Man, and guys swear by using 150 grains of powder and here you are mowing down trees at 100+ yards. I seen a guy shoot the Smith and Wesson 500 hand cannon revolver into 10 feet thick of phonebooks at 25 yards and it was measured to penetrate to 8 feet and the bullet retained 95% weight after that. It is truly amazing when you think about it. I think that some of the older guns were maxed out at 50 grains of powder and took game well out to 50 yards with good placement. I think it has become a power and money thing now. I would love to get ahold of a 75 cal Brown Bess flinter but can't afford it. I seen an old timer whenI was in boy scouts at camp (long ago)load this gun for us scouts and we were about 100 yards from an old oak tree that had fallen and they cut this tree in such a way it looked like a sheet of plywood big and bright and had a red target painted on it. The guy said watch the center of the target, we all studied the target while watching him put the finishing touches on the gun load. He pulled the trigger and click, crack bang, right after that the target literally exploded into splinters and looked like a bomb went off. It was amazing and something I'll never forget. I think that's why I'm hooked on MLs. I just can't imagine what that would do to a deer.