12 pointer

I got an Omega and shoot 250 grain SST's with 100 grains of Pyrodex. In the paper that comes with the SSTs, it says with 100 grains at 200 yards the bullet has 975 ft lbs of energy. I have heard that 1000 ft lbs is the minimum for deer. Is 975 enough to kill a deer or should I use more powder? I dont want to use more powder unless I need to because of accuracy and it gets expensive after a while. What do you all think? Thanks

cayugad

Instead of being worried about energy, concern yourself with shot placement. That load you have there will work fine if you can place your shot. On a different forum a person claims to have killed a moose with a .54 caliber roundball shooting 90 grains of Pyrodex out of a T/C Renegade. The amazing thing is he claims the shot was made at about 170 yards. So the foot pounds of energy on that ball could not have been more then 400 pounds, yet it penetrated and killed a moose which is a thick skinned animal compared to a deer. Your shot should be a piece of cake if you can put that in the boiler room.

Again, practice and place the bullet. Also be a good tracker incase something goes wrong...

roundball

Simply not true...too many variables for an absolute like that to be accurate across the board...it's a general rule of thumb that seemed to have been established as a magic minimum that will hopefully offset a lot of poor or marginal shots.

By contrast, I was squirrel hunting this past fall with a throttled back .45cal Flintlock using a little Hornady .440/128grn ball and only 40grns of Goex 3F...a doe came wandering along, I had a couple doe tags, shot her in the heart, she sprinted 25-30yds and fell dead...probably only a 150-200 ft. lbs. of energy at the target...shot placement is everything.

Triple Se7en

Generally speaking, 500 ft lbs is the standard-minimum for whitetails.

Slamfire

A better question is how much penetration? You'd need to get to the vitals, and have enough energy left to expand the bullet. I killied my first deer with a .32-20 that hit the spine. That was dumb luck. I doubt the bullet could have reached the heart, but it would pass through the ribs, so it wasn't all chance.

txhunter58

First of all, you have MORE than enough energy to kill any deer walking with that load.

I don't use foot lbs to compare muzzleloader loads. They don't come off well because foot lbs calcutations square the velocity, so speed is the determining factor on how well the load comes off in comparison. Remember that buffalo were almost killed to extinction by big slow moving bullets that don't look good in a ft. lbs comparison Use ft lbs to compare high powered rifles, but not BIG, slow moving bullets. Read about and try the Taylor index. Bore diameter is more important and speed less in this formula. Here is the link:

http://www.loadammo.com/Topics/July02.htm

bigcountry

Unlike others on this board I do consider energy. You cannot always count on a perfect heart shot and might really count on good hydrstatic shock to get the job done. Especially if you hunt in a place where you can't have a deer run 100 yards on another piece of property. Here in MD for instance, you have probably lost that deer if it runs 100 yards. Since moving up here, I found out, if you don't get it down quick, the other guy will. 500ft-lbs of energy I don't believe would penetrate a deer if you took a quartering to you shot. I have shot alot of deer at 100 yards and with my older MK-85, with 90-95gr of powder with XTP bullet, I didn't get passthrus all the time. In fact at that distance rarely. I did in 50 yard range. Depends where you hunt really and your situation.

txhunter58

Maybe so, but the powder bullet combo mentioned by 12 point has 975 ft lbs. So as to not be confusing to him, I will state again, that he has more than enough energy to kill a deer, regardless of the presentation. would I take a 200 yard shot with a muzzleloader? No. For that I wold pull out my 270.

12 pointer

thanks guys, i was just curious. I actually doubt that I will be able to take a 200 yard shot here in Indiana unless it is at the edge of a field. But, I will have a good chance of a 200 yard shot september in canada for caribou. I realize shot placement is everything, but I was just wondering about the energy from that far...

BobD

Bigcountry, I usually agree with what you have to say, but I wouldn't take a quartering toward me shot no matter what what gun I was carrying.