Some decisions for deer

[Zeke/PA]

According to LD:
"On page 45 of the PA hunting guide it specifies .50 caliber handgun or larger in either gun or flintlock deer season."

It is not a .50 cal and therefor seems illegal to use as a primary. Maybe it can be taken as a backup as I can in TX.

Actually that statement is on page 42 of 2014/2015 Pa Hunting & Trapping Digest!

 

[45 Dragoon]

Crawdad1, sorry so late!!! The letters in the box (stamped on the frame) denote the year. Yours should probably have a CL or CI. Either way, the twist of the rifling should be good for your conversion. You may need to experiment with different loads but . . . . . itll kill a deer!!!

I normally shoot 6.0 gr.of tight group under 250gr lead RNFP. My Dragoons cruise with that load and '60 jumps pretty good!! Accurate in all of them though.

 

[Crawdad1]

Thanks Dragoon. I been shooting the 45 Schofield in 165 and 180 grains as they don't make my '60 Colt jump so much. But she is far more consistently accurate with the 25 grain and 451 round ball loading. I maybe want to try the heavier conical bullets. The only trouble I see is the loading window on the '60 Colt may limit the weight of the conical to under 200 grains.

But, I don't have much experience working with conicals as I've only shot round balls out of my revolvers.

 

[45 Dragoon]

Well, there ya go! My guns (all) like the heavy bullets. Even my Remie with a six shot cov.cyl. So, more than likely, yours would too. Try some "real" bullets !! Lol (especially if your going to hunt deer) 230g,250g,255g

www.goonsgunworks.com

 

[Crawdad1]

Couldn't you get that weight of bullet in a conical? And if you can, will it fit in the '60 loading window?

 

[rodwha]

There was a conical that weighed 250-something grains used during the Civil War.

 

[Crawdad1]

Maybe best to start this project all over again. I mean with the 141 grain round ball I can still hunt varmints during the spring and summer, a full 6 months and get in some range time in between with the heavier conical bullets or switch to the more potent powders, Swiss or T7 or OE GOEx.

I should have kept that target I shot at the range using the 165 grain 45 Schofields and the 200 grain LC. The Schofields shot well as they always do, but the heavier LCs were all over the place.

Rodwha anyone making these 250 grain conicals?

 

[Crawdad1]

I agree Dragoon, hit that deer with a big frickin sledgehammer of a bullet.

 

[rodwha]

The only somewhat historical-like conicals I'm aware of are the Lee molds, but there are some that Dixie Gun Works and Track of The Wolf sell.

I do know of a fellow who hunts with Kaido and that bunch who prefers a ball in his Walker pushed by a full load of 2F T7 over Kaido's conicals as he says the wound is more wicked if the range is within 25 yds or so. Beyond that and he prefers the Kaido conicals.

I don't care much for the pointy type RN though. I much prefer a nice wide FN. Kaido's are designed from the 45 Colt 255 grn Lee bullet. Nice, but too expensive if you buy cast and his molds take far too long to get as Lee only produces a run for him when their demands are low enough and Kaido has enough demand of his own, which is why I went the more expensive route and had Accurate Molds make me my own designs which have a wider meplat. However mine only weighs 195 grns.

 

[Crawdad1]

Well, I'll take a back seat and wait until I can sight in using either the 451, 454, or 457 ball backed by either the Olde Eynsford or Swiss. Keep my 'sighting in' hammer in place and find out what loading she likes.

I can still hunt deer with the conversion cylinder.

 

[swathdiver]

Crawdad1, you can still drop a deer with a plain old round ball inside of 25 yards if your government allows it. Mechanically speaking, it's a no brainer.

The Johnny Rebs preferred round ball over the pointy conicals because they made sub caliber holes in their targets as did the old Black Powder .45LC by Remington.

The Keith bullets blast full caliber holes coming and going in what they hit.

 

[rodwha]

Pure speculation on my part with what little I think I understand, but a RB has a more blunt face than a typical old school pointy RN conical which may not quite be like FN but behaved much more so than a the conicals of the day, which is why those conicals didn't seem to do much damage but were able to penetrate due to the weight and less friction in the body itself, of which a horse would have plenty of.

I think the RB cut a bigger wound channel. The conicals I've seen are anywhere from the Picket style used in the Walkers to something more akin to the Lee type which is still a bit pointy in comparison to a ball.

I must say I like a wide meplat...

 

[Crawdad1]

The PA regulations for deer on page 42 under regular firearms deer season say, 1) "Manually operated centerfire rifles, HANDGUNS, and shotguns with all-lead bullet or ball." 2) "Muzzleloading long guns of any type, 44 caliber or larger, or a muzzleloading HANDGUN, 50 caliber or larger."

Well, to be on the safe side I'll just keep using the conversion.

Start next year working up a load using the more potent powders like OE or Swiss.