caliber vs accuracy

[jayman448]

im not a black powder shooter but i plan on becoming one in the near future. I hope to get something in a 32 or 45 cal thinking that less lead equals greater velocity and range and accuracy. is this the case or is my thinking flawed?

[ksnow]

Less lead means less moving mass. My 32 is a tack driver at 25 yards, but a light breeze blows that little pill all over at 50 yards. I have seen great accuracy at 50 yards from 36 to 62 caliber rifles. The 50s and 54s are great out to 100, provided you spend the time to find load, patch, ball combo that works.
Also depends what you are planning on using it for. 40 would be a minimum for deer. 54 for elk. 32s are great small game guns.

[Hawkdancer]

Sort of depends on what you want to do with it.  .40 cal will stop a deer, you can load down for smaller game,  .50 cal will stop an elk with a heavy load (minimum elk caliber in Colorado) and larger calibers will take down most anything with a heavy load.  Shot placement is still key.  I hunt mostly with either my .50 or .58 cal. with round balls, or Minie bullets, Buffalo bullet, etc.  every black powder shooter has their favorite cal. And preference, and most think that is the only best way .  For target and small game, .40 (or .45) would probably do you nicely.  Have fun, shoot straight and keep your powder dry!
Hawkdancer

[PEARL DRUMS]

Get a .32 for hares and squirrels and get a .50 for deer. There isn't one caliber that is more accurate than the next. Accuracy comes from experimenting with charges and rounds, as Ksnow mentioned.

[BowEd]

You can bark shot squirrels with a .54.No damage and a dead squirrel.Actually I had a.36 full stock Hatfield once.It was'nt as accurate as my .54 I thought.Maybe I shot my .54 more that's why.

[JW_Halverson]

Get a .32 for hares and squirrels and get a .50 for deer. There isn't one caliber that is more accurate than the next. Accuracy comes from experimenting with charges and rounds, as Ksnow mentioned.

You want to explain why almost every single accuracy record is held by the .40 caliber?

[loon]

A 40 cal Minie ball out of a rifle really can't be accurate to 300 yards? Or a 50 cal?

[jayman448]

Sort of depends on what you want to do with it.  .40 cal will stop a deer, you can load down for smaller game,  .50 cal will stop an elk with a heavy load
Hawkdancer

 so i dont mean to get offensive... but if we here believe anything in the right range and right shot placement can be taken with a stick and pointy rock moving at the speed of dust in the wind... why dont we figure a 35 cal will do deer or a 40 cal will do an elk? again no offense just curious as to mentalities or experiences/ tests done on penetration and such

[Eric Krewson]

One of my good friends has won just about every M/L championship in the country at one time or another. He shoots a .40 as does most of his competitors, that should tell you something.

[half eye]

My experience is the same as Erik mentioned. My favorite target guns are both 40 cal flinters one is for the Michigan 6 bull targets and the other is for the off-hand poker chip shoots and running deer targets. Both are extremely accurate. I would not think anything at all about 75 yard head shots.

Having said all that, the original folks associated bore size to range not accuracy. A .730 round ball will carry energy farther than will a .580 for example. It is a simple matter of a round ball having poor ballistic coefficient as well as low sectional density, when compared to a long high sectional density modern bullet.

Roundball muzzel-loading shooting is a mind set, they are accurate (or can be made so) and have proven to be effective. Learn to shoot accurately, follow through, get your lock-time to a minimum, and keep the sport alive.
rich

[PEARL DRUMS]

Is the .40 the most accurate by nature or just the easiest to become accurate?

My comment was based on simple hunting guns. I have no clue about world record shooting guns or what people use to set said records. 

[Josh B]

 so i dont mean to get offensive... but if we here believe anything in the right range and right shot placement can be taken with a stick and pointy rock moving at the speed of dust in the wind... why dont we figure a 35 cal will do deer or a 40 cal will do an elk? again no offense just curious as to mentalities or experiences/ tests done on penetration and such
[/quote]


Bullets and broadheads use different principles to kill.  A razor sharp broadhead cleanly severs arteries and other major blood vessels causing hemorrhaging and eventually exanguination(sp).  The razor cut blood vessels do not close up like torn blood vessels.  Bullets (roundballs) have no razor edge to cleanly sever blood vessels so the principle that makes them effective is energy transfer(hydrostatic shock) .Hydrostatic shock creates a massive temporary wound channel that ruptures all the blood vessels in the area of impact rather than just the few a broadhead severs in its path.  The more mass of the projectile at a given speed, the more energy it has to transfer into the vitals.  This is why you want bigger caliber for bigger game.  Josh

[JW_Halverson]

For simplicity, I would recommend a .36 for small game and a .50 for the rest.   

Smaller the caliber, the faster it fouls.  On a hot and humid day, I may have to run a wet patch down the barrel almost every shot with my .36!  The .32's are even more persnickity. Plus, availability of ramrod stock for this caliber is limited.  And at that skinny of a ramrod, you are gonna need replacements far more often.  You get about 104 balls to the pound with a .36, so you are looking at something just under 70 grains of weight for the ball.  NOT a long range shooter.  Even with my hottest loads, I was unable to print on 16" diameter paper targets at 100 yds with a 15 mph crosswind.  But to be honest, off bench on a great day and no wind, I could barely make my groupings under 8 inches.  I am nobodies sniper. 

For a big game gun, I say go with the .50 because it is so easy to find accessories, precast roundballs, patches, etc, etc.  It is enough with a higher powder charge to ethically take elk at REASONABLE range. And if you are dealing with smaller deer at close ranges, you can scrimp on powder.  I shoot a light load of 70 grains in my .50 and have only had one ball recovered! All the others were pass through.

Getting a .40 to split the difference is not a great choice in my opinion because even the hottest loads are on the puny side and isn't even legal in many states. So if you have to get only one, get the larger caliber and learn how it shoots at "blooper" loads, midrange loads, and hot loads. If you get lucky, the only thing that changes is the vertical point of impact.  My .36 shoots the same at 15 grains all the way to 65 grains of powder, each one just hits a little higher on paper at a given range.

[Buckeye Guy]

Looks like Gundoc and Jw got y'all straightened  out purty good.

[jayman448]

Getting a .40 to split the difference is not a great choice in my opinion because even the hottest loads are on the puny side and isn't even legal in many states.

no such laws here. it is such an underutilized method of hunting here but we also have no muzzy only season. just special season for bows (BC Canada) interesting tho is if it is a cap lock we need full licenses. flint lock any bloke can pick one up at Canadian tire without a word XD ( still far more resticted than most of you guys are down south of the border)