WhiteTail with a 45 cal?

[4570tc]

Who hunts Whitetail deer with a 45 cal, Round ball? How does it do?

All my Muzzle Loader kills have been with 58 cal. It hits like the thunder of Zeus!!

My 58s are heavy, so I was thinking of building a 45 cal, Flint lock? (I only hunt with a Flint?) So I can cut the weight. Getting Older!

Thanks

 

[Britsmoothy]

May not be much lighter!

B.

 

[Blackbruin]

If your worried about weight, take a look at rice's southern classic barrel, can be had in up to .50. At 50 cal its only 3lb and 10-12ounces. Currently i'm building a bucks schimmel with that barrel in a super hard dense plank of sugar, only lock is inlet and it squared up and profiled with a bandsaw and I'm gonna say it will be right around a 7lb rifle, maybe under. Just an idea........

 

[tenngun]

My smallest gun is a .50, but I know a lot of boys around these parts love them .45s. It makes a heap of meat and I wouldn't feel undere gunned in this area with one. Shot placment carries more weight then ball size. Get close' makesure you got a clear shot, grew fat on venison.

 

[wattlebuster]

I built a friend of mine a .45 flint and so far he has killed every deer he has shot with it :idunno: He likes it so I love it :thumbsup:

 

[USMA65]

Every deer I have shot with a ML'er was with a .45. Each one either just stood there before collapsing, or ran at most 30 yards. Shot placement is key. Getting close is also. I saw a guy on TV the other day shoot an elk at about 400 yards. That makes him a shooter, not a hunter. The beauty of ML'ers is the satisfaction of hunting with a weapon our forefathers used and actually developing some skill, and wisdom. The .45 kinda forces that on you in a good way.

 

[jamesthomas]

I have that barrel in .45 cal. someday I'll build a A. Verner rifle with it.

 

[SgtSchutzen]

I`ve never killed a deer with a big bore. All of my muzzleloader ones have been with either a .45 or .50cal, most with a .45 at 50yds or less. I think where you hit them matters more than what you hit them with. My eyes aren`t what they used to be so I`m not going to be taking long shots with open sights anyway. With a .45 keep the range under about 75yds and make good hits and you won`t have a problem killing deer. Even if they don`t drop where they stand in my experience they won`t go far. The same is true with 30/30 Win and probably as many Whitetails have been killed with 30/30`s as all other centerfires put together.

 

[B.Habermehl]

.45 will do, but I'd stick to the .58. 58 is my all time favorite deer medicine. BJH

 

[hanshi]

I've killed lots of deer with two different .45s. The longest shot was 75 yards and the deer didn't travel far at all. A second shot (all one shot kills) was never needed and several dropped DRT. The .45 is an ideal whitetail rifle.

 

[4570tc]

Well Looks like I will be building a 45 cal, Flint~!! Now just to pick which one?

 

[tenngun]

In keeping with your ohio location a west . penn or virgina style wold be a good choice. Was in Arrow rock mo this year and saw a lot of southren style rifles in terms of stock shape and many of the fittings that were brass or brass and silver mounted. Jake Hawkin set up shop in ohio to begin with. He had learned rifle making from his father, who made 'clasic' southren styles. You have a great deal of choices for your area.

 

[smoothshooter]

Was there a shoot or rendezvous at Arrow Rock we need to know about?

 

[tenngun]

I think they have a shoot at or near there. I had a close friend who had lived there and passed away about 19 years ago. I had been thinking about him and decided to run up and see the town again. Got to visit with C Terney who I had also not seen for years.

 

[Patocazador]

My .45 is a Southern-type rifle with a small Siler lock and a 42" 13/16 non-swamped barrel. It weighs about 6 3/4 lbs.

I doubt it can get lighter unless you shorten the barrel.

 

[4570tc]

Do you have any pics of that Southern - type rifle? Cause I have a 13/16" bbl, and a small siler!

 

[tenngun]

I have a 7/8 .50 on my gun. Just one word of warning, some years after building my southren I learned the siler german style lock isn't approprate for the gun style. For years now its mocked me every time I've taken it out of the cabinent...its my little cheshire cat. That said plain old barn guns were being made 'up north' and you can get the simple no nonsense gun type with that little german lock.

 

[Choctaw]

My first ML was a 45 caliber TC Hawken. I was fifteen (35 years ago) and didn't know any better. That rifle killed a number of deer and a couple of hogs. The animals never complained. :thumbsup:

 

[GANGGREEN]

If your worried about weight, take a look at rice's southern classic barrel, can be had in up to .50. At 50 cal its only 3lb and 10-12ounces. Currently i'm building a bucks schimmel with that barrel in a super hard dense plank of sugar, only lock is inlet and it squared up and profiled with a bandsaw and I'm gonna say it will be right around a 7lb rifle, maybe under. Just an idea........

I've got a cherry-stocked schimmel on the bench with the southern classic .50 barrel. I like a .50 better than a .45 and a .54 better than a .50. I know that lots of guys on this board have taken a whole mountain of deer with .45s, but I know that I've shot more than a few that were hit perfectly with .50s and .54s and they still took off at a dead run. I don't know if all of those guys are lucky or I'm jinxed, but I'll take the better blood trail of a big bore every time and as others have pointed out, going to a .45 isn't going to necessary lighten the rifle.

 

[KyFlintlock]

I have shot about a dozen w/the .45 flinter and one antelope. I lost one smallish buck w/it but am pretty sure that was my fault.