.58 or .62?????

[KW]

OK. I tried my hand at hunting with a modern rifle and I can tell you that I don't think I will do it again. It just didn't feel right. I have been toting my CVA St. Louis Hawken around to many years I guess. So now that I want to hunt bigger game (Buffalo, Alaskan Moose and the mighty Brown Bear and Grizz) I was looking at building for myself either a .58 or .62. What do you think? I know with RB (like I would shoot anything else :grin: ) the bigger the better, but I was just curious. The barrels I would be using would be either the Colerain 36" Taper in .62 or the Goodien 35" in .58. Also has anybody done any chrono tests for the velocity of different amounts of powder? I can't seem to find anything on that. Just looking before I start the plan. And unfortunately the Mrs. will only let me do one or the other, so I can't do both :cry: .Thanks.

[roundball]

I have not run either through a chronograph.

However, I really like the .58cal...a nice balance of weight/velocity/trajectory for all sorts of deer hunting in the U.S....and with excellet shot placement at reasonably close distances, that 279grn ball could even be used on things that bite back.

But...having said that...if I was intentionally going after something like a Grizzly, even with a .58cal I think I'd get a double barrel swivel breech rifle to have that second shot...and better yet, in .62cal if somebody makes that caliber in a swivel breech.
 :grin:

[crow_feather]

Check out the 72 caliber side by side in Cabela's.  
You will find some ballistics in the Lyman black powder book.
Unless you roll your own, the 58 slug is a lot easier to find in stores.
You just have to be careful not to buy the 58 slugs meant for the civil war rifles as heavy charges of black will destroy accuracy.
I have a 58 and with 120 grains of 2f and a round ball, I would take on a large bear.

[Black Jaque Janaviac]

You might want to factor in gun weight too.  And consider what your thoughts are on bullet weight vs. velocity.

There are some outfits that offer really big bore rifles with very slow twist rifling.  So you'd be shooting a .62, .69, or .72 caliber ball at 1800 fps!  To do that, you begin with measuring the powder in the hundreds of grains.  So you've got 300 to 500 grains of lead ball, with a couple hundred grains of black powder,  you are going to experience recoil.  Because of this these guns are made heavy.

If I was going after Griz with a roundball this is the kind of gun I would take.  Fast (by black powder standards) and big.  

But I'm not getting any younger.  And I imagine some day the weight of the gun is going to annoy me as I lug it through the woods.  In fact, it might be a burden right now given Griz country may be worse than what I currently chase whitetails through.

If I wanted to maintain that same 1800 fps from a lighter gun, I might opt for a .58.

[BS]

OK. I tried my hand at hunting with a modern rifle and I can tell you that I don't think I will do it again. It just didn't feel right. I have been toting my CVA St. Louis Hawken around to many years I guess. So now that I want to hunt bigger game (Buffalo, Alaskan Moose and the mighty Brown Bear and Grizz) I was looking at building for myself either a .58 or .62. What do you think?

For BIG BEARS, I would look at a .69 or .72 cal, bigger is better!

I have a little .62 with a 25" barrel, 1" across the flats and is well balanced and shoots quite well, just slower than most due to it's shortness.
Loads that I have tested:
.610 RB

100FFF-1370fps
125FFF-1500
150FF--1500

It also shoots paper cartridges with hard lead balls.....50 yard groups are good, but opens up at 100yds. Still working on loads  and thickness of paper.

My 73 cal would make a nice bear gun, 550 grains of round ball at 1400fps. [190FF]

I have been working with 1F and 125-150 graing and getting very good accuracy. 1100-1200fps [?] mild load but shoots well, a good close range deer load.