I guess I can put in my 2 cents too. I've always been a 50 cal fan. It was all I owned. But recently (in the past year or so) I've acquired two .45s. Now these are both sidelocks (a Renegade and a Hawken). Now don't get me wrong, the 50 cals can shoot with the right load, but the 45s, to me, do tend to have a bit of an accuracy edge at the longer distances. But I am like Cayugad in my hunting situation. A long shot for me is 50 yds for the most part. And I don't think any deer is going to notice the difference if I put my bullet in the right spot. Now if I was going for something big and nasty I would definately lean toward the 50, or even a 54. Something that has a lot of frontal mass and immediate energy transfer.