Duramax05

I've been hunting with inlines for awhile, but always with a .50 cal. Do any of you guys use the .45 cal and what advantages/ disadvantages come with it? Also, I'm just hunting deer with it.

frontier gander

i hunt with a sidelock .45 with a 225 grain powerbelt. Advantage, shoots flatter. Disadvantage?? Cant think of any with this rifle. Its the rifle i look to when shooting deer on the open sage cover ground in colorado. Its one of my most favorite rifles.

oldsmellhound

Duramax,

I've had a .45 cal inline CVA for about a year and a half now. I personnally like it, although it has taken me quite a while to find loads that it really likes. I've taken 1 deer (medium-sized buck) with it - dropped in it's tracks at 108 yards. Here are some pros & cons based on my limited experience:

Pros:
-Better long range perfomance (in theory) because of the better sectional density and ballistics of a .40 cal bullet saboted (such as a 200 grain shockwave, or the lead/polymer tipped offerings from Traditions).
-Can use light bullets & low powder charges if desired (i.e. low-recoil loads for those who don't like recoil - children, for example).

Cons:
-The better long range performance is probablymostly on paper. Everyone that I know that shoots at long range (150+ yards) uses a .50 cal loaded with SST/Shockwave-type sabots.
-Harder to find bullets/accessories for it
-They have a rumor as being finickier with loads - while this may not be true, it has been true with my rifle - it's taken many range sessions of messing around with different combos to find something that has good accuracy.

I got that .45 because it was on sale, because of the supposed long-range superiority and just to be different (because EVERYONE has a .50). I don't regret it, but I honestly can't say that it has a lot of advantages, either. It'll kill deer just as dead as a .50 cal, no problem, though.

Hope this helps!

Duramax05

Cabelas has the Winchester APEX 209 Mag on sale right now for 189.99. Its normall 439.99. But they only have the .45 cal. I would assume that the .45 cal 200 grain bullet would be moving pretty nicely. What is a magnum charge on a .45 cal? I know 150 grains is on a .50 cal.

frontier gander

apex in .45 has a mag rating of 150 grains also. You dont need t he magnum charge though. Most perform best with 100 grains or lower.

cayugad

If you already purchased the .45 caliber it is kind of a mute point as to the advantages or disadvantages.

It used to be they were hard to tune and develop a loadbecause of the barrel twist rates. And because of that people avoided them like crazy. Then some of the companies started to come around and put a better twist rate to them and the .45 because a very accurate rifle.

Also it used to be hard to find projectiles for the .45 caliber. That is not the case anymore. Most of the stores carry a good selection of .45 caliber bullets.

Disadvantages.. the idea they shoot flatter ??? OK I will give them that. Is it going to make a big difference. Well if you were shooting 150-200 yards all the time at deer size game, there might be a little advantage. BUT anything a .45 can do, the .50 caliber can match. No matter what range you want to shoot. And if I were hunting moose or elk size game with sabots, I would want a .50 caliber no matter what range I was shooting.

.50 calibers still have a better selection of bullets, sabots, and conicals most of the time. Get to the middle of no where on a hunting trip in small town USA and forget your bullets. Go to the local wal mart or small sports shop and see what they carry for your rifle? Here you would be hoping you had a .50 caliber.

A .50 caliber can be loaded down to match a .45 caliber if you want. A .50 caliber is legal in most all states where a .45 for some game is not. A .50 caliber normally shoots a larger conical or sabot load which have more down range energy.

I am sure you will be real happy with the .45 caliber. Develop a good accurate load and place your shots and you should have no problem at all...

Duramax05

You should still be able to push a 200 or even a 300 grain bullet to around something comparable to a 450 marlin,right?

Duramax05

cayugad,
I havent boughten it yet, but with the sale it perked my interest. I have a 50 cal now and looking for something new.

cayugad

I don't know?

the ballistics of a 450 marlin with a 350 grain bullet.






.450 Marlin®
350
FP
2,100
3,427

the .45 caliber muzzleloader with a powerbelt and a 240 grain XTP just does not come close in velocity to the big 350 grain bullet. And I am sure they would not be near the 3427 energy level but could be close...



275. Gr. Power Belt

Two 45 cal. / 50 Gr.
[align=right]1693[/align]



240 Gr. Knight Lead Poly-Tip / Brown Sabot

Two 45 cal. / 50 Gr.
[align=right]1844[/align]

lemoyne

I don't see that a 45 really has any advantage, and they have one big disadvantage which is the fact that 90 percent shoot 50 cal so your availability and choices are very limited becase the other 10 percent is also split between 54 and 45. As far as I know the really good choices are the 200gr shock Wave and the 200gr Xtp and some 200gr sweged or cast bullet, there is also the Sabortooth and I suppose if nothing else worked you could try a Power Belt.
It would take several pages to list the varity of bullets and the different petal thickness and type of sabots for a 50.
I have all three but for a choice between 45 and 54 I would thake the 54 and use a 50 cal pistol bullet [which there are a number of brand and weights available in]in a purple sabot There are a couple others but the purple is the standard and the one I use. My normal load for deer is 140 gr RS and a 300gr Widner bullet it really puts the smack on a deer or bear or boar; when we get our buffalo hunt to gether I will use the 54 with 350 gr bullet.
But for deer the 50 is just as good, most of my kills are bangflops with the 50 and the 250gr Gold Dot.
Good luck and have fun what ever you choose ,if you are in it long you will end up with a couple of each like me and Sabotloader and Cayuqad. Lee