.45 or .50 Cal for deer

Shooters Choice in Waterloo has a Pedersoli Pennsylvania Rifle in .45 Cal for a decent price. I put a note out on a few Facebook groups asking what our friends to the South thought about Pedersoli quality. There are a few posters that are of the opinion that .45 is too small for hunting deer, they are suggesting .54 or even .58 Cal.

IMHO a well placed .45 round ball should do the job on deer in Ontario; a conical would be even better. Having seen buckshot kill deer on more than one occasion I am of the opinion that bigger is not always better, but I know there are traditional black powder shooters out there with more experience than myself. Any thoughts?

Thanks - Scott

I have both a 45 and 58 but never shot a deer with either. If you look at the ballistics there is a good argument to use a 45 but if you try and find anything other than round balls most stores are not well stocked (ie Cabellas), much more ammo choices and availability for 50. Ironically Shooters Choice had some 45 maxis I picked up recently, you can also find a good selection of ammo at Track of the Wolf (mail order): http://www.trackofthewolf.com/List/Item.aspx/129/1

the 45 cal will be more then adequate for deer ,shot placement is the key,,

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Originally Posted by hunter204

the 45 cal will be more then adequate for deer ,shot placement is the key,,

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I think that applies to any firearm or bow used on deer (unless you're going so big there isn't anything left to eat after the shot ). I once got suckered into tracking a doe that was gut shot with a 12 ga slug; it still went a long way before we found it...

Buffalo Bullets in California has a great selection of conicals (I assume they are still in business?). Or I may just cast my own if I need to...

Have to remember that most .50 cal sabots are using a .45 bullet/conical...so a .45 would seem to be perfect for killing deer :)

The popular .50 Cal black powder inline rifles shot with a 250 gr. sabot end up with being a .45 Cal bullet travelling down the barrel. From experience, I can tell you this combination works well.

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Originally Posted by cannonbi

The popular .50 Cal black powder inline rifles shot with a 250 gr. sabot end up with being a .45 Cal bullet travelling down the barrel. From experience, I can tell you this combination works well.

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Welcome to the forum cannonbi.....nice to see a guy picking up on that on his first post, you'll fit in here well :)

As to Pedersoli quality: I have a Davide Pedersoli SxS 12 ga muzzle loading shotgun that's about 40 years old and have never had any trouble with it.

As to .45 vs .50 - either will do the job if you place the bullet correctly.

Pete,

Glad you replied as I know you have more experience in this area than myself.