I was chuckling to myself when I typed that statement...I knew it would get a lot of comments, you guys are actually pretty cordial...Let me give a little more clarification....I'll start with Sabotloader on my comments about a .530 roundball...I bought my first flintlock in 1975, it was a .45, all I ever shot were roundballs, 75grains FFF Goex...It did ok, as long as I kept shots inside of 75 yards...I tested that load, it would penetrate a 2x4 at that range...It would also penetrate a deer's lungs at that range and would be under the skin on the offside...About 1987 I had a close encounter with a bear, I decided to make a .54...at first I used up to 120 grains of FFF Goex as a load, I would put hornet's nesting between the powder and ball to keep from burning through the patches....As I learned more and found more experienced shooters I dropped to 100 and then 80 grains of powder...With flintlocks and open sight, I keep my shots to 125 yards and less...We have plenty of areas in Eastern NC for longer shots, but that's not why I hunt with a muzzleloader...I have killed several deer in the 90-110 yard range with the loading of 80grains and I can tell you, you just don't need more powder, I have gotten pass throughs on shoulder shots and a very dead deer....

On my statement on .243 vs 7mm...I have seen this several times, not only with these two cartridges but with others....The particular case I was thinking about was a hunter that we had come in and shoot 2 does one evening with 175 grain 7mm bullets....I tell you right now he hit the deer behind the shoulder, but the bullets didn't expand properly....Nothing wrong with the 7mm Mag, the hunter just used the wrong bullet....Whereas every bullet that is a 100 grain in .243 is intended for deer and they all seem to work fine, although some give more pass throughs...While we are on that subject, it has been my experience that the bullet that stays in the deer with a centerfire will drop the deer faster...In the case of a .243, within 40-50 yards...If a bullet always goes through, the deer drop about 70-100 yards away from the shot...Now that's with center lung shots....Remember a bullet that penetrates always does not always mean you will have a nice blood trail, sometimes the exit hole gets plugged with internal organs, fat, meat, etc....Also...You will find a blood trail with a bullet that stays in the animal on a lung shot....From the mouth and nose....It might not be as well definded, but its there...

As I have mentioned before, I'm very lucky, I have family farms that I have hunted over 30 years...I have killed at least 250 deer and we kill 40-50 deer off these farms every year...When you start to figure it up that's a heck of a lot of deer...We have 15-20 guests/family/friends, whatever hunt each year, I have to track deer hit with many different calibers...I'll tell you right now, caliber doesn't mean squat, as long as its "reasonable"....A 30-30, .243, 12 gauge slug, 50 caliber Buffalo Bullet, .270, .300 Mag...It doesn't matter....Now if I lived out west where shots start at 200 yards, grizzlies are in the area,etc, I'd probably go with the .300 Mag, but its because of the terrain and the size game, not because the others won't get it done....

As far as range...We try to have our stands set 80-120 yards or so from where we expect to see deer come into the fields, a few stands can have shots out to 4-500 yards, but it is my experience with a high power rifle that once you get out to 150-175 yards or so, hunters start to miss more than I like to see....

When its all said and done, if you use the proper bullet and put it in the proper place a lung shot deer should not go more than 75-100 yards, if you consistantly have deer go farther than that than you are not doing your job...