Need Help With CVA Wolf Loads

[hawkenman]

My 14 year old son took possession of my Optima Elite 50 cal. muzzeloader and gave me his 50 cal. CVA Wolf rifle in place. He said it was not as powerful as his' wolf. Well I took the Wolf ( most fathers will do anything to keep their kids from whining). I told him that this Wolf is as deadly as my Optima Elite, and I proved it by taking a nice six point last season. The only thing that concerned me was that I was using a PowerBelt 175 grain bullet with 100 grains of Pyrodex. the deer was at 45 feet when I hit him just behind the front shoulder and he jumped up and ran away.After four hours of tracking I found him about 150 yards away. This upcoming muzzeloading season I have a new place that is eat up with deer sign. My feeder is 100 yards from my blind and I am still using the Wolf. I know Powerbelts do not like more than 100 grains, but I need to find out what is a good bullet and the amount of powder I need to make a shot at a minimum of 80 yards. THANKS hawkenman

[Mad Dog]

My go to load for my Wolf is 90 gr. of 777, and a 295 gr. powerbelt aero tip.  Have taken 3 deer with this setup.  I have a 4x leupold on board.
 
 
Mad Dog

[Spirithawk]

The problem with Powerbelts is that if pushed too fast they tend  not to expand. I've heard tons of complaints from guys that had long tracking tasks after shooting deer with them. Many of which never found their deer. Powerbelts can be effective but you realy have to work up a load suitable to your particular rifle. My bullet of choice is Thompson Center Shockwaves.  They are a bit harder to load but they plumb knock the tar outta deer and are super accurate in any rifle I've ever shot them out of!

[hawkenman]

Thanks guys for your info., our muzzeloading season starts the latter part of Oct.. which gives me alot of time to figure out a load for a 100 yard shot. I hunt areas known as scrub that are very thick. It took a week to clear a 100 yard shooting zone to my feeder. Right now I have only hogs coming to the feeder and a picture of a really nice Fla. buck (about 120 class). The hogs will run off the deer, so I will thin them out a little bit before muzzeloading season.