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Old February 1, 2015, 01:41 AM   #76
BirchOrr
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Wow...

...I thought this thread was one of the most excellent questions I ever heard on this forum. The original question was, is a 44 cap and ball pistol enough to kill a deer. It absolutely is. I have taken countless deer with a 44 cap and ball pistol.

Anyone here who is a paper puncher and never killed a deer in their life, has absolutely no business even commenting on this question.

I am a hunter, not a paper puncher. I know exactly what every single one of my firearms will do and what they won't do. I prefer black powder firearms. Long gun and pistol alike, along with bow and arrow, and I work at it. Any 44 caliber pistol or long gun whatever... is easily, and completely capable of taking a deer.

I have only ever had one deer get away from me in my life. It was because after I shot it, my hunting partner drove his truck into the field where the deer was laying down dying and it jumped the fence on to a property that we were forbidden to go on. Honestly, it ticked me off terribly.

I have a tremendous reverence for the whitetail deer. They are one of God's finest creatures. Way high on the intelligence chain as far as I'm concerned. Their primary objective in life, is to feed, reproduce and exist. Sometimes, their desire to survive is extreme. Even though they are dead, they don't even know it.

I was hunting with my dad, and watched him shoot a deer at 50 yards with a 50 caliber in line, perfect shot through both lungs and heart and that deer ran 300 yards and piled up on the edge of a woods across an open field. All along the way, there was blood sprayed all over the ground on both sides as though somebody ran through the field with a can of red spray paint.

If you are a paper puncher and have never taken a deer with a rifle or a handgun, why are you bothering everyone here with your bull roar? You have no idea what you are talking about. All your talk about ballistics, feet per second, round ball vs conical, is all speculation as you have never done it. I have been there, & I have done it and the answer to the question is simply this... A 44 with 35 grains of powder and even a round ball is plenty enough to kill a deer at 50 yards or under even a hundred yards if you practice.

When you decide to stop punching paper, and get your butt out in the woods and kill a whitetail then, come back here to this forum and comment on this topic. Until then, you have no idea what you're talking about.
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Old February 1, 2015, 05:09 AM   #77
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Quote:
I have only ever had one deer get away from me in my life.
How many deer have you killed?
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Old February 1, 2015, 05:53 AM   #78
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I would love to see some of the groups these BP revolver hunters are shooting at 50+ yards. Obviously they can take precise heart/lung shots at those distances. I have taken deer with 45/50/62 riflesl as well as numerous center fires. I have shot around enough people in my long life to know a lot of them are not proficient enough to shoot any game animal with a revolver at 50 yds...be it blackpowder or smokeless.
Lots of guys share their experiences on here and get their hackles up if someone disagrees with them, but it doesn't change anything. I guess nobody is going to change anyone's mind about marginal hunting calibers and equipment...so to each his own.
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Old February 1, 2015, 11:49 AM   #79
jimbob86
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Quote:
I have a tremendous reverence for the whitetail deer.
Yet you publicly support people hunting them with what can, at best, only be considered a marginal weapon ....

Quote:
marginal: close to the lower limit of qualification, acceptability, or function : barely exceeding the minimum requirements
At best, it's barely enough. At worst, it's lost animals waiting to happen ..... there are better tools for the job, and no good reason not to use them...... especially if you " have a tremendous reverence for the whitetail deer" .....

Whatever.

Last edited by jimbob86; February 2, 2015 at 02:32 PM.
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Old February 2, 2015, 08:59 AM   #80
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I was done with this thread, with nothing to add, until Birchorr posted. I'm not sure who you are calling "paper punchers" but you seem to make an awful lot of assumptions about people.

I'm calling BS on your whole post. It was prefaced by a lot of attacks, and what followed was just unbelieveable. You said you've had one deer get away in your lifetime. Are you saying in all your years of bagging deer with your .44 round balls, you have never missed a shot??? If you claim you've never missed a shot, I say BS. I you have "missed", how many of those were actually not "misses", and how do you know?

How many is "countless"? 100yards with a .44 cap and ball? Really? What kind of acccuracy do you get at 100 yards? Some of your claims are so outlandish that they destroy the credibility of your entire post.

You can argue about whether or not the average hunter is skilled enough to get close enough for a .44 to be effective, and whther or not its effective at 25 yards, but suggesting people take 100 yard shots at deer with a 44 round ball revolver is irresponsible and unethical in my book.


The OP will do as he see fit. Appears he had made up his mind before asking the question. One more thing I'd suggest is shooting those Triple & loads over a Chrony, because I think you're putting a lot of stock into an article where they got results that I don't think you'll see. I'd also be interested in what happens to accuracy when you get into the upper end.

Good luck, and let us know what happens. I'm sure you'll share your success. I hope you will also share bad results should they occur.
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Old February 2, 2015, 10:02 AM   #81
deerslayer303
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Quote:
I'm not sure who you are calling "paper punchers" but you seem to make an awful lot of assumptions about people.
I think he was making that statement because someone mentioned they didn't deer hunt, they just punched paper.

Quote:
Appears he had made up his mind before asking the question
On the contrary, I did not have my mind made up or I would not have posed the question. I have made up my mind that my revolver will not be loaded with roundball, from the info posted here. I will work on developing a load for conicals and practice with them. I'm not a target shooter and do not compete with anyone. Most of my BP shooting is done for fun and developing loads and methods to use in the woods. My revolver may not do well with Conicals, or I may not be able to shoot them well, who knows. Then it will be a matter of 3 chambers loaded with shot and 3 loaded with roundball for whatever. Hunting deer and taking shots at 100 plus yards is really not my cup of tea. Getting him in close and beating him at his own game is more of a challenge in my mind. The gratification of having a whitetail close enough to hear him breath is second to none.
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Old February 2, 2015, 11:28 AM   #82
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And then the other point is that the ball from a pistol at 25 yds still has the energy levels that a rifle does at 100 yds, and at 100 yds a rifle is well known by those who hunt with them that you are likely to get a complete passthrough or find your ball under the hide on the offside.

"This has not been my experience."

The ballistics calculator doesn't lie.

I was strongly against using a ball from a rifle looking at the numbers until, on a few traditional forums, way too many people gave their accounts and showed the pics. It was because of the overwhelming numbers that I decided the numbers didn't tell the whole story.
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Old February 2, 2015, 03:59 PM   #83
BirchOrr
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Gentleman,
I'd like to make myself a little more clear.

My last post here is not bullroar. I simply get upset when people talk smack on this forum.

I also agree, the right tool for the right job.

1. I have never taken a shot on any white tail, or any other animal for that matter unless I knew it was going to be a good clean killing shot. if it was questionable, I simply don't take the shot.

2. I shot my first buck when I was 14 years old. I used my grandpa's Winchester 30 30. At that time in Michigan, we were allowed one buck tag and that was it. Years later they changed all that and we could get two bucks and buy as many doe tags as we wanted. This year, we are limited to 5 doe tags. I am 56 years old now. We have an early doe season then a bow season then a regular gun season then a black powder season then a late doe season that goes all the way up to January 1st. roughly three and a half months of deer hunting. Many of us up here hunt and fish for our food. In recent years since they upped the limit, I have taken anywhere from 3 to 6 deer a year.

3. I have never taken a shot on a deer with a bow and arrow past 25 yards. With a black powder pistol, I have never taken a shot much past 35 yards. Cap and ball rifle, 100 yards. In line BP rifle, a little over 200 yards. You can call me a liar if you want to. I have only ever had the one dear get away I mentioned earlier after I decided to take the shot, in my life. I did miss one earlier in my life with a shotgun and a slug and that's when I switched to black powder to begin with. Simply because of accuracy.

4. I shoot a lot and I know what every single one of my pistols, rifles and bow and arrow will do and what they won't do.

5. In southern Michigan, it is bow, shotgun or black powder only. No rifles only exception being black powder. I have an advantage over some other folks as I can get anything I want for my black powder firearms. I won't even take them in the field unless they are perfect. I spend a ton of money on each one to be sure they are functioning at their full potential. For the record, during the regular shotgun season, I use an inline. When it comes black powder season, I use a 50 caliber Hawken and also a black powder 6 shooter. Either a Ruger or a Colt Walker. When stalking field of standing corn, there is nothing better then a six shooter. Up close and personal.

6. Do I punch paper? You bet I do, & a lot of it! I simply have to know what I am using is spot on.

7. It seems the disagreement here is whether something is big and powerful enough to do the job or not. Last year a good friend of mine bought a Smith and Wesson 460. He had a doe this year coming straight at him. He pulled up aimed and fired hitting her right square in the chest. Her guts blew right out her rear end destroying the entire animal. It seems to me the disagreement is what is too little and what is too much.

Kindest regards,

Birch
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Old February 2, 2015, 05:40 PM   #84
deerslayer303
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Well I guess I will just compromise and get a Dragoon, not quite as big and heavy as a Walker and holds a tad more powder than my '58.
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Last edited by deerslayer303; February 2, 2015 at 07:53 PM.
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Old February 2, 2015, 07:03 PM   #85
45 Dragoon
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Well, it would give you a reason (and a need !!?) for another revolver!! Would be a fine companion for a Remie !!!! Just sayin

Love the Remies too though . . . .

Mike
www.goonsgunworks.com
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Old February 2, 2015, 07:54 PM   #86
deerslayer303
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Mike, You're NOT helping.
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Old February 2, 2015, 08:22 PM   #87
45 Dragoon
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Haaaa!!
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Old February 2, 2015, 09:07 PM   #88
BirchOrr
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:-)
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Old February 3, 2015, 06:52 AM   #89
eastbank
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my black powder hunting revolver is a early ruger SS old army and it kills deer very well with a round ball. i hunt from a tree stand and ground blind that i share with a friend who uses it in bow season and i use it in the regular and black powder season. i have serveyors blue tape i tie on tree,s 35yds around the stands and shoot no farther than that. the stands are at the bottom of two revines that funnel the deer into a single trail up the mountain and the shots are taken only on standing broadside deer. i admit i have only killed four deer with the revolver(15 killed with BP rifles) but all were lung pass thru hits and the deer all expired within my view. eastbank.
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