Why .40 cal?

[Brian Robeson]

I added a practical application aspect when I made my .40 Tennessee. I made it with an interchangeable .50 barrel. To switch calibers all I have to do is pull the keys, the tang screw and the lock screw. The same ramrod serves both.

View attachment 195697

Thats probably one of the most beautiful flintlocks I have ever seen. Exactly what I like in a rifle.

 

[Tom A Hawk]

Thats probably one of the most beautiful flintlocks I have ever seen. Exactly what I like in a rifle.

Why...thank you. The Pecatonica stock was especially nice.

 

[Loyalist Dave]

From my research as a new flint lock owner, I am realizing that a ton of the rifles are chambered in .40 and I see a lot of smoothbores in this caliber as well. I own a .54 because I am hoping to take it deer hunting and in NYS, I believe you aren't allowed to hunt deer with anything less than a .50.

So I am wondering what is the reason I see so many extremely nice guns in .40 caliber. Am I missing something? Do they shoot better? are they for target shooting?

The caliber to my untrained eye, seems too large for small game and too small for large game.

Let me know in the responses how wrong I am! Haha.

So they are made in .40 caliber..., modern guns and rifles are chambered. No worries, we know what you meant.

You presently see a big uptick in .40 caliber custom or semi-custom flintlocks and caplocks because of COVID. The factories shut down, so only existing stock for barrels was on hand. WHAT does a builder do, as many of them have mundane jobs and building is their craft of love that pays some extra bucks, when the builder is sent home due to restrictions ??? BUILD of course... or go stir crazy . When the barrel companies are out of .45, .50. and .54 barrels, BUT they have .40's in stock...,you build .40 caliber rifles.

I bought mine several years back, and .40 was not very popular. For example less than half the states allow it to be used for deer... Maryland is one state that does, and I had a choice between .45 and .40 so I chose the "odd" caliber, a .40. I dare to be different..., one of the reasons that I portray a Loyalist... when doing living history, (an American colonist who stayed loyal to the UK during the AWI)... is, I like "odd".

.40 are renown for accuracy with round ball. Lots of target shooters use them. Very high speed compared to other round ball calibers, and just enough mass to do better against a cross wind than a .36
.38 - .42 caliber muzzle loaders have been popular in Appalachia since the Great Depression, due to the low cost of shooting them.
.40 can be used, if one pays for the custom mold, with a conical bullet, and thus the effective range is extended AND the choices for the type of game increase as well.

As for smoothbores.... hmmmm... a lot of modern smoothbores are becoming popular in .410... but not .40 in smoothbore muzzleloaders. In fact there is a modern handgun and some modern turkey guns now made in .410 bore, but that's talking apples to oranges when comparing those to what we shoot. The modern ammo and modern barrels take advantage of a lot of tech, so unlike us when we shoot say a 20 gauge at a turkey, using 1½ ounces of #5 shot which launches about 255 pellets but delivers about 10 pellets to the lethal area of the turkey at 30 yards..., the modern guys shoot a little less than ⅞ of an ounce in the .410 and get more than twice the pellets in the turkey head at 40 yards.

So our choice of using the older tech is a big game changer, as you can tell. Frankly I have always found much more satisfaction by using this old tech over the modern stuff. I'm getting to be an antique myself, so....

LD

 

[Ballshooter]

40 is the minimum in my state for deer 45 minimum for large game. I think a 40 would be fun not sure I would hunt with one. I like 54 and up for the game I hunt.

 

[hanshi]

An interesting discovery that I made concerning the .40 was or might be just my rifle or maybe encompassing the .40 in general. I spent lots of time looking for accurate loads. I found them at 30 grains of 3F, 40 grains and 60 grains. When I finally decided to chronograph the loads I got a heads up for sure. First was going from 35 grains to 40 grains, just a five grain increase. But that 5 grain increase boosted the velocity around 250 fps. But when I got to 60 grains, a fine load for 100 yards, it happened again. That prb with 60 grns gave a sizzling 2150 fps! Never had such occur with any other caliber.

So I do accept that the .40 can absolutely go from a moseying squirrel getter to a blistering deer load. That, I think, is the best thing about the .40.

 

[smoothshooter]

And a very popular ‘do everything’ gun in the old days. Kill Bambi and Thumper or Rocky equally well
It was a size seen pretty common in the old days

Too bad Kibler has mo immediate plans to make a Lancaster or Woodsrunner in .40 to my knowledge.
The SMR butt stock profile does not fit me at all.

 

[Buckskinn]

I have flinters in 40. 54 and a 20ga, the 40 is by far the one I shoot the most, most accurate and the most fun.

 

[Loyalist Dave]

Too bad Kibler has mo immediate plans to make a Lancaster or Woodsrunner in .40 to my knowledge.
The SMR butt stock profile does not fit me at all.

I thought I heard that at one time as long as the outer barrel dimensions were correct for other calibers that are offered in the Kibler kits, a buyer could send a barrel to them and get the rifle in in whatever caliber barrel was sent? Maybe that was just wishful thinking?

LD

 

[user 48702]

Seems that Davy Crockett owned and hunted with at least two .40 caliber rifles, one of which was Old Betsy. Seemed to do him well on bear, otherwise, he just grinned them to death. This is from True West Magazine Oct 19, 2022.

"For much appreciated service in the Tennessee State Assembly, Crockett’s Lawrence County constituents presented him with a .40-caliber flintlock crafted by James Graham around 1822.Calling this rifle “Old Betsy”, Crockett used it to kill 125 bears between 1825 and 1834. When he departed for Texas in 1835, Davy left “Old Betsy” with his son, John Wesley".

Link to True West Article

 

[Brian Robeson]

So they are made in .40 caliber..., modern guns and rifles are chambered. No worries, we know what you meant.

You presently see a big uptick in .40 caliber custom or semi-custom flintlocks and caplocks because of COVID. The factories shut down, so only existing stock for barrels was on hand. WHAT does a builder do, as many of them have mundane jobs and building is their craft of love that pays some extra bucks, when the builder is sent home due to restrictions ??? BUILD of course... or go stir crazy . When the barrel companies are out of .45, .50. and .54 barrels, BUT they have .40's in stock...,you build .40 caliber rifles.

I bought mine several years back, and .40 was not very popular. For example less than half the states allow it to be used for deer... Maryland is one state that does, and I had a choice between .45 and .40 so I chose the "odd" caliber, a .40. I dare to be different..., one of the reasons that I portray a Loyalist... when doing living history, (an American colonist who stayed loyal to the UK during the AWI)... is, I like "odd".

.40 are renown for accuracy with round ball. Lots of target shooters use them. Very high speed compared to other round ball calibers, and just enough mass to do better against a cross wind than a .36
.38 - .42 caliber muzzle loaders have been popular in Appalachia since the Great Depression, due to the low cost of shooting them.
.40 can be used, if one pays for the custom mold, with a conical bullet, and thus the effective range is extended AND the choices for the type of game increase as well.

As for smoothbores.... hmmmm... a lot of modern smoothbores are becoming popular in .410... but not .40 in smoothbore muzzleloaders. In fact there is a modern handgun and some modern turkey guns now made in .410 bore, but that's talking apples to oranges when comparing those to what we shoot. The modern ammo and modern barrels take advantage of a lot of tech, so unlike us when we shoot say a 20 gauge at a turkey, using 1½ ounces of #5 shot which launches about 255 pellets but delivers about 10 pellets to the lethal area of the turkey at 30 yards..., the modern guys shoot a little less than ⅞ of an ounce in the .410 and get more than twice the pellets in the turkey head at 40 yards.

So our choice of using the older tech is a big game changer, as you can tell. Frankly I have always found much more satisfaction by using this old tech over the modern stuff. I'm getting to be an antique myself, so....

LD

Thanks for the great reply.