Calibre questions

[JDBraddy]

Love my .50 cal T/C Hawken, picked up a .45 cal version, and love it even more. Less powder/ lead consumption, less recoil, still plenty effective knocking down sillhoettes.

I don't hunt, so was thinking of getting something even smaller, was looking at a Traditions Crockett, then got to thinking

.310" RB would be about the size of a frozen pea. My 5/16" range rod might not even fit down the bore with a patch on it. Would it reliably knock over a Ram at 100yds?

I'm sure that all this can be accommodated, but my question for more experienced BP shooters is at what point does one start to see diminishing returns? .32 cal? .36 cal? .40 cal?

 

[R Ellis]

A .310 will not have much energy at 100 yards you may do ok with a 32 cal maxi but it would require some testing .I think you would do better with a 40 cal at 100 yds but the smaller calibers would be ok if you move your silhouettes closer

 

[JDBraddy]

It's not ALL about the sillhoettes, I shoot monthly local NMLRA club matches. Mostly looking for accuracy, economical practice, pleasant shooting character, and low maintenance. Since starting BP, I've been shooting 2-3 days/week, 40-60 shots/ trip to the range. I haven't been shooting 3-4 months yet but figured that pace would work out to 7-8 thousand shots per year. I understand that everything is a trade off, and I'm not a power junkie, even though of setting up a. 22 rimfire for a practice gun.

 

[R Ellis]

I am not knowledgeable with the type shoots you are doing but I would say the 40. I have 32 and am building a 36 but just for squirrel hunting and paper target shooting

 

[Flint62Smoothie]

I'd get the 40~! Only from reading here I have observed where some say that the 36s and smaller need a ton of cleaning whilst shooting. The past 2 weekends I've shot my 40-cal about 2 dozen shots or more on each woodswalk, using Hoppe's BP Patch Lube/Cleaner, and I never swabbed it once all day and cleanup was a breeze!

I will say, I did have to have some 'witnesses' spot the gong/target hits out @ the 60-yard to 100-yard shots, as that little ball barely made some of the heavier ones move. I was only using 55-grn charges, as that's where one of the nodes is.