As my readers may know, I harvested a red stag doe (called a hind) in Pennsylvania a few weeks ago with my 1775 Pennsylvania flintlock rifle. I estimated the range to the shot at 65 yards with a .490 round ball weighing 177 grains and shooting 100 grains of black powder. This round ball has a ballistic coefficient of .069. If muzzle velocity from my 43 inch barrel is around 1800fps then my energy at 50 yards is just shy of 700 ft-lbs.
The bullet struck ribs at the rear of lungs and exited the offside shoulder. The bullet was never recovered. The deer did not run, it fast walked 20 yards and fell dead right there. After the black powder smoke cleared, I was impressed. That said, with such a low ballistic coefficient, I would not shoot at deer size game with my flintlock beyond 100 yards See the distance and energies below.
| Calculated Table | ||||||||||
| Range | Drop | Drop | Windage | Windage | Velocity | Mach | Energy | Time | Lead | Lead |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| (yd) | (in) | (MOA) | (in) | (MOA) | (ft/s) | (none) | (ft•lbs) | (s) | (in) | (MOA) |
| 0 | -1.5 | *** | 0.0 | *** | 1800.0 | 1.643 | 1273.2 | 0.000 | 0.0 | *** |
| 25 | 0.0 | 0.1 | 0.6 | 2.3 | 1543.1 | 1.408 | 935.7 | 0.045 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
| 50 | 0.6 | 1.2 | 2.5 | 4.8 | 1322.3 | 1.207 | 687.1 | 0.098 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
| 75 | -0.0 | -0.0 | 5.9 | 7.5 | 1148.6 | 1.048 | 518.4 | 0.159 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
| 100 | -2.3 | -2.2 | 10.8 | 10.3 | 1029.6 | 0.940 | 416.6 | 0.228 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
| 125 | -6.6 | -5.1 | 16.8 | 12.8 | 949.5 | 0.866 | 354.3 | 0.304 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
| 150 | -13.4 | -8.5 | 23.9 | 15.2 | 888.7 | 0.811 | 310.4 | 0.386 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
| 175 | -22.8 | -12.5 | 31.8 | 17.4 | 838.3 | 0.765 | 276.2 | 0.473 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
| 200 | -35.4 | -16.9 | 40.7 | 19.4 | 794.2 | 0.725 | 247.9 | 0.564 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
Know your rifle/cartridge and its capabilities.
Good Hunting!