.40 caliber deer load?

[Darkhorse]

Seems my state is allowing smaller calibers for deer this season and I've wanted to take a deer with my .40 ever since I built it. So I'm going to try it and let my .54 rest, even though I feel better with the .54. I need some good advice hopefully from someone with actual experience. I load 60 grains of 3fg for my turkey load but I don't have a clue how much to load in that caliber for a deer.
I won't have the time to work up a load seeing I'm not yet walking after my back surgery. That's why I'm asking. So I need a max load, I will start below that and work up to it.

[rich pierce]

I don’t think you’ll gain much velocity or functional killing power beyond 60 grains. I’d keep it to 75 yards max and only certain shots myself,  expecting no exit on the far side and trailing for at least 50 yards with scant blood trail. 

[thelongrifle]

I have used 70 grains of fff goex and shot completely thru Tennessee whitetail. Good blood trail. No problem.

[alacran]

If you are planning to hunt Georgia Whitetails, your turkey load will be more than sufficient.
I've shot clean through a javelina with a .36. Have a very good friend who has shot 4 Coues deer with a .36, two of them pass throughs.
Coues deer are about the size of Georgia deer.

[Eric Krewson]

In my circle of friends, I have one group that all shot a .40 for deer; one was the builder and made the guns for all the others. I don't think they ever lost a deer; they didn't take any shots over 100 yards and most were much closer. I think they shot 60gr of 3F behind their patched balls for deer but I am not sure.

One friend that had a great record for putting deer down shot a gun with a GM barrel, 1-48 twist and found that a REAL bullet was a tac driver in his gun, in a .40 his bullet weighed 175 gr and was about the same weight as a .50 ball.

I have the same GM barrel in my .40 but I haven't been able to duplicate my friend's accuracy results with the variety of conicals that I have tried, my rifle will cloverleaf balls at 50 yards though. 

Having shot a lot of deer with a .44 and had rather scant blood trails, (I recovered every deer I shot with that gun) I have been hesitant to use my .40 on deer even though I know it will get the job done, it is all about bullet placement.

[MuskratMike]

I have great success with 65 grains of GOEX 3F a .395 ball and a greased .012 red striped ticking patch 1670 f.p.s. The lube is 50% T.O.T.W. mink oil and 50% pure neatsfoot oil.
Good luck and let us all know how you did,

[Bigmon]

I once shot thru a big whitetail with a 44 cal cap lock revolver with 26 Gr 3F.  But it was about 20 ft, not yds, feet.  Right thru the ribs and lungs.  No shoulders

[Dphariss]

Seems my state is allowing smaller calibers for deer this season and I've wanted to take a deer with my .40 ever since I built it. So I'm going to try it and let my .54 rest, even though I feel better with the .54. I need some good advice hopefully from someone with actual experience. I load 60 grains of 3fg for my turkey load but I don't have a clue how much to load in that caliber for a deer.
I won't have the time to work up a load seeing I'm not yet walking after my back surgery. That's why I'm asking. So I need a max load, I will start below that and work up to it.

Shot placement will be the key.. 40 would not be my first choice. But based on my experience with a low power 37 gr  blackpowder loaded .400 bullet diameter suppository rifle a good lung shot will usually drop a deer (md buck at 30 yards or so) in a fairly short run. But I have had a couple of deer  shot with 50-54s run in excess of 200 yards after good hits. If the deer is already on high alert they can make a lot of distance in just a few seconds. One WT doe took a really good 54 cal 25 yard hit and made 200 long steps across a hayfield but her feet only hit the ground 10 times. 

[Darkhorse]

I appreciate everybody's input. I have taken near 100 deer with various .54's but none with a smaller caliber
I will keep all my shots to 50 yards or less. Even so I remember shooting a small doe at about 15 yards while still hunting. She ran over 100 yards. The ball had hit right in the sweet spot and went through and through, yet there was little blood to track her by.
I have been considering 60 grains of 3fg based on the results from shooting large turkey gobblers but I wasn't sure.
All I will hunt with are patched round balls, that's all I've ever hunted with.

Alacran, It is a misconception that Georgia deer are the same size as Coues deer. My best Ga. buck weighed 187 pounds field dressed and scored 161 1/8".
My second best we didn't have a scale that would weigh it. The game warden took some measurements and said it's weight was over 280 pounds and it scored 147 5/8.
Most are much smaller but our average adult deer will weigh 100 or more pounds live weight.

I know shot placement is the key. The shot I'm looking for is just behind the front leg bone through the soft ribcage and the lung heart area.
A 40 caliber would not usually be a first choice and I may yet decide against it, but still I'm curious.

[alacran]

Yes, there are exceptions, In AZ we are only allowed to shoot bucks. The average mature Coues deer goes about 110 lbs. live weight.
That is a five-year-old. Typically, people don't generally weigh them since seldom are they retrieved whole, due to the rugged conditions.
The record B&C Coues is 196.2 atypical. It was taken in 1975.
I have taken 18 of them with both modern and Muzzleloaders. My biggest was 110-inch 4x4 and it weighed about 125 lbs. One I shot with a flintlock was a3x3 that was about 75 inches. That was my first flintlock deer. He went about 85 lbs.
I have seen bigger ones out in the field that I wasn't able to shoot. But in general, the average buck would probably go about 95lbs.
I didn't mean to disparage Georgia deer but most of the ones I've seen tend to be in the small size. I used to hunt in Northern Florida and typically the deer I saw there were also small.

[Hungry Horse]

A lot is going to depend on the twist rate in the .40 caliber barrel. For years .40 caliber rifles held the records in a lot of events shot at 100 yards. The reason is 1 in 48 twist is an almost perfect twist for a .40 caliber. But modern muzzleloader shooters have found that a little slower twist, and a larger powder charge are quite good as well. The problem is 1 in 48 twist barrels tend to lose accuracy when the powder charge is increased beyond a certain point. These limits your velocity if your barrel has a 1 in 48” twist.
 I have a nice .40 caliber barrel I’m putting in a gun that is 1 in 60 twist. I sure hope it stabilizes with about 70 grains of 3F. Our deer out here in California are pretty small on average, but once in a while you see a really big one, almost a big as a Muley.

Hungry Horse

[bob in the woods]

I recently found a few hunters here who successfully use .40's for deer.  I'm not sure of the powder charge they use , but it would be on the high side , since one used a .36 with 60 gr 3F at one of our 100 yard shoots. [ He did very well ]   Hunting is done from tree stands in the woods, so distances would more than likely be 25 yards and probably much less.