Semisane

Damn Muley, your teeth hurting you again?

You've left here so many times HNI had to install a revolving portal.

Breechplug

I have to Agree with you on this one MH, My Wife had to give up Hunting for a Year because of Surjery on Her Wrist, no matter what load I tried that I thought could get the Job done was small enough for Her to handle, and do the Job it should on a Deer, She did'nt Hunt that year because She Worried more about the Deer than Herself.
Again Im No Expert on what's the Lowest Possible Load that you can Hunt with, but this is No Game and a Wounded Deer is one thing that makes Me Not Sleep at night. So the next time you pull the trigger on a Animal make sure your 100% sure that it will do the job it's intended to do, I know SHI$ happens but at least in your mind you knew you did your best to bring home that animal that was in your sights.

oldsmellhound

First of all, I do agree that 50 grains powder and a 223 grain PB is not an ideal load. But I do think it will cleanly kill a deer at 50 yards. I remember reading stories of hunters back in the 1700 and 1800's. From many accounts I read, a "normal" deer load was about 50 grains of powder with a PRB (about 177 grain bullet). Many guys also used to hunt deer with a .45 cal PRB, which most of us would consider too small for deer.

Another thing that hasn't been mentioned- what size of deer are we talking about here? There's a HUGE difference between a 275 pound Canadian buck, and a 85 pound Florida doe. I would not use 50 grains of powder with the 275 pounder, but would consider it adequate for a small-to-medium sized deer.

If you are able to up the powder charge or use a different bullet, I think it would be best to do that. But if that is not possible, I would take your wife out hunting, just be very picky about the shot selection.

HEAD0001

Buy a pound of loose black powder or a container of Pyrodex. I would also go with a patched round ball of soft lead that will give a little better expansion at lower velocities.

Start your load out at about 60 grains of powder. Throw in a couple of 70 grain loads and see if she can tell the difference. If she can, then drop your load back down to 60 grains of BP.

60 grains or 70 grains of BP and a PRB is more than adequate for deer to 50 yards.

In a way I have to agree a bit with Muley. Recoil is part of the game. But a 60 grain load or a 70 grain load with a PRB should not have alot of felt recoil from an MZ.

Certainly the guys are right that a 50 grain load can get the job done. But it is definitley not the optimal load for good clean effective killing of an animal that we owe that to. Tom.

chas0218

Thanks for all the good feedback everyone. It seems like a toss up. I will try 50gr and 80gr loads and see if she can tell the difference. She has hunted with a bow for 10 years and just got into gun hunting the past 2 years. I wouldn't have this problem if they would allow the use of a .410 or even 28ga. for deer. Heck thats what I would be shooting.

The deer we are talking about range from yearlings weighing in at 100 lbs. dressed and mature bucks at 200lbs. so it varies on what walks in front of her.
Thanks again!