Deer hunting with a 32 cal

[Hi-Speed]

You’re right, and one doesn’t get reprimanded for bringing back an old thread like other blogs.

[sharps4590]

40 cal. is legal for deer in Missouri. I have a late Lancaster in 45 I was dying to take a deer with and it took a couple representative does with aplomb. Farthest shot about 75 yards, closest about 60. My neighbor used a 40 with PRB for deer for a few years and has tracked penetration from the brisket to the point of the off ham where he found the ball. Shot was about 50 yards he tells me and he's trustworthy.

Other than the two with the 45 I mostly use my 54's. Even though my neighbor has had good luck with his 40 he went to a 54 a couple years ago. More to do something different than anything else, I believe.

[rodwha]

40 cal. is legal for deer in Missouri. I have a late Lancaster in 45 I was dying to take a deer with and it took a couple representative does with aplomb. Farthest shot about 75 yards, closest about 60. My neighbor used a 40 with PRB for deer for a few years and has tracked penetration from the brisket to the point of the off ham where he found the ball. Shot was about 50 yards he tells me and he's trustworthy.

Other than the two with the 45 I mostly use my 54's. Even though my neighbor has had good luck with his 40 he went to a 54 a couple years ago. More to do something different than anything else, I believe.

Not being sarcastic at all, but it sure seems a cast ball is imbued with magic as they certainly perform well outside of what seems logical, though partly that’s to do with writers and promoters telling us that a .30-06 is barely capable of taking deer these days if you use an older cup and core bullet.

When I ran the numbers for a .50 cal ball I scoffed at how that could be a worthy projectile on deer beyond maybe 50 yds at best, but I’ve been shown otherwise, and out where the ft/lbs people like to talk about is under 400, and it still goes completely through a deer shot broadside, and not just the little deer known in FL or TX.

[Good Cheer]

A .45 cal was nearly unheard of along the eastern board. A .40 cal was rather large and yet all sorts of game were taken with the lowly ball as conicals weren’t a thing back then with the flintlocks. Of course the ranges there tend to be rather short where 50 yds is pretty far. The calibers didn’t tend to get bigger until they moved westward.

Looking at one inch and thicker barrels with a .38 hole down the middle just blows my mind.
Like oh my Grampa, what big arms you have!

[Good Cheer]

Oh hey, about hunting with a .40.
With 28" and 38" long Green Mountain .40 drop-ins I experimented with various designs trying to see what could be done. Used lubed lead boolits and card wads. Used paper patched. I got some pretty good results but in the end there was always a flyer in the spread to make me go "uh oh". Couldn't get good enough results such as I'd wanta hang my hat on.

[Good Cheer]

And these.

[Good Cheer]

And them.

[Good Cheer]

Still got the 28" long Green Mountain .40.
Some day reckon will try something else in it just for grins.
From what I've seen in tests a pointy nosed hollow base would probably work. Once upon a time Ideal sold hollow base molds for 38-40 with oversized groove diameters and that boolit would pro'bly work.

If .40 bore was what you had and you were shooting at deer under fifty yards it would be real easy to reliably out-do the performance of an 1873 chambered for 38-40, both in velocity and boolit weight. With the various designs I tried out past fifty yards the slow round ball twist totally blows hunting accuracy.

[sharps4590]

rodwha, I think it was Sam Fadala who wrote, "the patched round ball kills all out of proportion to its paper ballistics". Given the 30 or so deer I've taken with the PRB, with 45, 50 and 54 all I can do is agree.

If I want to take a deer with cast, handgun bullets I'll use a revolver, thank you very much.

[rfd]

going that low in a patched ball diameter for medium sized hunted game just potentially ups the ethics and luck off the charts. not smart. even if all conditions and the the trigger finger appear "right".

[Good Cheer]

rodwha, I think it was Sam Fadala who wrote, "the patched round ball kills all out of proportion to its paper ballistics". Given the 30 or so deer I've taken with the PRB, with 45, 50 and 54 all I can do is agree.

If I want to take a deer with cast, handgun bullets I'll use a revolver, thank you very much.

Well there's a thought... perhaps the deer hunters of the early 1800's would have opted for magnum hand guns if they'd had them instead of developing the conical elongated bullets for their round ball rifles.

[Good Cheer]

This is from another .40.
Definitely a step up from Dad's 38-40.

[Froogal]

Pretty much anything that goes bang WILL take a deer if it is a well placed shot, or maybe just lucky.

[beemer]

I have never been a great deer hunter but have killed a few. A 50 cal is my go to for deer but I do have a 40 cal and have used it to take deer. A .395 PRB and 60 grs of 3F through both lungs works, think about 65 yds. was the longest shot. It was mostly a squirrel rifle with a 38 spcl case of 3F, about 28 grs. There isn't any restrictions on caliber of a ML in NC.

[Hanshi]

Just me, but the .32, and .36, are small game rifles. While the .32 is more powerful than is usually given credit for, I consider it a "last ditch, "survival" and "emergency" deer rifle. All the states I've hunted in had .45 as the minimum caliber for muzzleloaders. I've taken lots of deer with a couple of .45s, from 15 feet up to 75 yards. The .40? Maybe, where it's legal.

[rodwha]

I’ve read that the .327 Federal Magnum works quite well on medium game. The .32-40 is comparable, but with a heavier bullet. I wouldn’t call it bare minimum at all IF it has a wide meplat and plenty of velocity such as with the .32-40. I’d still opt for more. But even the .38-55 was well known to be quite effective and still under .40 or .45.

With that said I’ve always liked larger calibers when it comes to slower velocities. And I’ve most certainly contemplated a muzzleloading equivalent to the .38-55 using a heavy bullet with a wide meplat.

A bit of an estimate here, but judging by the 8mm Lee bullet I’d think a 150 WFN would have a BC or maybe .175 and might be short enough to stabilize in a moderate twist. Launched at 1500 fps, roughly about what the .32-40 does, this would have 1200 fps left at 100 yds (900’ elevation) with 479 ft/lbs, and according to Beartooth’s data this would create over a 3/4” permanent cavity if it didn’t expand, which would be quite large compared to what I read of a patched ball doing at that distance from a large caliber. An 80% meplat would be about .256” from an actual .32 cal bullet.

[megasupermagnum]

The 357 magnum is a very good deer cartridge. 158 grains at 1200 fps is pretty standard. Can a 32 caliber rifle get a 150ish grain conical to 1200 fps safely? If so, it has the potential to be a good deer rifle.

[rodwha]

The 357 magnum is a very good deer cartridge. 158 grains at 1200 fps is pretty standard. Can a 32 caliber rifle get a 150ish grain conical to 1200 fps safely? If so, it has the potential to be a good deer rifle.

It would depend on wall thickness I’d guess. Not sure how sturdy the various .32’s available are, but one could go custom if they aren’t designed to handle that sort of load. But then I was looking at 1500 fps as it compares fairly equally to the .32-40 which is known to be effective on medium game.

But at a muzzle velocity of 1200 fps it would still have 1020 fps at 100 yds with 347 ft/lbs, and according to the chart would create a touch over .625”. Still not bad according to the numbers. But I’d want 1200 fps at the animal.

[StrawHat]

A .45 cal was nearly unheard of along the eastern board. A .40 cal was rather large and yet all sorts of game were taken with the lowly ball as conicals weren’t a thing back then with the flintlocks. Of course the ranges there tend to be rather short where 50 yds is pretty far. The calibers didn’t tend to get bigger until they moved westward.

Rodwha,

Many of the flintlocks used in the early days of this country were larger than 50 caliber, some much larger. During the percussion era the caliber might have been reduced but a hunting rifle or smooth rifle relied on the caliber and mass of the PRB to anchor game.

Kevin

[Edward]

Rodwha,

Many of the flintlocks used in the early days of this country were larger than 50 caliber, some much larger. During the percussion era the caliber might have been reduced but a hunting rifle or smooth rifle relied on the caliber and mass of the PRB to anchor game.

Kevin

I always thought (back in the day) folks were kind of frugal with their /powder/lead , no stores down the street .They recovered their lead when possible (bag molds) and got close before shooting the squirrel . You could carry more shots in smaller calibers ,weight mattered back then too.And I bet they ate more small game than buffalo back then!