This is a response to a number of posts here.
A 54 pistol will kill deer or Elk dead as a 54 rifle will since the pistol velocity, if loaded for hunting, will be in the range of a rifle at 100-120 yards and a 54 RB will kill either farther than that. Yes, the hunter needs to be able to place the shot. But this is universal regardless of firearm.
This a 54 RB and the upper leg bone from a pistol killed deer at 20-25 yards. Deer crashed in 25 or so yards after being shot. Ball would have passed through had I not hit the bone. It broke the leg, another bone I think and got the heart of the arteries at the heart (been near 20 years now).
I never chronoed this load but it was probably close to 1000 fps, the pistol liked a lot of powder to shoot well since it had a 70" twist.
A RIFLED ML pistol is accurate enough for more than 25 yards if the SHOOTER can do it and does LOAD DEVELOPMENT. The owner of the 58 caliber pistol in my first post told me he would not hesitate to shoot an elk with it at 50 yards and he is highly experienced.
Barrel too big? Anyone who has shot a 54-58 caliber pistol with a lad that will get to near 1000 fps knows they recoil like a 44 mag and can be "unfun" to shoot if too light.
This pistol with the "dueler" TG and a tapered barrel 1" to 7/8" or 15/16 to 7/8" can't remember which, anyway it produced more recoil than I liked. It's not shootable with more than 40-45 grains but gave decent accuracy with this at 25 yards.
66" twist 54.
More powder really whacks the longest finger on the TG. Why the pistol in my first post has a different TG. I knew it was going to be shot with heavy loads with a 270 gr ball.
ME is not a valid measure of the killing power of BP arms since it favors velocity. Something BP is not very good a producing. Its not even that great at predicting killing power in smokeless arms since a HV poorly constructed bullet will often crater the surface and not penetrate sufficiently to produce a kill except in the future when the animal dies of infection or the inability to get back up after it escapes and then lies down to rest. The ME is "legal" but the bullet is not deadly. "Knock down" is a term that does not apply for the most part since in my experience its nearly impossible the knock a deer down unless they are the size of a German Shepard. It does happen but its rare. Its more common with things like a 25-06 with a 87-100 grain bullet. But the meat loss can be extensive.
I suspect that is one were to shoot 10 deer with a 44 mag and 10 with a 54 FL pistol and 10 with a Colt Dragoon with a RB there would be little difference seen in "killing power" with SIMILAR SHOT PLACEMENT. Remember that out of the typical 44 mag, 4-6" the 44 mag is really little more than a 44-40 BP load fired from a rifle and this is an Abysmal deer load from my perspective, though its killed lot of deer. I have shot one deer with 38-40 (37 gr of FFF and the lyman 38/40 bullet) it killed the deer about as quickly as anything else but the wound channel through the lungs (30-40 yard shot) was very small much smaller than a 45 RB with 45 gr of powder at a 40-50 yards. A friend who has used 44-40 said its just as anemic. So just because something has "magnum" in the name does not make it magic. There is no real advantage other than perhaps faster followup shots if the first one is badly placed than with a single shot ML pistol. Over a Colt Dragoon no real advantage at all, except its lighter.
Dan
