Looking for input from the traditional shooters...

[FULLDRAWXX75]

I have always wanted to own a Pennsylvania long rifle / "Kentucky rifle". I would like to be able to harvest a deer with it, one of my questions is........would a .45 cal be a good candidate or should I go for the .50 cal?

I am not really interested in a flintlock either, so I will be going percussion cap. I am tossing around the idea of purchasing a kit and assembling my own rifle, any input? pros or cons?

OR

What would be a good manufacturer to purchase one already assembled and ready to shoot without remortgaging my house...........some of them things are up there in price.


FDXX75

 

[FULLDRAWXX75]

I am not concerned about the time factor or the patients if I do go with a kit, I was thinking it would be really nice to be able to say I assembled and finished to gun myself.

I am more partial to the bigger bore (.50 cal) myself, but was curious about the .45 cal for a more era style gun, I was under the impression a lot of the early original rifles were smaller bore because they were used on large and small game alike.

I came across this company while doing some research:

http://www.dunlapwoodcrafts.com/

They come highly recommended for the quality of their wood stocks and components they package for their kits. I did not think the pricing was all that bad.

FDXX75

 

[Anonymous]

You will hear a lot of people say that a .45 isn't big enough to hunt deer with but they are dead wrong.. I was hunting with one one year and at 50 yards had a nice Doe walking right at me.. for some reason she started to turn and i let er fly.. Took her right at the base of the Throat and hit a bone and deflected up..She went right down.. i could not find any exit hole but when i got home and went to skin her i found that the Patched Round Ball had went up and all the down along the Loin and was within two inches of coming out the rear!! To me that is power..I know quite a few guy's who will hunt with nothing but a .45 and 2 of them have actually killed Bear in Pa. with them..That being said Dixie Gun Works makes a really good rifle called a Tennessee Mountain Rifle.. It is a excellent choice and not a lot of Money either.. You would be more then happy with one..I really like my custom made St. Louis Hawken myself.. it's short and easier to get thru the woods with..but again it's all a matter of preference..Did you ever get to either of the Eastern's they had going on at Schroon Lake a few years back!! Had a great time at each of them...

 

[FULLDRAWXX75]

You will hear a lot of people say that a .45 isn't big enough to hunt deer with but they are dead wrong.. I was hunting with one one year and at 50 yards had a nice Doe walking right at me.. for some reason she started to turn and i let er fly.. Took her right at the base of the Throat and hit a bone and deflected up..She went right down.. i could not find any exit hole but when i got home and went to skin her i found that the Patched Round Ball had went up and all the down along the Loin and was within two inches of coming out the rear!! To me that is power..I know quite a few guy's who will hunt with nothing but a .45 and 2 of them have actually killed Bear in Pa. with them..That being said Dixie Gun Works makes a really good rifle called a Tennessee Mountain Rifle.. It is a excellent choice and not a lot of Money either.. You would be more then happy with one..I really like my custom made St. Louis Hawken myself.. it's short and easier to get thru the woods with..but again it's all a matter of preference..Did you ever get to either of the Eastern's they had going on at Schroon Lake a few years back!! Had a great time at each of them...

I currently have a .54 cal Hawkens, I am not worried about the barrel length and as far as yardage goes...........most shots will be under 50yds. ( a max. at 100yds, they are not frequent)in the areas I hunt.

Something I had not thought of............twist ratio what would be the best for a .45 cal, I have very little hands on with them.

FDXX75

 

[TennesseeJed]

It all comes down to making an accurate shot, I don't think you'd have any problems with a .45.

You can look at http://www.trackofthewolf.com . Their stuff is usually high end, but occasionally you find good deals.

http://www.avisa.com/tvm and http://www.longrifles-pr.com/ are also good sites.

 

[Anonymous]

That would depend on what you plan on shooting out of it..For patched round balls the slower the better.. Conicals would need a faster twist.. one in 48 would be for either...It would give you good accuracy for hunting but not for Target Competition..Which i doubt you would be doing any way..But you can get either a 1 in 54 or 1 in 66 for patched round balls

 

[FULLDRAWXX75]

dunno if their is a .45 kit out their with a 1-48 twist
if their is you could shoot a conical in it and lay the smack down with it big time

80-100 grians of powder behind a patched ball will give it enough ommpf i bet too with a 1-66 twist


plenty of .50 kits out their to choose from also.

The Dixie gun is a 1:48 twist, I saw one on the other site (Track of the Wolf) with a 1:66 twist...............

The latter one was rather pricey...............ouch, very nice but pricey.

FDXX75

 

[Tanglefoot]

http://www.longrifles-pr.com/




Check them out. They make some nice kits at pretty decent prices. I am building their Southern Mountain Rifle (Flintlock in .50) I would go with the .50 for deer. .36 for small game. It will give you an excuse to buy two rifles.....

 

[FULLDRAWXX75]

I really like the Dixie Pennsylvania longrifle in .45 cal without all the fancy brass............it has a simple "work/business" look to it. I am now tossing the idea of re-assembled or kit back and forth.

FDXX75

 

[southernhunter]

this year i dug my first muzzleloader "bought for me by my dad when i was 12 years old ". out of the safe .its a t/c cherokee in 45 cal . the barrel was in rough shape ,so i started looking and found a never fired barrel installed it and done a good cleaning job. got some fff powder ,patches and round balls. and went to work .i had never killed a deer with it till this year. it was a great feeling bring back the past.i got a feeling the in line may be sitting in the corner i dug the t/c from for awhile.. good luck

 

[Wobblyshot1]

Nothing like building a long rifle and then taking a deer with it! Either caliber will do, but I personally prefer the .50 for a huntin gun. You might want to try Tennessee Valley Muzzleloading. They have both kits and finished guns and also build to your on personal specs. If you decide to build, check out http://americanlongrifles.com. Their forum is the best, as many of the top traditional gun builders freqent this site and offer all kinds of useful info to experienced and novice alike.

I built my wife a rifle from a Pecatonica River Beck Boy's precarved stock and used a .40 Caliber barrel. She's a pretty good shot and has been wanting to take a deer. Just finished a drop in .45 for it so she could give it a try. Hopefully she'll make meat with it next ML deer season. If I can get around to it I'll post pictures of it.

 

[Wobblyshot1]

MG]My wife's rifle that I built her on a Pecatonica River precarved stock. It has a 30 1/2" barrel in .45 caliber with a 1 in 60" twist. Weighs in at 6 1/4 lbs. Fulldraw, with a little determination, you can build something similar.

 

[FULLDRAWXX75]

MG]My wife's rifle that I built her on a Pecatonica River precarved stock. It has a 30 1/2" barrel in .45 caliber with a 1 in 60" twist. Weighs in at 6 1/4 lbs. Fulldraw, with a little determination, you can build something similar.

I am not intimidated about doing a kit, I made a custom stock for my Ruger 7mm about 15 yrs ago. I am leaning towards the kit, just so I can say I built the rifle myself. My grandfather was a master cabinet maker, I learned patients and how to work with wood at an early age.

I have recently started learning/self teaching carving and inletting.

FDXX75

 

[Wobblyshot1]

That's great FDXX75. Didn't mean to sound like I was questioning your abilities. With your woodworking background you should have no trouble at all building something special.

Might I suggest a book that can help you also. "Recreating The American Longrifle" by Buchele/Shumway/Alexander is an oldie but goodie. Tons of detailed info on building a traditional ML rifle.

 

[FULLDRAWXX75]

That's great FDXX75. Didn't mean to sound like I was questioning your abilities. With your woodworking background you should have no trouble at all building something special.

Might I suggest a book that can help you also. "Recreating The American Longrifle" by Buchele/Shumway/Alexander is an oldie but goodie. Tons of detailed info on building a traditional ML rifle.

All is good, I didn't take it that way and thanks for the tip on the book. I will look it up, I enjoy reading that stuff anyway.

FDXX75

 

[TennesseeJed]

Is that a cherry stock?

 

[southernhunter]

awsome gun ,some day i hope to do something like that my self..

 

[Wobblyshot1]

Is that a cherry stock?

Actually, it's curly maple without much curl in the butt stock area. Guess that's why they had this particular stock in their 2nd's pile. Turned out okay anyway. The color is just the tint in the stain I used. Think it was one of the Birchwood Casey stock stains.