old dog, new trick

[George]

I bought my first ML in 1973, a little .40 caliber flintlock rifle made by a local builder named J. D. Thompson. It has been a fine little gun, accurate with any load I put in it, totally dependable and fun to shoot. I have used it mostly for squirrel hunting and for the monthly novelty shoots at my ML club, but that was at least 25 years ago. I've never hunted deer with it, being a fan of bigger calibers for bigger game. I have shot it very little for a long time, just take it on a squirrel hunt for old times sake every ten years or so. On day last week I was thinking about the .40 and decided what the heck, I've had this sweet little rifle for 39 years, I really should try it for deer before one of us gets too old.

The rifle has a 42", 13/16" Douglas barrel with a 1:70 twist and .012" rifling. I loaded it with 70 grains FFFg. a Hornady swaged .395 ball in a .012" linen patch lubed with my homemade beeswax/lard mix. That load should give a MV a bit over 2000 fps. That combination is loose enough that I can start the ball with the side of my patch knife blade and ram it without using a short starter. I always prime my flintlocks with FFFFg Goex.

I set up in an area where I would have no long shots and promised myself I wouldn't shoot further than 50 yards. While hunting the area for turkeys last week I had been seeing signs of a bigger buck , droppings, tracks, a fresh scrape, and the buck feeding in the edge of the woods. It was a good day for it, 23F in the morning but in the 40s in the afternoon, light wind in my favor. I walked into my chosen spot at 1300 and hadn't been there 20 minutes when I saw a deer walking the same trail I had used and coming my way through the trash. I couldn't get a clear look, but it moved like a buck. I was really hoping for a doe, my usual choice, but I'm an equal opportunity predator, first come first serve. We can shoot either in my area. It took 15 minutes of putzing around in the brush for the deer to come into the clear, and I saw it was a mature buck with a swollen neck. I also saw it was what I guesstimated to be 60 yards out. But, oh, so sweet, walking slowly along, broadside to me, and me sitting against a tree, rifle on my knee, full cock and trigger set... but I reminded myself I was shooting a .40, and 60 yards is a fair bit. I never could stand temptation, I put the bead on the X and took the shot. Instant ignition, and I don't think I've shot that rifle for five years. The deer did something I've never seen, he bucked. Bounced forward onto his front legs and kicked both back legs like a bucking bronco. In 4 jumps he was out of sight, but I learned a long time ago to listen to deer after I shoot them, and I heard him hit something in his going, and then make a big crash in the brush off a bit to the right of his track when I saw him last. I thought he was mine.

I was right, I found him about 70 yards away, deep in the trash, with a hole right where I aimed. He was a large-bodied 9-pointer, a beautiful deer, fat and healthy.

The ball shattered ribs on both sides, but didn't exit. The chest was completely full of blood, I hadn't hit the heart. The deer went down just about exactly the way I expect when I do that double lung shot with even a .600 ball. The little 92 grain ball had done good work.

I paced the shot and found I had overestimated the distance, it was 50 yards. I'm now a fan of the .40 for deer, in the right hands... mine... :haha: and in the right conditions. I think I'll keep this one.

Spence

 

[buford87]

I don't see anything in that picture that I don't like. Great tale ................watch yer top knot..........

 

[roundball]

Nice going Spence...good buck, good rifle, good photo!
:hatsoff:

 

[cynthialee]

:thumbsup:

looks just as dead as the one I saw shot with a .50

:wink:

 

[wattlebuster]

Congrats Spence. Nice buck, beautiful rifle :thumbsup: :hatsoff:

 

[stone knife]

I must say that this was an excellent read, fine story with a great picture. Congratulations on that buck as all was well done :hatsoff:

 

[Silex]

Congratulations, Spence!
That is a very nice story and picture, as always. When I am sitting in the office, stories like that always give me a “little time away - out in the woods”.

Please allow me to be curious. You wrote that there was not a full penetration. Did you find the ball? When you field dressed did you notice a damaged diaphragm or intestants?

The reason I am asking is this. In the German hunters education class reactions of the game to the shot are taught (the German term for that is “Schußzeichen” meaning “shot signs” in direct translation). Talking with old hunters the discussion is always new calibers vs. old calibers. I know we are not speaking about supp. guns here but there is an old German cartridge (a tad under .40 cal) that used to be loaded with black powder ”“ the shot sign of game taken with that supposedly were very prominent. Since this was a very common cartridge a theory was developed, which is still taught today. These days the signs are still visible but not as prominent.

Long story short “the bucking bronco” behavior by this theory is usually accounted for a shot rather in the rear. I had shot a buck with a double lung shot that had a tiny fragment of the bullet entering the diaphragm scraping the liver and he showed the exact same behavior.

Here is a picture of the developed theory from a German hunting lexicon:
http://www.deutsches-jagd-lexikon.de/index.php/Datei:Schusszeichen.png

One would ask why to develop such a theory. The answer is to have a better chance of tracking. When you know were the shot sits you can take different precautions going after the game. Of course this is done in conjunction with the actual tracking sign (we call that “Pirschzeichen”) like blood, hair, bone or tissue fragments.


Sorry for the long post, I didn’t want to hijack the thread. PM is welcome any time.


Thank you,
Silex

 

[RushCC]

Looks like a great hunt. What a deer too! And taken with a .40, smaller than I would think, but what counts is shot placement and distance. That deer will put some meat in the freezer.

 

[gsday]

Congratualtions Spence! Beautiful buck.

The right gun in the right hands and a well placed shot does it every time.

Greg

 

[AWsaddles]

Congratulations ! Beautiful deer and rifle!

 

[hoochiepapa]

Keep it? Aww, Spence, I was going to try to talk you out of it!! :hatsoff:

 

[vern faulkner]

Spence, thank you for inviting my along on that remarkable hunt.

Vern

 

[Richard J.]

Great read, buck and rifle. Thank you.

 

[jamesthomas]

Thats a great story and a excellent end to a hunt!! Good looking deer, it will load up a freezer for sure. I believe if you look back in this forum you will find quite a few deer taken with a .40 cal. I'm saving my pennies to get a kit in .40 from T.V.M..

 

[George]

Sorry for the long post, I didn’t want to hijack the thread.

No problem, Silex. I found your description of the Schußzeichen very interesting, thank you. I stole the drawing for my file. My father passed along some bits of deer-hunting lore when I was a boy, one of which was that a deer will hump its back if shot in the belly, as shown by the third deer down in your link.

I looked hard for the ball, since I considered this hunt a sort of experiment to educate myself about the capabilities of the .40 caliber. I didn't find it. I did notice that there seemed to be more soft tissue damage along the track of the ball, especially in the muscles on the side where it stopped. Most of my deer are shot with .600 balls in the 1500-1700 fps range, and I don't usually see that much damage.

The path of the ball was well forward of the diaphragm, as you will see from the photos below, and the intestinal cavity, the abdomen, was not entered. The only things struck inside the body cavity were the lungs and some large blood vessels.

When deer die from a lung shot they frequently thrash around a bit in the last few seconds, and they are blind and insensitive to their surroundings by this time. Notice that there is a denuded area on the right upper leg on this deer, where he hit against something and scraped hair off in the throes. That thrashing was what I heard, and it can sometimes help find your deer, if you learn to listen for it. It also sometimes leaves evidence around which will help you find your deer, such as this hair from a previous buck:

If you see such signs as that, you know you are close and that the deer is badly hurt. Deer don't run into things when they have their wits about them.

Spence

 

[George]

I believe if you look back in this forum you will find quite a few deer taken with a .40 cal. I'm saving my pennies to get a kit in .40 from T.V.M..

Yes, I've seen quite a few of those reports, and I had no doubt a .40 can take deer, even before I saw them. I will not, however, make my .40 my main deer gun. I believe it should be limited to those shots where everything is just right, and there are no big bones in the way of a killing shot. I've taken deer with my .54 and .62 which involved going through the shoulder or leg bone, and it was no problem. With a .40 I suspect it might be. Most of the deer I see on a hunt don't feel obliged to stand broadside for the shot.

One advantage of the .40 which serves to counterbalance that shortcoming, for me, with this gun, is that it is accurate enough for head shots if a body shot isn't available. I know, I know, there are valid reasons not to shoot deer in the head, and I don't normally consider it an option, but I can shoot a squirrel in the ear with this gun, have done it many times, so I have absolutely no doubt I could do the same for a deer if the situation were right.

Spence

 

[rabjr]

Nice deer with that .40 Spence! Grats! :thumbsup:

 

[Skychief]

Way To Go Spence. That Forty knocked the stuffing out of him, huh? :thumbsup: :thumbsup: :thumbsup:

Happy for you, Skychief. :bow:

 

[Britsmoothy]

Fantastic field report Spence :hatsoff:

Fantastic rifle and good field craft :hatsoff:

Brits.

 

[ncmtmike]

Thanks for taking us along for the hunt Spence :bow: