More thoughts...I bought my first flintlock in the mid-70s...Custom made, .45 caliber, round ball only...I hunted with this until 1990 or so, when I finished my .54....I was younger (could see better) and many years I never pulled out my .243, just fell in love with shooting the fllintlock...I had 2 powder charges...50 grains FFF that I used for squirrels, rabbits etc, and I did kill one wild turkey with in '79...

The other charge was 75 grains FFF for deer...I probably killed 40-50 deer with this load...I knew it would penetrate a 2x4 at 75 yards and found out that it would go through shoulder blades, spine, ribs, lungs, whatever was needed to get into the vitals...It didn't usually pass through, but it mushroomed great and they didn't go over 50-75 yards...It was really all that's needed, inside 75-100 yards or so...

When I decided to build a .54, I did a ton of research...I was looking for a bear rifle as I had an incident with a pretty good sized black bear on one of our farms in NC...I wanted to stay with a flintlock and a patched ball...In doing my research I learned that with regular black powder you reach a plateau, or an area of diminishing returns...Also, lets face it, with real black powder you just have a heck of a time getting over 2,000 fps and anywhere between 1600-1800 fps will shoot pretty flat out to 100 yards or so...Heck, hit a deer with a all copper .54 caliber ball that can't expand and you still have a pretty good wound through the lungs....

Finally...I got the 1st edition of the Longhunter Society...Its the NMLRA record book...The record grizzly bear was killed with 120grains FF Goex and a .530 lead ball, shot at 100 yards the ball passed through both lungs and was found under the skin on the off side...I figured that was good enough for me...And it has been.