Minimum FPS for deer hunting?

[Bnt55]

How low will you go regarding FPS on your hunting boolit for deer or American big game? I read that if your cast boolit can explode a 1 gallon jug of water then it is good for meat hunting, and the distance it only splits the jug is the maximum distance for a killing shot. I am working on finding my 45 colt 1894 Marlin a boolit mold so I can hurl some lead next year.

[Shawlerbrook]

Not sure that a minimum fps is the best measurement but I have read many places that energy is a better indicator and that is usually 1000ft.lbs.

[Messy bear]

First thing for if your working with 45 about any reasonable weight and velocity will kill.
Accuracy and trajectory become the more important issues I believe.
I have killed deer with trailboss loads at 750pfs but trajectories are so bad that ranges must be close. Speed the same bullet up and now 75-100 yd is doable.

[Nobade]

Black powder 45 colt loads out of a revolver will shoot through a horse (the original requirement by the government). Deer don't present much of a challenge. Just put it in the right place.

[NSB]

Shooting deer and killing them has almost nothing to do with FPS or muzzle energy. It has EVERYTHING to do with placing the bullet in the vitals. I’ve probably shot somewhere around two hundred deer and they’ve been shot with bows, handguns, shotguns and rifles. Nothing mattered except placing the bullet in the kill area. I’ve killed over fifty with the .357mag using a revolver and never lost a single deer I shot with that cartridge. I once shot a deer with the 44mag and didn’t get it. I made a bad shot and didn’t hit the vitals (sometimes it happens to anyone). Getting shot with a 458 Win Mag in the foot probably won’t kill anything, but getting shot in the heart with a .22lr will kill about anything. Put the bullet where it needs to go and shoot a gun you’re confident you can do that with.

[ABJ]

Shooting deer and killing them has almost nothing to do with FPS or muzzle energy. It has EVERYTHING to do with placing the bullet in the vitals. I’ve probably shot somewhere around two hundred deer and they’ve been shot with bows, handguns, shotguns and rifles. Nothing mattered except placing the bullet in the kill area. I’ve killed over fifty with the .357mag using a revolver and never lost a single deer I shot with that cartridge. I once shot a deer with the 44mag and didn’t get it. I made a bad shot and didn’t hit the vitals (sometimes it happens to anyone). Getting shot with a 458 Win Mag in the foot probably won’t kill anything, but getting shot in the heart with a .22lr will kill about anything. Put the bullet where it needs to go and shoot a gun you’re confident you can do that with.

Could not have said it any better than this.
Tony

[Bnt55]

Shooting deer and killing them has almost nothing to do with FPS or muzzle energy. It has EVERYTHING to do with placing the bullet in the vitals. I’ve probably shot somewhere around two hundred deer and they’ve been shot with bows, handguns, shotguns and rifles. Nothing mattered except placing the bullet in the kill area. I’ve killed over fifty with the .357mag using a revolver and never lost a single deer I shot with that cartridge. I once shot a deer with the 44mag and didn’t get it. I made a bad shot and didn’t hit the vitals (sometimes it happens to anyone). Getting shot with a 458 Win Mag in the foot probably won’t kill anything, but getting shot in the heart with a .22lr will kill about anything. Put the bullet where it needs to go and shoot a gun you’re confident you can do that with.

I get that, and couldn't agree more being that I am more of a bowhunter than a gun hunter. That being said, I am very interested in harvesting a deer using my own "creation" so to speak and my 16 yo son is getting interested in the hobby as well. Anytime you can get a teenager interested in the same stuff, well, that is pretty cool. Thanks for the replies, good to know I don't have to work up a special hard boolit just to drop a doe....now if I could just find the right size my marlin likes to eat....

[HD.375]

i think some bows run at about 250 fps? iirc,

[GhostHawk]

I have killed deer at 50 yards with a .22lr DRT, but the bullet got put where it needed to go.

I would not be afraid of shooting a deer with a .45acp doing 800+ fps as long as the range was right and I was sure I could hit my spot.

The caliber I have shot the most deer with by far is a 20 Ga Rem 870 wingmaster smoothbore with federal slugs.
Inside of 25 yards I was whistling death. So I very very seldom took longer shots than that. As long as they were coming my way I let them come. At that range most were DRT. The one that ran the farthest was less than a foot from the end of my barrel as he jumped over the fireweed I was crouched down behind. If the people I was hunting with had not been so impatient I could have walked right up to him and finished him. But they refused giving him the time to lay down and stiffen up and bleed out.
Patience is a virtue. Knowing what you and your loads and your weapon can do at a given range is another.

[rking22]

I can’t say it any better than above, but you asked for a velocity number. How bout put a 250ish gr fp or hp thru the heart or both lungs at 750fps or better and you will have skinning to do.

[MT Gianni]

Be careful with formulas. Remember that in IPSC the velocity mass calculates that a slow pitched soft ball is more lethal than a 9mm.
Respect your quarry. Understand that velocity is the advantage to minimize sight correction but it aids in allowing a bullet to penetrate and expand. Approach killing an animal from the point of "is this the best my gun has to offer?" rather than absolute minimums.

[Rcmaveric]

Its not about velocity. Its about energy in the ft pound of energy at impact at the distance you expect to shoot a deer.

While i agree its more about shot placement, however states have laws. I live in Florida and our state minimum for firearms is 800lbs of force and bows are 35lb draw min.

There are calculators on line. You input projectile velocity and weight and it gives you the energy.

Just chrono what you plan to use. Do the math and see if its legal. My 30-30 uses 180g bullets and I rather enjoy shooting it at 1650 fps. I am good out to 100 yards with that load and it still be legal.

Here is a quick calculator (this would only show you the energy at the muzzel):
http://www.ballistics101.com/muzzle_energy_calc.php

You would need a ballistics calculator to estimate bullet velocity at different ranges.


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[wolfdog]

I think my 357 load this year was 800 ft/lbs at the muzzle, 600 at 100 yards. I'm not in the energy camp. I think that the larger the cal, the heavier the bullet, the less speed you need. People are killing deer with 30 and 45 cal air guns. And results don't seem marginal at all.

[444ttd]

i use a ruger sbh in 44mag(4 5/8" barrel). i use 250gr penta hp and 255gr keith-type boolits and unique in a 44 special brass. it sure kills deer. i don't have any pictures of spent boolits, the durn things go thru a deer!!!

[dverna]

Good comments. No "award" for using low velocity loads so why go there? Excellent advice to check your state regulations.

Deer are not difficult to kill so any decent load in the .45 LC will get the job done.

[Castaway]

NoBade, if you have a reference the 45 Colt loads were a requirement to shoot a horse, either the trooper’s mount or opponents mount, please post it. The Army tested the Colt pistol against three variants of S&W model 3.. The Colt fired 300 rounds with one misfire (bad primer) without a problem, cooled between 100 rounds, laid in the snow, water poured over it three days and nights and still fired, although rusted “considerably”, then fired for accuracy against the Smith where the Colt proved to be more accurate, placed in a sand box which didn’t bother the working of either, then tested for penetration which the Colt won, 4.4” to 3.35”. Other criteria were established and the Colt outperformed the Smith. Not one horse was shot

[quilbilly]

Having been hunting blacktail deer with a 45 Cal muzzleloader for over 30 years, I can say with certainty that a .445 patched round ball (132 gr appoximately) going 1100 fps, the velocity at about 75 yards, is devastating on deer. The same is true with a .490- 50 Cal patched round ball (172 gr approximately)going approximately 950 fps at 100 yards. If your chosen mold drops a boolit of 220 gr.+ and the terminal velocity is over 800 fps, it will do just dandy for deer if you do your part. You don't need to drive yourself crazy with high pressures, high velocity, and high recoil to get the job done if you are a competent hunter with enough discipline to pass up questionable shots. I would recommend against a round nose boolit, however, and just consider at least a round nose with a flat point or semi-wadcutter if it will feed in your rifle.

[Orchard6]

I’ve taken 3 deer and my daughter just got her first deer today with a 200 grain cast boolit out of a 300 blackout at a little under 1100 fps, all shots taken at less than 50 yards. Hers ran the farthest out the four hit with this bullet and it ran 40 yards and piled up. The damage isn’t tremendous but it seems adequate. As others have said it’s where you put the boolit, not necessarily how fast the boolits going.

[megasupermagnum]

Since you already know what you want to use, a 45 colt rifle, then it comes down to two things. Do you want to use a hollow point, or a solid bullet. If a solid, it doesn't really matter how fast you send it. If a hollow point, I'd like to see at least 1100 fps, to ensure good expansion.

[Shawlerbrook]

A bow kills strictly by causing hemorrhaging and lethal blood loss( at least if you do things correctly and don’t get a lucky head or spine shot). With any of these questions you can answer it on what will kill a deer and what should you use to kill a deer. Yes, shot placement makes all the difference, but in the field Murphy’s Law tends to intervene at times. You can kill by throwing a stone, but that wouldn’t be a reasonable plan.
A 45 is a good size slug that will make a good size hole, even without expansion. So I would look for accuracy and penetration.