What are you shooting in your muzzleloader?

[riddleofsteel]

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?

[Redhawk1]

I have several Encore muzzleloaders. In my 45 cal I am shooting the Barnes 195 gr. They are very accurate and work will on deer. In the 50 Cal's I have been shooting 295gr. powerbelts with very good success but I have recently switched to Precision Rifles 195 DC sabots. My accuracy improved with the 195 DC sabots. I will have to see how well they preform on deer.  

[sabotloader]

riddleofsteel

I have found that I can shoot just about any bullet I want in my Remingtons and the A&H with very good accuracy

I am using sabots, usually Noslers, and a variety of bullets pushed by 100 grains of loose t7-2f powder.

Here are a copy of targets that might provode you with some information

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v130/sabotloader/458.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v130/sabotloader/Target.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v130/sabotloader/300_Nos_PP_Ballistics.jpg

[quickdtoo]

I shoot the 275gr hollow point powerbelts in a TC black diamond super xr .45 and in a CVA Staghorn .45 with 120grs of FF T7. I also have shot or shoot both the 295gr and 348gr lead hollow points in 2 different TC black diamond XR .50 rifles, using 120gr FF T7. All shoot less than 2" with the Williams WGRS rear aperture sight. I have shot the 405gr lead hollow points w/100gr FF T7 also, although groups were not quite as small, but that could have been my fault, they do have some serious recoil in that light TC. All shooting done at 100yds.

[LMM]

245gr PowerBelt Aerotip in front of 2 .50 cal 50gr T7 Pellets ignited by Winchester 209 primers.

[TScottW99]

Shooting a CVA Mag Hunter with 300 grain T/C Shockwaves.  Using 80 grains of 777 FFG and Winchester 209 primers.

[Flatland Hunter]

I hope to get out with 3 ML's this year...

White Elite Hunter Model 98, .451 cal, 80 gr of T7 2f, 460 gr No Excuses conical, Sightron SII 1.5-6x42mm scope, at 100 yds shots 1 and 2 usually cut or come close to cutting one another - shot 3 opens it a bit (no swabbing). Ready to roll in a new B&C stock.

White Super 91, .504 cal, still working up a load, will use the 495 gr No Excuses conical and T7 2f 70-80 gr, Simmons Whitetail Expedition 1.5-6x32mm.

Knight Elite, .50 cal, still working up a load, will use either a 250 gr SST or MZ Expander and T7 2f, Burris Fullfield II 3-9x40mm.

[Cuz]

I am shooting a TC Omega .50.

My load is CCI 209 primer, 80 gr BlackMag 3 powder and 200gr TC Shockwave. A very accurate load, at least for my rifle.

My rifle is stainless with laminated stock. SVL recoil pad. TC Hawken BP Scope 3X9X40. Took off both front and rear sight to mount the scope. Makes a very 'neat' looking weapon.

I got the BlackMag' 3 from Cabela's. I understand that MidwayUSA also has it in stock. NO crud ring, NO spit patch between shots, EASY cleanup and use less powder per load. It costs a bit more than Pyrodex, but I believe the costs are made less a problem by the results.

Cuz

[jeff223]

im shooting a max load of 777 2f loose powder.thats 130grs under a 250gr Barnes MZ Expander and also using the 250gr SSTs.these bullets shoot to the same zero and are very accurate out of my Knight Rifle.full plastic jacket with a 209 primer ignition.i dont complain about the crud ring either.spit patch between shots and thats all theres to it

[daddywpb]

I'm using 295 grain plated Powerbelt HP's, 2 Pyrodex pellets, and a 209 primer in my T/C Omega.

[Bob the Cynic]

This year I'm shooting 250g shockwaves over two 50g pyrodex pellets out of my MDM Buckwacka.  Accuracy is great but I haven't pulled the trigger of my muzzleloader on a deer yet so I can't say how they perform on anything but paper.
 
I've use the 240g XTPs over the same load with good accuracy and good performance on deer in the past.

[RAY]

I'm sooting a 225 grain PowerBelt on top of 2 Pyrodex 50 grain pellets with CCI 209 primers out of a .45 T/C Encore. I sighted it in last week and shot a 1 inch group at 100 yards. Deer season starts next week, can't wait to squeeze the trigger on a whitetail.

[DEPUTY]

300 grain sst  sitting on top of 200 grains of triple 7

do not try this load in any gun other than the ultimate firearms bp express!

[OrangeWing]

Savage, H4227, 42 grains of the smokeless, 190 grain Noslor. 2950FPS.  This load rocks. This shoots lights out accurate with a ton of knock down power.

[upnorth]

175 gr pr bullet duplex, 90 gr of black mag 3 or pyro select out of a 50 cal. encore. left a 2" exit hole on my deer this year.