General discussion > Black Powder Shooting

54 cal smoothbore accuracy/whats the best they can do

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northmn:
We have country very similar to that in North Minnesota where smooth bores are used quite successfully.  Just can't see it for all the trees.

DP

roundball:

--- Quote from: northmn on July 27, 2008, 08:23:13 PM ---We have country very similar to that in North Minnesota where smooth bores are used quite successfully.  Just can't see it for all the trees.

DP

--- End quote ---
Yeah...big wide open areas are unique to look at but typically devoid of game except for the occasional Antelope and I woulnd't be hunting in all that open area...I'd be hunting the brushy ravines down low around all the areas of high ground.
We have large 40-50 acre farm fields all around through the Carolinas but I don't hunt them either...I hunt the thick woodlots and ravines all around them where the deer and turkey funnel &forage through as they move from one location to another...40-50 yard shots are the norm...taylor made for smoothbores.

T*O*F:
Every discipline has its detractors, usually based on their personal subjective experience.  This is usually because of a lack of exposure to what can be done.

If you have a chance to attend an N-SSA regional shoot sometime, do so.  Unfortunately, they are not usually open to the public.  Most of these guys shoot original CW muskets and rifle muskets.  There is a smoothbore class and a crack team can clear a rack of 24 clays at 25 yards or 12 two-litre bottles at 50 yards in less than 3 minutes, loading from the pouch.

I've also seen J.D. and his band of Walnut Rangers clean house, year after year at the Ft. desChartres Woodswalk, using smoothbores.  I'm surprised he hasn't joined this thread.

bob in the woods:
Where I hunt, a 50 yd shot would be a long one. The longest range would be across a beaver pond..100 yards tops. The rest is hills, gullies, etc and heavily brushed. so the smoothbore is really not much of a diadvantage. On the contrary, that is precisely why I like to use my .75 smoothy. Tracking can be difficult, and it really puts them down. When on a stand at the edge of a field or pond, I generally use my .50 or .54 rifle.

Dphariss:

--- Quote from: roundball on July 27, 2008, 08:49:10 PM ---
--- Quote from: northmn on July 27, 2008, 08:23:13 PM ---We have country very similar to that in North Minnesota where smooth bores are used quite successfully.  Just can't see it for all the trees.

DP

--- End quote ---
Yeah...big wide open areas are unique to look at but typically devoid of game except for the occasional Antelope and I woulnd't be hunting in all that open area...I'd be hunting the brushy ravines down low around all the areas of high ground.
We have large 40-50 acre farm fields all around through the Carolinas but I don't hunt them either...I hunt the thick woodlots and ravines all around them where the deer and turkey funnel &forage through as they move from one location to another...40-50 yard shots are the norm...taylor made for smoothbores.

--- End quote ---

Depends on where you live. This section was devoid of deer on this day but had about 40 head of antelope and I killed one but not with ML. For my reasons related to my hunting companion I was carrying a "modern". However, if not for interference from a pair of Coyotes who spooked the goats I might have gotten within 16 bore range.
It is not uncommon to find mule deer 1/2 to 1 mile from the nearest tree on pretty flat ground. You will note the lack of trees or much terrain cover in this photo, note blood trail.

There were trees within 1/4 mile or a little more and enough "folds" in the land to get me fairly close then the doe walked up close and I shot her. Yeah it was 40-50 yards but I simply could not get this close the deer came to me. I might have gotten a shot had I crawled 50 yards or so.
I was in a creek bottom last fall and crawled a considerable distance on a whitetail, well 40-50 yards or so, its considerable when low crawling, got within rifle range (but not smoothbore) and still never got a shot.
So please refrain from telling me what the hunting conditions are where I live and where you will or will not find game.
Most of my hunting is done where there is little or no cover aside from terrain. Sometimes you can get a scrub pine between the game and yourself. I used to hunt in a brushy/broken BLM section and still do in about 150 acres of it but most of it is over run with people now about every day all year so its not as useful as it used to be. I can hunt the mountains but its more work and 40-50+ mile round trip and the wolves have kinda messed this up.

If the terrain is right its possible to get a shot with a flintlock. I often kill deer in the 40-60 yard ranges. But its not a sure thing. As I stated before I have tried smoothbores years ago. I never managed to kill an unwounded animal with one (except for a Hun with a load of #6s). As I stated at 40 yards a pistol is about as good and I HAVE killed one deer with one of these and made solid lung hits on 2 wounded ones. I could easily have killed this doe with a smoothbore I suppose. But I keep going back to what my rifleman friend said over a cup of tea last year. "If you can hit something with a ball from a smoothbore you can hit it better with a rifle". There is no *logic* to shooting sollid shot from smoothbores unless you are in the British Army prior to about 1850. But there is no logic to hunting with a flintlock period at this time period.
If you choose to, fine I really do not care. I just get a little jaded with people telling me how wonderful/useful/one size fits all they are when in reality they are far more limited when shooting solid shot than a rifle the rifle will kill large game at close range or far and has virtually no disadvantage over the smoothbore. The smoothbore only has an advantage when shooting small shot, in certain archaic military applications or where required by law.
Are they "cool"/historically correct/fun YES. Are they cheaper to shoot, no. Are they more effective on small game, no. Did the smoothbore take over in the east when the large game was mostly killed off, no. The rifle hung on because is more accurate. A small bore rifle, especially, will kill more squirrels and rabbits on less powder and lead than a 20 or 24 bore SB will. I always killed more squirrels than my cousins shooting my 32-40 cal ML and they will 22s and I killed probably well over 90% of the animals I shot at. At SB ranges a good shot can head shoot deer with a 32 rifle.
But when shooting solid shot they are inferior to the rifle in all regards. There is no advantage. But we have people who insist on telling everyone how accurate their SB is.
Thus people new to the sport who read the posts here and on other sites who do not understand that its "relative" and not absolute accuracy come to expect 1" groups at 50 yards. As a result I post the things I do in this regard.
My second reason for the 50 smooth rifle BTW, besides re-enforcing the things I learned nigh on 30 years ago, was Montana's Spring Turkey which requires a SB but no shot size limitation that I know of... But I will likely sell the rifle off to buy parts at some point...

Dan

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