i dont shoot even 100 yds with my hawkins .50 cal.
open sights make it very hard at anything over 100 with a deer.
i shoot roundballs for practice but when it comes to deer, i want CONCIAL like a 370 gr maxi-ball or my favorite, 295/348 powerbelt with 80 grs of 2f geox.
i dont want to wound a deer and in my mind, i feel the powerbelt works better than roundball.
its also i lot easier when its cold, no need for bore butter or patch or freezing ,lot easier to load a second shot if necessary and barrel is clean with not freezing bore butter in barreletc.
but , i like i dea of shooting the gun way it was made for roundball hunting is more of challenge .
in summer i like the bore butter/rd ball a lot.
from what i read too, .54 cal is better if you are using it on deer at long ranges or close with roundball but i like the .50 cal and supplies are avaialble MORE than the .54 cal.
look at my friends company,RMCSPORTS ,he is doing away with a lot of things for the .54 cal because the demand is not there for it.
PERSONELLY, i would get the .50 cal and use a good bullet for deer and save roundballs for the practice at range .