[Alex Johnson]

I remember Sam Fadela was quite big on the .40 calibers for hunting antalope and small game. Seems to me he favored a rifle by Ozark Arms which looked like a half stocked kentucky. It probably is a company that is long gone, but was a nice enough looking semi-custom rifle. Shouldn't be too hard to build a copy of one, look at Track of the Wolf's offerings and you should be able to come up with some good ideas. I think part of the reason that the 40 never was all that popular was the fact that many states restrict the minimum caliber legal for deer at 45 and up. I doubt that the .40 would pose any problem for serious big game hunting if conicals, or as they called them in the old days "picket" balls were used. The 40 was considered at one time to be a formidable hunting caliber when used with this latter style bullet. Roberts talks about using double barrel rifles in 40 caliber (I think could be wrong) to hunt black bear on the East Coast in the 1880's, doesn't sound like they had any problem dispatching several bear with them either.