PRB caliber for hunting

[Jenrick]

After looking around on line I see that there are multiple different calibers of traditional rifles ranging from .32 or so up to almost .75 I'm primarily interested in shooting a patched round ball out of a traditional style rifle rather then sabots/conicals out of an inline.

What is the rough break down in calibers and game size (for instance deer is .50-.58, etc)?

I'm primarily looking to hunt deer, hogs, and maybe even varmints (coyotes etc.) here in Texas, though of course I'm open to other smaller game such as rabbit.

Thanks in advance,

-Jenrick

 

[351 WINCHESTER]

I have been very impressed with prb in .50. It just gets better in the .58. Accuracy has always been much better than one would think. We've killed several deer with the .50 (no hogs yet). My son killed his first buck with a walmart $59. sidehammer. When he pulled the trigger the deer was standing broadside. When the smoke cleared the deer was gone and left no blood trail. We looked for an hour or so and finally found him. There was no bullet hole and no blood. We turned him over and still nothing. I lifted up his tail and found a drop or two. This has to be one of the luckiest shot's ever made as when my son pulled the trigger the deer turned and the rb went squarely into his rectum and lodged near his heart. Distance was almost 75 yds.

 

[Oldnamvet]

A michigan heart shot is what we call that here.

For one rifle caliber to handle everything from varmints and small game up to deer, I'd look at the .45. Loaded down, it is good for rabbits and squirrels provided you take head shots. For hogs I'd like a little bigger bore such as the 50 to 58 range. Answer is to have lots of $$ and get a .32 for rabbit and squirrels, a 36 or 40 for varmints, and a 54 for deer/hogs. Lacking money (as most of us) you can do a lot with a .45 longrifle.

 

[Jim Watson]

.54 was good enough for the US Army for several years and for a lot of Sam'l Hawken's customers.

 

[Loyalist Dave]

Well the .45 is quite good, and considered a common caliber, so if you forget your balls at home on the dresser (gee that sounds naughty or like I'm married) you can often find more at most sportgoods stores that carry some BP stuff.

Check your state regs, for not all states allow the same calibers.

.32.- .36 is small game

.40 is debatable as a whitetail caliber, and it's also very good on small game, though in LA it isn't legal at all.

.45 - .54 Are deer calibers, white tails and mulies. Folks hunted black bear with them, though .45 is light for much of that. Folks back in the day used to finish off the bear with a butcher knife too..., not what I'd call "smart" hunting.

.50 - .58 Deer to Elk, and the top end is Moose Caliber, though .54's have taken Griz and Moose. Not sure I'd trust my .54 vs. Griz on purpose.

.58 - .62 - .69 - .71 - .75 Heavy calibers. Similar to shooting the older Foster slugs from a smooth barrel, but if rifled, more accurate.

.54 - .62 are the popular calibers for smooth bore fusils and "smooth rifles". The .54 is essentially a 28 gauge, and I know a bunch of folks who like them as they do shot on small game, and PRB on deer. The same is true for the .62/20 gauge.

The .69 - .75 calibers are more common in smooth bore muskets. Sure toss a heavy ball, and can be shot quite accurate in spite of claims that they are not good beyond 50 yards (military ammo was made for speed loading..., not for accuracy on a regular basis, hence the lack of accuracy reports.)

NOW..., if you are a good shot..., you don't need no shot to take a squirrel, just pop 'is head with the round ball..., but if he turns like the deer in the earlier story..., well, not much to show for your shot.

I hope this helps. I like my .54 fine..., and my caplock 20 gauge SxS is great on birds and squirrels.

LD

 

[MutinousDoug]

In the State of Colorado the minimum BP caliber for deer/antelope size game is .40"; for elk, it's .50". My .54" Renegade is a more authoritative killer but my .50" H&A is easier to carry back there where the elk live. HTH

 

[Jenrick]

Good info, thanks everyone. In my neck of the woods .50 and .54 are the two most common calibers for rifles on the shelves. I do like the thought of going with a .45 as a pretty much all around caliber, the larger ball and more mass would certainly help with hogs. I'd like to be a little different then all the other folks around here in terms of caliber, but there's a reason it's popular. I'll keep my eyes open and see if I run into a .45 anywhere, and if not probably go with a .50 to keep it a bit lighter.

-Jenrick

 

[StrawHat]

I have never hunted hogs but I have taken a few deer. With decent shot placememnt and within range, a 45 will do it. A 50 is better and I like my 58 best. Remember, with black powder and a PRB the only part of the equation you can easily change is the weight of the bullet and with a round ball the only way to do that is go to a different caliber. PRB velocities are pretty much the same in the hunting calibers. The weight of the round ball is what does the work.

If you are looking for a one size fits all, look for a 50 or 54.

(Now for small game, I have a 32 flintlock that is sweet but finicky.)

 

[arcticap]

In Connecticut, a .45 caliber muzzle loader is the required minimum for deer hunting.

 

[higene]

PRB

I shoot PRB from .32 to .54. I believe that it is most important to shoot what the gun likes. With a PRB in a .32 you are dealing with something that is wickedly accurate at 25-50 yards and hits about like a 22 Magnum - too small and not legal for deer but would kill a black tail dead at 25 yards - I would take the shot. With a .54 Lyman GPR, 90 gr 777 fff and a 225 PRB, I would shoot anything in America that is legal to hunt.

A 30-06 of Blackpowder if you will.

 

[44-henry]

I have shot several deer with a 54 caliber Browning Mountain rifle using plain round balls with a 110 grains of 2fg behind them. That is probably overkill in the powder department, but it is the most accurate load in my Browning so I decided to leave well enough alone. The last deer I shot was a decent size whitetail buck at around 90 yards and the ball punched through both front shoulders and I never did find it. All the deer I have hit with a round ball have simply flattened on impact, can't complain about performance like that.

On the other hand if you are trying to recreate 19th century hunting remember that a lot of folks were using early conicals by the mid 19th century (picket balls, sugar loaf bullets, etc.) and many of the small caliber rifles were really designed around relatively heavy bullets.

 

[Bluehawk]

They have deer in Connecticut??

 

[arcticap]

Toot Toot!

Connecticut whitetails!

The largest [New England] buck of 2007 was Ed Daly's monster 12-pointer taken in Tolland County, Conn. His massive non-typical was taken during the mid-December muzzleloader season and grossed 184 5/8 B&C points.
Daly's buck currently ranks as the all-time No. 2 for muzzleloader bucks from that state, behind Henry Konow Jr.'s massive 206 3/8 New London County monster taken in 2000.

The Daly buck was also the largest gross-scoring buck taken in New England during the 2007 season.

Connecticut also produced 2007's No. 4 muzzleloader buck -- a wild- looking non-typical killed by Reinhart Hermann in Hartford County.

Butch Herman's 160-class muzzleloader non-typical was only one of several huge bucks killed in Connecticut last year. [above]
This 14-pointer scored 163 1/8 gross B&C points, with a massive inside spread of over 26 inches!

http://www.newenglandgameandfish.com/hunting/whitetail-deer-hunting/NG_1208_01/index.html