Author Topic: What are you shooting in your muzzleloader? (Read 1048 times)

riddleofsteel · « **on:** November 10, 2004, 03:39:27 AM »

I guess the title says it all. I have been around a lot of muzzleloader shooters this season and there seems to be a LOT of different loads out there. One guy swears by the new Power Belt projectiles and I saw the damage a .50 245 grain Power Belt did to a big 8 point buck he had hanging up, another fellow uses the .50 180 grain ball and patch. He had a prong horn buck hanging as well but the trauma damage difference between the two deer was very evident.
When I started out I was shooting a T/C Renegade with the compromise 1/48 twist. Patched balls were shooting pretty well but much past 50 yards I could tell they were not tack drivers. I started using the T/C 255 grain Maxi-Hunter and found that my groups tighted up. The performance on deer sized game was pretty good with .50 holes going all the way thru in most cases. Then a friend of mine showed me sabots one afternoon at the range. He was shooting the .44 200 grain Nosler semi-jacketed hollow point in a one piece green sabot. His CVA side hammer was putting them into 2 inch groups at 100 yards. I was also hunting with a .44 Mag 6" S&W at the time and the kills using the similar 200 grain Hornady XTP hollow point were spectacular out to 150 yards. A quick visit to the gun store for a bag of sabots and I went to the range. The chrono revealed my Renegade was pushing the 200 grain XTP a good bit faster than my 6" .44 Mag so I thought why not change over.
Of course the one piece plastic sabots started melting to the inside of my barrel. Pushing a load down the barrel was next to impossible ect. ect. I bought some T/C break away sabots with the felt washer soaked in Wonder Lube. That solved the plastic residue in the barrel but you still had to almost drive the load down the barrel. Smearing some Wonder Lube on the plastic part of the sabot helped some and it helps conditon the barrel but loadeing was still difficult. Accuracy was fantastic hovering around MOA out to 75 yards and around 1.5" after that. Then there was the damage a .44 200 grain XTP hollow point does to a deer when it hits at 1700 FPS+. Even a marginal shot results in massive trauma.
Eventually I bought a replacement barrel that had a slow enough twist to handle patched balls. Accuracy is great now but you have to shot center for maximum damage to the animal or you will be tracking for a while. My son still shoots that Renegade because it is so easy to load. I picked up a used Renegade for a song at a gun store when the current inline craze first started. I am back to forcing my old load of a T/C breakaway sabot and a 200 grain Hornady XTP hollow point down the barrel. I killed two deer so far this season and the damge this combo did was the talk of our deer camp.
Well enough of me.......what are you shooting?

jeager106 · « **Reply #1 on:** November 10, 2004, 06:03:40 AM »

I'm shooting a birddog6 copy of a 1720's American flint jeager in .58.
Of course it's a roundballer and shoots just fine with 85 grains of Swiss 1.5fg.
Not a teckno marvel...but that's exactly why I shoot it!

Longcruise · « **Reply #2 on:** November 10, 2004, 06:24:46 AM »

.490 balls and 70 or 80 grains of ff or fff in my .50 TC Hawkin is fine for hunting and targets. .530 ball and 100 to 120 grains of ff or fff in either of my .54's for deer and elk. Both the .54's shoot accurately with dang near any powder charge from 30 up to 120 but some charges are more accurate than others.

filmokentucky · « **Reply #3 on:** November 10, 2004, 12:22:19 PM »

110 grs. GOEX ffg under a .530 patched (.015)R.B. in my .54 Hawken
90 grs. GOEX ffg under a .610 patched (.015)R.B. in my .62 flintlock longrifle
80 grs. GOEX ffg under a .600 patched (.010)R.B. in my .62 flintlock fowler
90 grs. GOEX ffg under a .678 patched (.010)R.B. in my 1842 musket
These are hunting loads, but they also happen to produce the best accuracy.

Gregory · « **Reply #4 on:** November 10, 2004, 12:36:09 PM »

TC Renegade 50 cal

75 gr FFG .490 ball .010 Ox Yoke patch with bore butter, 3-4" groups to 100 yds.

50 gr FFFG same ball and patch with Ox Yoke Competition lube is a 50 yd target load, 1 1/2 " groups.

mike_h · « **Reply #5 on:** November 10, 2004, 12:41:53 PM »

I shoot a .490 ball with a .021 patch over 80 grains of fffg Goex in my .50 cal T/C Hawken. Groups at 60 yards with open sights are 1" and shrink down to 1/2-5/8" if I add a piece of ciggarette paper between the ball and patch. Need to find a tad thicker ticking but for now the 1" groups are more than adequate for hunting season. I follow Dutch's acuracy system also...without that I know for a fact I would not be getting such good groups.

Glanceblamm · « **Reply #6 on:** November 10, 2004, 01:34:31 PM »

.50 T/C Hawken
.490 ball 80gr ff & Oxyoke patch gets grease for hunting/spit or moose for shooting
18 Deer taken..No Bad Storys

Very first with the 370gr T/C maxi-ball
Thank goodness for shot placement per cookie-cutter holes through lungs and hide with no expansion.

quickdtoo · « **Reply #7 on:** November 10, 2004, 01:47:10 PM »

95gr 3f Goex, .018" pillow ticking w/borebutter and .498" roundball in a JP Lancaster .50 cal flinter.

tundragriz · « **Reply #8 on:** November 10, 2004, 02:08:08 PM »

Powerbelts are slightly undersized so they go down easy, gas seal is achieved by the plastic insert on the bottom. Since the plastic does not encapsulate the bullet there is no plastic residue. As you've stated, they are devastating on deer. Never kept one inside but the exit hole is large unlike the 50 cal hole with most other maxis.

Renegade Flintlock 50, 1:48: 245 PB HP 100gr FF Goex, 3"@100
Lyman GPH Flintlock 50, 1:32: 295 PB HP 100gr T7 FFF, 3-4"@150

With the Lyman and T7 seems, I can shoot as many shots as I want without cleaning and no difficulty loading. The most I've done at 1 time is about 20.

lonewolf5347 · « **Reply #9 on:** November 10, 2004, 02:10:01 PM »

my t/c 50 cal. hawkens flinter 85 grains of goex 3f and a REAL 320 conical
my t/c 54 cal. new englander 85 grains of 3f goex and a 380 REAL conical
my t/c 54 flinter Renegade 85 grains of 3f goex and a 380 real conical
my thunderhawk 54 cal. 90 grains of pyrodex select and a nosler 300 grain partition sabot.
All shoot excellent,next season going to try them no excuses 460 grain conicals

The Kansan · « **Reply #10 on:** November 11, 2004, 03:01:44 AM »

Brand new to this forum -

I shoot 55grns FFG Goex behind a .010 pre-lubed patch and .530 roundball for competition, then up it to 80 grns. FFG Goex behind a .010 spitpatched .530 in My .54 Mowrey.

In my original 1832 double barrel 12 ga., I shoot 80 grns FFG Goex behind an overpowder card, pre-lubed wad and 1 1/4 oz. of either 4, 6 or 8 shot depending on what I'm hunting for.

Watch yer backtrail!

...The Kansan...

willysjeep134 · « **Reply #11 on:** November 11, 2004, 04:11:42 AM »

I shoot 90 grains of FFg Elephant with a patched .490 round ball.

I haven't shot this load much, but at 50 yards I was putting two shots within 3/4 of an inch of each other when I was developing it. I know it isn't like a 10 shot group or anything, but that still seems pretty good to me. For a long time I shot 70 grains, but I decided to bump it up to 90 so if I ever hunt anything bigger than deer I won't need to re-zero the rifle with a heavier load. Also, I don't really notice much of a diference between 70 and 90 grains on my end.

bumble · « **Reply #12 on:** November 11, 2004, 04:53:44 PM »

I shoot 90 grs of Swiss FFg and the 348gr plated Power Belt. The unplated ones lead too much. It clocks 1525 fps out of my T/C Express and groups into a Skoal can size bullseye at 100 yards and into a 8 inch plate at 200 yards.