullet brings an energy of 1000 J or 734 flps.
With conical it is a safe killer.
Regards

Kirrmeister.

 

[paulvallandigham]

Inside 50 meters, a PRB will kill a deer with any good, well placed hit to the heart/lung area. And the ball usually complete passes through the deer, leaving a much larger exit hole than the entrance hole. I consider the .45 a more than adequate deer caliber out to 75 yards, and it will kill well past that range. The difference between recovering a dead deer, or not, when shot at 100-125 yards depends on the skill of the hunter in tracking wounded deer. The deer will die. It must may travel 50-100 yds before doing so. I have had to track down deer for hunters that I found well within 50 yards of the place where the animal was standing when shot, but which the hunter " lost ", al because the hunter had no clue what a deer's footprints look like, much less have any elementary training in tracking game animals. On one track, I showed the hunter where he stepped right over a half dollar sized spot of blood, with his own bootprints visible in the wet leaves next to it. The young man was so confused I took him back to the place where the animal was standing when he shot it, showed him the fur from the off-side where it hung up on brush, and then turned him around so he could see the tree he fired from. He had shot a nice 6 point( Eastern Count) Buck.

 

[Jarikeen]

In Australia, the most common calibres would be .45, .50 and .54. Tg, I think, may also have the right of it to some degree for some. When I first started, .50 was suggested to me, as it was thought that hearing the gong in rondy shoots was easier with the .50 cal and up. However I still continued with the .45 with low powder loads for accurate target work and never had trouble ringing the gong, even out to 100 yards. I did eventually convert my rifle to .40 cal (as I wanted something a little different), and still have no problems ringing the gong. Unfortunately .40 is somewhat uncommon here and I have to mould my own RB's. It will probably be hard to sell sould I ever do this (probably not). My next rifle will be a .45 again with a 15/16 barrel, something like a light version of the swiss match rifle without the curved butt. Mind you, having said that - an enfield might be nice too. Luckily here, we are are not governed to what calibre we have to use for particular game.

 

[SimonKenton]

Are the socialists busting your bullocks over the black powder guns yet? Seems they're after ANYTHING that shoots lead and that socialist (rhymes with runt) Rebecca Peters wants to ban ANYTHING that can shoot more than 100 meters. Most AIR guns can do that although the pellet would bounce off Jell-O at that range. Maybe she needs a new girlfriend? :cursing:

-Ray

 

[tx50cal]

I have owner everything from.32 to .54 with the exception of the .45. I will be building it next. A nice all around rifle for small game and deer. I am going to build a Tennessee mountian rifle with a 42" 7/8" barell with 1 in 66" .45 flint. I want it to be my go to rifle. Only other that I will build is maybe a flint .32, mine is a cap gun. I have always been facinated with the .45 but never built one.

 

[Jarikeen]

The socialist here don't know one gun from other, so much so that an air rifle is put in the same category as a .22LR or cannon. That is, it is licenced and registered the same, and can only be shot on a registered rifle range or on a property that is over 40 hectares.
At least in England (which has one of the most draconian gun laws in the free world) an air rifle (producting under 12ftpds) can still be shot in your backyard - but you must prove that the pellet hasn't left your back yard.

 

[SimonKenton]

Sounds like your hoplophobes have no more knowledge of firearms than of fornicating (to quote Patton). :rotf:

-Ray