I will try and educate myself on how hunters 150 years ago killed deer with round balls that measured .45 caliber and smaller. i do not understand the need to hunt whitetail deer with a bullet that is capable of shooting through an elk lengthwise.

Last year i did not recover one bullet from the 20+ hogs that i shot with my muzzleloaders. The vast majority of those hogs died within 25 yards of where they were shot: i saw no pressing need to second guess the bullet. The 250 grain SST/Shockwave and the 240 grain .430 bullets work for me and i see no need to change.

falcon

Basically the environment - the habitat - the number of animals - their securtity awareness and even the times of the year we are allowed to hunt have changed.

Animals are much more aware of what a man is, even what a horse might have with it, roads evey where.... and people - many more people

All of these factors have changed hunting from 150 years ago...

falcon
I hunted with a PRB for many years before I built my first inline and it was a 40 caliber and built about 6 years before inlines and sabots were sold commercially.
There are no big secrets about it just a lot thats not commonly know by the last few generations. I used to take deer with a 45 PRB and 55 gr of black powder bullet placement was a bit different and more exact and we did not shoot over about 70 yds with a 45. I built many guns and finally decided that I like the 54 caliber with a 35 inch barrel and 120 or 130 gr powder with a 1-70 or a 1-80 twist and though I love to play with my inlines I have not seen any thing more effective than my 54 caliber Hawken which I built off a copy of the plans drawn off the Hawken in the ST Louis museum. It will drop a deer on the spot every time with the bullet placed just over the top of the heart. the 45 Hawken and the 45 under hammer [which I still have have] taken a lot of deer but I had to track most of them for 80 yds or so. Lee

The FTX is the worst bullet i ever used out of a Muzzleloader. The PowerBelts aren't far behind.

Tom
They work good for steel knockdown or gongs need a stiff bullet for that.

Lee

I bet they would really be great for gongs! From my limited shooting they are deadly accurate...

Yep....probably the most accurate bullet i ever shot to tell ya the truth.

I never shot at steel before, sounds interesting.:cool2: