Well, it's that revolting time of year again, when guys show up at the shooting range all cocky about their magnum muzzleloaders. They use $30 scopes (but $40,000 trucks), 3 Pyrodex pellets regardless of barrel length or what the rifle shoots best, generic packaged bullets ("bigger is better"), they do not swab between shots, do not shoot a cap between loads, and can't hit a 8x11 paper from 50 yards. A couple of these guys were close enough to my bench that they got me worried. Every time they seated bullets, the rods were sticking out a different length, therefore the bullet seating was not consistent, or even on top of the pellets. I did hear a hang-fires or delayed fires a couple of times... They hit the 8x11 paper two times out of 8 shots, so they left "ready for the hunt". Do these guys ever have any notion of hunters needing to learn, practice, prepare, etc. in order to make a quick and humane (ethical) kill on game? They did not even bother to chat and ask anything, though me and my budy were shooting paper cups at 200 yards with our smokepoles and would have shared our powders and bullets, etc; they did see our targets at 50 yards next to theirs (ours had cloverleaf groups) and left quickly.
Another day, there was one guy who used belted bullets, 3 pellets, and he swabbed between shots with greased patches. His 10-12 shots grouped into an honest 10" pattern at 50 yards; he will hunt a "200 yard foodplot".
I sighted this year with the .452 225 grain Hornady FTX in Harvester sabot, 90 grains of BH 209,Nobel primer. The 24" Wolf put all 14 shots into 3.5" at 200 yards. At 50 and 100, i aimed with the crosshair and got touching holes, at 200, i set the scope on 3X and aimed with the tip of the bottom heavy post of the reticle. Sweet! Long live BH 209.
