.36 cal for 300 yards?

[seekersoftheredmist]

In the market for a new smoke pole.32 or 36 cal is what im considering. This will be mainly for plinking around with but might use it for deer as well. the question i have is how accurate are they to say... 300 yards AND what kind of energy would they have at that distance? enough to knock down steel or even better to ethically take deer sized game? OR would i be better off with a 45 cal ( ive had several) or just get another 50 cal. Im wanting to go with a kentucky style long gun. any help would be much obliged.

[StrawHat]

Of the PRB calibers you mention, I consider the 45 to be marginal and the 50 a better choice for deer. Unless you have the correct twist for the round ball and can load a lot of powder to make it an express rifle.

[Good Cheer]

For longer range round ball shooting a longer barrel in the .54 to .60 range is probably going to work best.

[Nobade]

I do have a .350"X.358" bullet firing rifle, which uses a .349", 300 grain bullet. Propelled by 50 gr. Swiss FFFg, it is essentially a caseless 38-55. Hitting things at 300 yards is easy, if you know the dope. But killing game at that range is not something I would try. It surely has enough momentum to go through a deer, but the trajectory and time of flight are very large. Just like any other black powder powered rifle, keep the shots close - under 150 yards or so in order to have some idea of where to aim. Now if you are talking about a 36 cal roundball gun, then as excess 650 said, 75 yards is a long shot. Balls fall out of the air in a hurry, and get blown around by the wind a lot. They also need to be a lot bigger than you would expect to work well at longer ranges. I am very confident in my 58 cal. ball gun at 100 yards but much past that is kind of pushing it.

-Nobade

[Squeeze]

I have done some testing in some faster twist .32 with maxi's at 100 yards, (TC cherokee 1-30, and some custom inlines 1-34,1-36 twist, I have tried some 1-48 twist, but accuracy is severely diminished) I can get some accuracy on a very calm day, but any wind will drift the bullet easily 6 inches and more. And from the bench, there is a long gap from shot report, to impact report. But under the right conditions, I can get some pretty decent accuracy (at least surprising to me) Im still in the research and development stages for this, and personally, I wouldnt hunt deer with less that abt a .45, maybe a .40 in some cases, and where I hunt all shots are well under 100 yard. Next time out, I'll have to bring a box of damp newsprint and do some ballistics testing at range. (been wanting to anyway) and eventually compare different calibur's and bullets

[Chihuahua Floyd]

I agree with the above comments on keeping the 32 and 36 calibers out of the woods during deer season. I know deer have been killed with them but its not about how little gun you can use. And I personally will not take a 300 yard shot with a muzzle loader at a deer.
CF

[Junior1942]

I agree with the above comments on keeping the 32 and 36 calibers out of the woods during deer season. I know deer have been killed with them but its not about how little gun you can use. And I personally will not take a 300 yard shot with a muzzle loader at a deer.
CF

What CF said.

[Omnivore]

Redmist; I'd say get a 50 cal and then learn to load it well, shoot it accurately, and care for it well. The 50 caliber patched round ball, driven hard, is your starting caliber in my opinion. Conical bullets in 45 will do the job too. For what it's worth; WA Fish and Game regs lists 40 as the minimum caliber in a muzzleloader for deer and 45 for anything larger. Using those minimum calibers, you'd want elongated bullets pushed fairly fast, to reach out that far with authority. Think 45-70...

If you're talking 18th century style shooting, it's a ball, and the longer range shooting needs a bigger ball. Sixty caliber or more will do better on long shots. We've all heard of the 200 or 300 yard shots in the American Revolution (famous because of their extreme rarity) but the objective there was to put a man out of the fight, not to anchor and retrieve a big game animal. Very different tasks, and the latter requires a decent caliber and better shot placement.

[Hanshi]

A .36 prb at 300yards! No way. A heavy .36 bullet, yes. Speaking of deer, I've always found the .45 shooting a prb to be an excellent choice. It's also a fair all around caliber, too. If I didn't want a .45 (!!!), I'd go up to the .50 rather than down to the .40 though it, too, can be made to suffice.

[DIRT Farmer]

I have hit the 300 meter chicken with my 40. Then I put the rifle up and started bragging. A 54 round ball will do reasonably well to 200 if you practice enough to learn it. Wind and miraige will rule out hunting with it at that range.

[seekersoftheredmist]

Just a quick question: how many of yall commenting actually shoot "long range" Muzzle loaders? 200 yards and beyond? out here we dont consider "long range" until you get past 600 yards. Just wondering. many of the replies have said NO to shooting past 75 yards! that made me laugh. also the bullet i was going to use would be a paper patched variety.if a gun will shoot moa or less at 75-100 then it should be able to hit a 14" plate at 300 yards. the muzzle velocity should be comparable to a 38-55 and its a proven mid range (600 easily and in) round. Please list your experiences to help prove your opinion with some technical data too ( for example: grains of powder, weight of projectile, length of barrel, sight system , ect) thanks fellers!!!

[mooman76]

Maybe if you had given this info to start with, you would have gotten better answers. Most as myself probably thought you were talking RBs or regular conicals since that that is what is usually used.

[StrawHat]

Just a quick question: how many of yall commenting actually shoot "long range" Muzzle loaders? 200 yards and beyond? out here we dont consider "long range" until you get past 600 yards. Just wondering. many of the replies have said NO to shooting past 75 yards! that made me laugh. also the bullet i was going to use would be a paper patched variety.if a gun will shoot moa or less at 75-100 then it should be able to hit a 14" plate at 300 yards. the muzzle velocity should be comparable to a 38-55 and its a proven mid range (600 easily and in) round. Please list your experiences to help prove your opinion with some technical data too ( for example: grains of powder, weight of projectile, length of barrel, sight system , ect) thanks fellers!!!

You want credentials to back up our recommendations and you provided none of your own.

If you already have formed an opinion and choose not to give adequate information about the question, don't whine about the answers you receive.

[Nobade]

Yep, that's not a very good way to get along here. Besides, didn't you read my post above? I directly address what you are saying. Heck, hitting torso plates at 750 yd. isn't terribly hard with that rifle. But there's no way I would use it for hunting past about 150 yd, and preferably a lot closer. There is a big difference between fooling around shooting steel and killing game.

-Nobade

[GARD72977]

Give him a break guys. I read the post and it can be taken harsh but I doubt that is how it was intended. Im very interested in this post. I have been wanting to do a small bore fast twist. Other interests and lack of money have been in the way. At least I can read this thread where other people are having the fun I want to!

[Rooster59]

I have no credentials on the subject except hours on end as spectator when my friends are shooting BPCR matches. Two of them are top shooters out to 1,000 yards with heavy caliber and none would hunt beyond 200 with the same gun. Hitting a steel plate and ethical hunting at the same yardage are two different things.

It can probably be done with a small caliber front stuffer but boy would it take a lot of work, money, practice, and close to divine intervention.

Good luck with the effort and don't forget to post pictures.

[Geraldo]

Sounds to me like you've got your mind made up. Build it and let us know if it works or if it's just beating your head against the wall.

You want 300 yard experience hunting, look up IdahoRon's posts and see how its done.

[Squeeze]

Ive been wanting to have a fast twist .36 inline built and shoot either paper patch, or the MMP sabots for a .32 in a .36. maybe in abt a year. I DO have .416 and .45 smokeless builds that will shoot to 600+, still fine tuning them. So many toys, so little range time..

[johnson1942]

talking on the internet is no different than talking in person, at leaste it should be that way. if you ruffle feathers in person you will do it on the internet. but you shouldnt be in either case. so much for that. match your bullet to the twist you have, size it right, wrap it right and use the right powder charge and it will reach out their. i have a 1/22 twist 50 that can shoot a 720 grain bullet and when i sighted it in at 200 yards i was very surprised at how much the wind moved that bullet sideways. i was hopeing it would plow right through the wind but it didnt. i suspect a 38/55 bullet wouldnt have gone sideways any diff. that my big 50 did. i like your ideas and have been thinking about a fast twist like your talking about. research every detail that involves makeing the perfect long distance gun and it should shoot well. if you knocking over a target the big bores will have you hands down but getting it their is about the same. i have learned so much from the posts on this site, down to fine details and i will continue to learn here and thanks every one for the miles of input i carefully go through. keep it comming

[Bullshop]

Ive been wanting to have a fast twist .36 inline built and shoot either paper patch, or the MMP sabots for a .32 in a .36. maybe in abt a year. I DO have .416 and .45 smokeless builds that will shoot to 600+, still fine tuning them. So many toys, so little range time..

A couple years ago there was a fella on the Dirty White Boys forum that rebarreled a White inline to 35 cal. He had me make him up some 290gn boolits for it and he did some fine shooting with it.
35 cal raised quite a ruckus with the BPCR guys about the same time. Something about the 35 Maynard not being legal for competition but shooting perty darn good.
I had a 40 cal White and it was easily the equal of a modern 40/65 quick twist shooting 400gn boolits.