What's the standard or recommended deer hunting caliber?

[J1776]

So, I'm starting out, and though I've only heard a little on the topic I'd like to get your opinions fellas.

What's the ideal deer hunting caliber? I've been told 40 or 45 will easily take a deer,... others told me stick with something larger?

Thanks fellas! 

[BrownBear]

Some states have minimum requirements.  Check there.  I think most folks will fall in the 50 cal range.

[loco219]

Pennsylvania is .44 minimum for deer. .40 cal will do the job if you do yours. Shot placement is critical. Most ethical shooters will not hunt big game with less than a .45, myself included.

[J1776]

Pennsylvania is .44 minimum for deer. .40 cal will do the job if you do yours. Shot placement is critical. Most ethical shooters will not hunt big game with less than a .45, myself included.

That's what I had heard,.. at least .45
thanks fellas.

[RwBeV]

I'm not real impressed with the 40 for hunting big game, it is the minimum caliber we can use in WY.  I took an Antelope with it last year, the shot was about 60 yds broad side, it went in right behind the front shoulder it ricocheted off a rib and went through its liver.  The shot should have killed the goat almost in his tracks but instead it walked off as I reloaded. I had to follow it and shoot it again.  I will never hunt big game with a 40 again, I love the caliber but after this debacle I just don't think its big enough for large game.

[Leatherbelly]

  Get a fifty, never know if ya might hunt some western Muley bucks. More gun is better then less.

[longcruise]

Go with a .54!  You can't kill them too dead and the .54 will suit for other game and will almost for certain be legal in other states for deer size game.

[hanshi]

There is something to be said for getting a .50 or .54; There's no such thing as overkill on deer.  A bigger ball doesn't really need a big dose of powder to be effective.  That being said, my rifle of choice is a .45 flint Lancaster.  I've taken a good many deer with it and have never needed more than one shot.  A few dropped in their tracks.  All the others ran a few yards at most and left a blood trail.  Only a couple of balls were recovered as the vast majority were pass throughs.

I have also killed a lot of deer with .50s and one with a .54.  In Va the limit is .45 and 50 grains of powder.  This is during the primitive season; regulations for the rifle season simply state .23 caliber or above.  Go figure.

[northmn]

Most folks in my area buy a 50 for deer and black bear but many buy a 54 in case they get to go after elk or something bigger.  Going with a larger ball is not quite the same as going magnum in a modern gun.  Generally a bigger bore has more penetration.  For longer shots a 50 or 54 is probably an improvement on a 45 as they retain velocity better.  If you look at a ballistics table, there is about 100 fps difference in mv to get the same velocity at 100 yards.  A 50 needs about 100 fps more at the muzzle than a 54 and a 45 about 100 fps against a 50.  Considering that they generally are loaded such that at 100 yards they are moving at about 1100-1000 fps the bigger ones do have an advantage.  I have a 58 but do not load it real heavy and admit that a smaller one will provide venison.

DP

[omark]

i have killed 3 mulie does with a 40, and believe me, there was certainly no overkill. i have also used 50 and 62 on mulies and wouldnt go less than 50 and i like 54 better.  been hunting mulies with ML since 72.   mark

[J1776]

I'm not real impressed with the 40 for hunting big game, it is the minimum caliber we can use in WY.  I took an Antelope with it last year, the shot was about 60 yds broad side, it went in right behind the front shoulder it ricocheted off a rib and went through its liver.  The shot should have killed the goat almost in his tracks but instead it walked off as I reloaded. I had to follow it and shoot it again.  I will never hunt big game with a 40 again, I love the caliber but after this debacle I just don't think its big enough for large game.

Wow!....
Note to self,.... do not go with a 40 cal long rifle!!! 

[J1776]

Looks like 54 is what I'm going to want to go for then...

thanks fellas!  Much appreciated!!!

[gregg]

Just a thought ... A 54 does not have to be a heavy rifle.
I think you can go to a 15/16 barrel . That will make a thin but safe
barrel of lite weight. I could be wrong and some one i hope will correct me.
But I hope you get my idea. I like light rifles most don't it seems?
Point is go for it.
54 good

[Dphariss]

Just a thought ... A 54 does not have to be a heavy rifle.
I think you can go to a 15/16 barrel . That will make a thin but safe
barrel of lite weight. I could be wrong and some one i hope will correct me.
But I hope you get my idea. I like light rifles most don't it seems?
Point is go for it.
54 good

A light 54 (or even a 45) with a poor stock design will not be fun to shoot.
American hunters are notorious weenies about rifle weight and unless there a a valid physical reasons most people are better off with a 9 pound 54 or even heavier with a good buttstock design.
45 50 54 with good shot placement will all perform about the same.
With a GOOD buttstock design like an English sporting rifle a  light weight gun could be made in 54.  But a tapered or swamped barrel is the best way to do this. Allows a good breech dimension for threading, vents etc.

Dan

[northmn]

I am finishing up an English style sporter with a 32" 58 cal one inch barrel.  I left it in the rough and hunted with it last deer season.  Deer did not cooperate while I carried it. While tapered would have been handier,  this one isn't all bad either,  It really balances well.  A 50 would fill the ticket at 15/16".  The English buttplate and design is great for subduing recoil.

DP

[hanshi]

One deer doesn't prove or indicate anything.  But the large doe I shot with a .54 dropped in it's footie prints.  For this reason the rifle I'm having built is a .54.

[Al Lapp]

If I could only have one rifle for hunting it would be a 54. But then who want's only one rifle?   Al

[gregg]

Just a thought ... A 54 does not have to be a heavy rifle.
I think you can go to a 15/16 barrel . That will make a thin but safe
barrel of lite weight. I could be wrong and some one i hope will correct me.
But I hope you get my idea. I like light rifles most don't it seems?
Point is go for it.
54 good

A light 54 (or even a 45) with a poor stock design will not be fun to shoot.
American hunters are notorious weenies about rifle weight and unless there a a valid physical reasons most people are better off with a 9 pound 54 or even heavier with a good buttstock design.
45 50 54 with good shot placement will all perform about the same.
With a GOOD buttstock design like an English sporting rifle a  light weight gun could be made in 54.  But a tapered or swamped barrel is the best way to do this. Allows a good breech dimension for threading, vents etc.

Dan

Good points all Dan. He asked about 40cal and 45 cal so I just thought maybe he wanted a lighter rifle?? My rifle has a 1 inch 54 with 33 inch barrel Hawken. Seem fine when young but seems bit heavy now. I know that not the normal.Kick with RB seems not much. ( try a Marlin 45-70 guildgun loaded warm)Kind of different if your on a target range all day geting kicked or just a carry the rifle  hunting?? It gets down to what works for you .
Thank You Dan hope this all helps our new hunter get ideas.

[Dphariss]

Just a thought ... A 54 does not have to be a heavy rifle.
I think you can go to a 15/16 barrel . That will make a thin but safe
barrel of lite weight. I could be wrong and some one i hope will correct me.
But I hope you get my idea. I like light rifles most don't it seems?
Point is go for it.
54 good

A light 54 (or even a 45) with a poor stock design will not be fun to shoot.
American hunters are notorious weenies about rifle weight and unless there a a valid physical reasons most people are better off with a 9 pound 54 or even heavier with a good buttstock design.
45 50 54 with good shot placement will all perform about the same.
With a GOOD buttstock design like an English sporting rifle a  light weight gun could be made in 54.  But a tapered or swamped barrel is the best way to do this. Allows a good breech dimension for threading, vents etc.

Dan

Good points all Dan. He asked about 40cal and 45 cal so I just thought maybe he wanted a lighter rifle?? My rifle has a 1 inch 54 with 33 inch barrel Hawken. Seem fine when young but seems bit heavy now. I know that not the normal.Kick with RB seems not much. ( try a Marlin 45-70 guildgun loaded warm)Kind of different if your on a target range all day geting kicked or just a carry the rifle  hunting?? It gets down to what works for you .
Thank You Dan hope this all helps our new hunter get ideas.

I have a Flint Hawken in 54 (38" x 1") that with 90 gr of fff gives me more bruises by far than my similar weight 16 bore English rifle shooting a 1 ounce ball and 140 gr of ff.
I have shot a LOT of BPCR in various calibers in 60+ shot days followed by more 60 shot days. A 12 pound 45-100-525 is not a good choice for this, my 45-100 weighs 15 pounds. Worst one I owned was a 10 pound 44-90 I built to hunt with. Stocked well but off the bench with 92 gr of FF and a 400 gr pp it was brutal.
Eventually rebarreled to 40-70 BN. Much more fun and killed deer just as good

I have Marlin I rebarreled from 22" with a .900"  straight rnd 26" bbl. Less fun to carry but much more fun to shoot. The guide gun is silly IMO but Marlin seems to sell a lot of them.
If you shoot hot loads through the Marlin check the headspace. Marlin is a little "loose" in this regard at least in the case of mine.

Dan

[Standing Bear]

To the original question - .50 but I got interested in flintlocks and only .50 was a capper so built a .54 flintlock.

TC

[Daryl]

Were I to build a rifle specifically for deer, it would probably be a .50.  If there was a chance I might hunt something larger in the deer or even black bear family, I'd be going with nothing smaller than a .54.  Yes- a .50 will kill deer, moose, elk and black bear - not the point. I desire more tha what's just adequate and in my opinion, a .50 is just adequate for the game sited.
A .58 would be better all the way, yet still have a flat enough trajectory with moderadely heavy loads for deer or antelope shooting at longer ranges. I am looking for a point blank range of 130 yards- no allowance between the muzzle and that range - everything up to .58 will delive quite easily.

[hanshi]

The rifle pictured with my signature (.45 TVM Lancaster) is my favorite deer rifle.  It weighs a little over 6lbs, has a 36" barrel, is a delight to carry and is accurate and deadly on deer.  After taking scores of deer with revolvers, .22 Hornet and the .250 Sav, I long ago came to the conclusion that it doesn't take a cannon to kill a deer.  I'll have to add, though, that I've also used .338 mag, .350 mag and 45/70 loaded with 400 grn softpoints at 1800fps.  I do believe there is no such thing a "overkill".  My planned "ultimate" rifle is a .54 and will see much use.

[Dave K]

There no answer to this very question other than. Use the required minimum cal. and up that the state or states you intend to hunt in specify. There has been so many different cal. since the beginning of guns, since they couldn't agree back then, as to what is best.

[wvmtnman]

I believe that it is more about range, load and shot placement.  Having said that, a .50 or .54 make great white tail deer rifles ( I have no experience with other types of deer).  What ever caliber you decide on, test it at the range first and various distances to see what happens.  Knowing your rifle goes a long way when putting it to use.
                                                                        Brian

[Dphariss]

Back in the day the 50 caliber was considered the minimum for western use by the fur companies.
While I have little doubt a 50 will kill an elk well with good shot placement. But my experience with a 54 tells me that 62 is probably ideal. I walked to within 20 yards of a cow elk with the 16 bore but was about 2 miles too far south to shoot a cow Nice soft  snow... Would not grow horns no matter how I looked at her. Pre-wolves cows were legal at that spot Anyway I didn't get to try the 16 on elk, so far.

This is the shoulder blade of a mule deer doe. 495 rb, 90 gr fff, 60 yards. Ball when exactly where it was pointed but not where the sights were, one of "those things". Operator error but I would have bet things were OK.
Anyway ball struck the socket of the shoulder blade


Did this in the chest cavity


And exited the offside.

So the 50 will even handle deer sized bone fairly well though it likely would not had exited had it struck the end of the humerus.
its a great deer caliber, decent power and easy recoil shoots very flat with this load. Can hold dead on to about 130 yards.
But this said a friend shot a deer at 120 yards with a 45 broke a rib on entry and exit.

Dan