Author Topic: Best caliber rifle for a Woods Walk?  (Read 5391 times)

Offline Ray Settanta

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Best caliber rifle for a Woods Walk?
« on: August 13, 2017, 08:14:42 PM »
I want to join a gun club to shoot muzzleloaders and I just toured a club this morning that puts on Woods Walks. The Black Powder Chairman said I could use whatever caliber I felt comfortable with and they had no restrictions. I have a couple of caplocks in .58 that I could use to start off but I want to get into flintlocks. What caliber(s) would be good for a beginner to use? 

Offline alyce-james

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Re: Best caliber rifle for a Woods Walk?
« Reply #1 on: August 13, 2017, 08:35:16 PM »
Mr. Settanta; Sir, at an older age than yourself, I prefer a smaller caliber than a .58. I use a .40 flinter or my .50  hunting flint. I use the same power load, 50 grain, at all distant out to 100 yards. Good hunting for the most enjoyable gun that fits your shooting style. AJ.
ber
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Offline T*O*F

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Re: Best caliber rifle for a Woods Walk?
« Reply #2 on: August 13, 2017, 08:41:52 PM »
Use the largest caliber you feel comfortable shooting.  Why?  They often have novelty targets like splitting your ball on an axe.  .45 cal or .62 cal.  which do you think has the better chance.  Likewise shooting at matches, straws, chains, and other small targets like a turkey head just poking above a log.  One of the best WoodsWalk teams I ever saw compete all used Brown Besses.
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Online Mike Brooks

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Re: Best caliber rifle for a Woods Walk?
« Reply #3 on: August 13, 2017, 09:09:35 PM »
I was fond of .54's in my younger days, 40's also. Now it doesn't make much difference. :o
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Offline hanshi

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Re: Best caliber rifle for a Woods Walk?
« Reply #4 on: August 14, 2017, 01:16:07 AM »
In the "woods walks" I've participated in I used either a .40 or a .45.
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Offline Ray Settanta

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Re: Best caliber rifle for a Woods Walk?
« Reply #5 on: August 14, 2017, 01:29:19 AM »
I used to shoot .58 minie ball rifles in competition but have nothing available in patched round ball at the present time. A .50 is not finished yet and an Edward Marshall in .58 is on its way. I guess I'll just have to pick up a .32, .36, .40, and .45 and decide what I like the best. Oh, the head of the black powder committee said I could also shoot a smoothbore. So I need a New England, English or French fowler too.;D It's a tough life. ;D

Offline Ray Settanta

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Re: Best caliber rifle for a Woods Walk?
« Reply #6 on: August 14, 2017, 01:35:49 AM »
In the "woods walks" I've participated in I used either a .40 or a .45.

Thanks. The .40 would be good because it is the top limit for hunting small mammals in my state and I have read that it is a good caliber for target shooting. The .45 is the smallest here for deer but I will use the .50 or .58 for that.

Offline Daryl

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Re: Best caliber rifle for a Woods Walk?
« Reply #7 on: August 14, 2017, 02:52:59 AM »
I shot nothing but my 14 bore rifle for a year, almost every Sunday on the trail walk - 82gr. 2f GOEX and a .682" round ball, .030" patch.  Come Rendezvous, I entered 5 muzzleloading trail walk events with it, placing 1st in every one of them. The 6th event was the BP ctg. match where I only placed in the middle of the pack. I was also happy with that event.

I only mentioned this year, as a note that calibre is not important - had I shot nothing buy my ,.32, or .40 or .45 that year, I am sure the results would have been the same, except for the ctg. event. there, the heavy ball and better range was in my favour as many shots were at 250 or 300 yards.

Pick a calibre in an accurate rifle, one you can shoot well and shoot that for a year, practicing every chance you get - at lest twice a month, then win every match you enter.

I have always done better with larger calibres, the mentioned 14 bore (.69), but also a pair of .58's, a SXS Kodiak and a .57 Musketoon, 1861, iirc, that did very well, before I sold them.

One lad at our club uses a .54, has for 30 years or more - HE is tough to beat.  Another, usually uses his wife's .40, or his own .45 - HE also was VERY tough to beat, now, with failing eyesight, not so much - UNLESS he shoots his PH 1861 Musketoon, THEN he's still hard to beat.

Whether Taylor shoots his .40, or .50, he's tough to beat.

This sort of says, from .40, to .70 cal. take your pick.

Calibre is not really important, however,
« Last Edit: August 14, 2017, 02:58:26 AM by Daryl »
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Offline BJH

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Re: Best caliber rifle for a Woods Walk?
« Reply #8 on: August 15, 2017, 12:13:12 AM »
For our club, the most useful caliber is .45-.50. .45 is about the minimum you need for our solowet range to knock down the buffs. Smaller calibers, sub .36 some times cause some disagreements on the woods walk because of lack of target reaction. We have needed to make our woods walk targets pretty stout to handle our smooth bore shooting contingent. BJH
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Offline John SMOthermon

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Re: Best caliber rifle for a Woods Walk?
« Reply #9 on: August 15, 2017, 02:14:36 AM »
Ray , as T*O*F said BIGGER is better! Cutting a playing card at 12 yards, I need as big of ball going at the card as I can get. A lot of the good shooters I know shoot .58 cal, .54 cals are good too they both cut the wind well too. In most woods walks wind would not matter , but I've seen some funky target placements before.
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Offline T*O*F

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Re: Best caliber rifle for a Woods Walk?
« Reply #10 on: August 15, 2017, 03:41:15 AM »
If you're just going to be shooting a WoodsWalk at your local club, then shoot whatever you want.
If you plan on attending a variety of them at different places, then it behooves you to shoot a bigger bore because you never know what to expect.

We have a monthly WoodsWalk, but the targets are all metal hangers.  I take a different gun each month just to mix things up.  There is a fairly long thread on situational woodswalks in the archives somewhere.

it's here   http://americanlongrifles.org/forum/index.php?topic=43285.msg423689;topicseen#msg423689
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Offline Hungry Horse

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Re: Best caliber rifle for a Woods Walk?
« Reply #11 on: August 15, 2017, 05:09:10 PM »
To get the right gun for woods walks you need to ask yourself a few questions. Where do you shoot? Is it in one of those little postage stamp states back east, where the longest shot you will make is a hundred and fifty yards? Or, is it out west where it might be three hundred and fifty yards. How many shots do these events usually have. Is it a backyard affair where you shoot ten or twelve shot, or is it a marathon where you don't stop until your guns plugged up, and you look like a coal miner. How physically able are you to shoot a given caliber for a sustained period of time. Twenty five shots from a rifle that weighs eleven pounds and is .58 cal. For a guy that weighs a hundred and fifty pounds is going to be a long hard trail. These are what you need to consider before selecting you woods walk gun.

  Hungry Horse

Offline Ray Settanta

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Re: Best caliber rifle for a Woods Walk?
« Reply #12 on: August 15, 2017, 05:44:47 PM »
Thanks for that link, Dave. It looks good. I just glanced at it now and will read it throughly tonight.
HH, yes I am in a piddly little state back east and where I used to hunt deer, distances were about 50 to 100 yards. When I spoke to the blackpowder chairman the other day I forgot to ask about distances to the target and how long the walk was. As far as my physical condition, I will just have to try the walk and find out if I can keep up. For the first time, I will use a Cook and Brother artillery carbine which weighs about 7 1/2 pounds. Anyway, it's not a money shoot so I'm just planning on having a good time.
« Last Edit: August 16, 2017, 01:29:12 AM by Ray Settanta »

Offline smokinbuck

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Re: Best caliber rifle for a Woods Walk?
« Reply #13 on: August 16, 2017, 03:29:22 AM »
Ray,
Around here our woodswalk is typically between 1/4 & 1/2 mile with 10-12 targets. The targets range from 15 to 100+ yards with a tie breaker at 25 yards. The best rifle/smoothbore you can take on any woodwalk is the one you shoot the best. You're only busting targets, not game and almost any offhand rifle/smoothbore will do that if you do your part. Just take your time and have fun, it's not a race.
Mark
Mark

Offline WKevinD

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Re: Best caliber rifle for a Woods Walk?
« Reply #14 on: August 16, 2017, 03:48:12 AM »
I like a smooth rifle,  .54 or .62 (28 ga or 20 ga). Some of the woods walks I like best have both mixed shot and roundball targets,
Just make sure you have fun, the impossible shots are either worth a good laugh or a few points. I try for both.
Kevin 
« Last Edit: August 16, 2017, 03:50:05 AM by burnt »
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Offline thecapgunkid

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Re: Best caliber rifle for a Woods Walk?
« Reply #15 on: August 17, 2017, 02:54:00 PM »
I've found for the poker chips, lollypops, feather or card splitting, impossible shots at about 20 feet,  .50 or .54 seems to work best for me. I once pulled off this Fess Parker shot where the guy before me splashed a prescription bottle and then I dusted the remaining neck.

For those fat gongs that you can't miss, I favor a B-52 strike because all my rifles turn into a breaking ball pitcher with the fat, juicy targets..

Don't shoot yore eye out, kid

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Vomitus

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Re: Best caliber rifle for a Woods Walk?
« Reply #16 on: August 17, 2017, 08:32:06 PM »
 Shoot what you're comfortable with. I mostly shoot a 28 gauge smoothie, but it's fun to shoot the lil forty every now and again!

Offline RVAH-7

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Re: Best caliber rifle for a Woods Walk?
« Reply #17 on: August 18, 2017, 06:25:18 AM »
A lot of good, sound advise up above. For me, the bottom line is shoot what you're going to hunt with.
The more time (experience) and being intimately familiar with the rifle can pay off. IMO.

Vomitus

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Re: Best caliber rifle for a Woods Walk?
« Reply #18 on: August 19, 2017, 10:37:46 PM »
   For trail walks, gong shoots, a good calibre choice( for me) would be 50 or bigger. Those long gongs hardly move with my forty and you need a spotter with bino's to see if ya hit it or not. PITA! Who wants to pack binoculars on a trail walk? Sheesh!

Offline Daryl

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Re: Best caliber rifle for a Woods Walk?
« Reply #19 on: August 20, 2017, 12:45:03 AM »
Good point, LB- anyone shooting .32's to 40's on our trail have lost points due to not seeing a swing, or hearing a clank.  With most of us 'getting long in the tooth', hearing the gongs over the sound of the shot, along with failing eye sight, means lost points on a tail with light weight balls.
.45's seem to be OK,  but .50's& up do much better!
Daryl

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