caliber question

[Daniel]

  What do you all think is better for hunting ?
A 54 or 58 caliber rifle ?

[jerrywh]

hunting what?

[adam h]

save yourself some grief and get one of each.

[Daniel]

 I am thinking deer and what ever. Target, fun.
You bet one each would be nice.

[adam h]

Daniel, I just had  to say that im building my 1st hawken and when I research that same topic
and asked a similar question I went with a .58 caliber

[WadePatton]

There's nothing much that one will do that the other isn't perfectly capable of.  With only .040" difference, it really does come down to personal preference, which may favor economy of shooting or other nuances. Neither of them are bunny guns, unless you forgo rifling.

[shifty]

   I have 45,50,54,and 58 cal but have killed more with my 54 than all the others.

[rich pierce]

.58 goes through a lot of lead in a hurry if you cast your own. Both are whompers.

[Daniel Coats]

Lots of factors to consider in a hunting rifle and I've owned a lot of them including 15 different Hawken rifles. For me my favorite caliber is .54 and it's not even close.

Dan

[Bob McBride]

I like .58s. But then I’m an old infantry Marine, so in between eating crayons, I got time to figger .58 sounds much better than .54, but that’s by means of high arithmetic, which most don’t understand.

[Three balls]

.62- the bigger the hole, the faster the boat sinks.

[Bob McBride]

Ok. If we’re going outside .54-.58 to .62 then I say .63.....

[Three balls]

Dirty Harry says, "A man has to know his limitations", I'm whipped.

[MuskratMike]

I have owned and shot both. I prefer the .54 for many reasons but mainly the small gain in killing power of the .58 is offset by the cost of powder and lead. The .54 shoots flatter. In the "Muskrat's" opinion there is a lot more versitality in the .54 over the 58 add that to the fact there are many more .54's out there than .58's kind of answers the question don't it?

[Sparkitoff]

I like the larger caliber and I'm a real big .62 fan. However, I purchase the balls at the store. The choices are .440. .490 and .530.  I went with .54 for the majority of range time and hunting. I do purchase .62's on-line but they are more expensive, sold in smaller quantities and not always "in-stock". If I were to start casting this situation would be eliminated, but for now I am content buying the balls I use most in the store. Based on availability I chose .54.  If they had .570 balls I probably would have got a .58, but I don't miss it as the .54 has never let me down.

[borderdogs]

If you don't care about the cost of lead and powder a .58 would work and if you want to save on lead and powder a .32 would work. I have shot .58 for 40 years and you would be surprised how fast you can go through 50lbs of lead. A .40 or .45 is a nice compromise.
Rob

[Standing Bear]

Per original question, I chose a .54.   However, I shoot my .36 more and really like the .40s.

[Daniel Coats]

For my moose hunt I loaded a .530 ball and carried a .526 in my shirt pocket for a quick follow-up if needed...it wasn't! Won a speed shoot at a match using .526.

Funny story once where I won a bet shooting clay pigeons out of the air. I would wait until no one was looking and drop 4 bare .526 down the barrel and yell pull. You should have seen the looks on their faces especially after I told them how I did it! 

Dan

[hanshi]

After dropping loads of deer with one shot each using a couple of .45s and doing just as well with .50s, I question the "need" for going bigger and bigger.  I've killed deer with my .54 and would choose that bore size over anything larger.  While the smoothbore is a .62 and has taken deer and earned my respect, it kills deer no deader than a .45.  It's also costly to feed.  The .36 gets most of my attention with the .45 second.  Third place is a tie between the .40 and the .50.  I just like the .54 as my heavyweight.

[Daniel]

 Well I have in smoothbore a 20, 16, 12, and 11 gauges. I have a 50 cal. rifle .
I just wanted a little bigger bore. A very plain Jane of a rifle.

[longcruise]

If for deer and paper (you will loose far more balls at paper than game), and if you want to economize, then go with 45 or 50 (after checking local legal requirements).  In the end, anything from 45 to 58 will be "adequate". 

[WadePatton]

Well I have in smoothbore a 20, 16, 12, and 11 gauges. I have a 50 cal. rifle .
I just wanted a little bigger bore. A very plain Jane of a rifle.

Since you have a 50 (and a smooth 62), I'd go 58.  Make it real step up.  50/54 are too similar to my way of thinking.  My plan is to own one of each tenth of inch before doubling up with "next door neighbors".  IE:  one .3x, 4x, 5x, 6x.  Before having a 40 and a 45 or a 32 and a 36.  "Significant differences" is my way of thinking here.

I do have a 54 and really like it, next for me is 40 and then a 30.  And then a smoothie of 16-bore, which will give me a fat 60-class. And after that I can sort out what's missing, if anything.  If I were a scatterblaster by nature I'd go bigger yet with a 10 or 12 bore for sure.

But will much more likely make a chunk gun, and be satisfied with the 16 for all my smoothie needs.

[Hungry Horse]

I think you need to concentrate more on shooting the correct end of the animal, and a bunch less on what caliber. JMO, a big game animal can run just as fast with a .62 cal. Ball in its hip as it can with a .50 in my experience.


   Hungry Horse