Bullets weight

[Mattule]

What would be a good bullet for a 50 cal. in line muzzle loader for couse deer? My buddy drew Elk and 24A muzzle loader deer and was going to try to set his muzzle loader up with a bullet he could use on both. Power belt says to use at a minimum the 348 grain bullet on elk but to me that sounds big for white tail. Any suggestions?

Edited January 1, 1970 by Mattule

[More D]

Great question! Recoil, coues (small) size, shooting distance would make me try the lighter weights first but your own muzzle loader rifle will tell you what you should, have to, use. How accurate you smoke pole is with a given load what will answer your question. Reading Jim Shocky's muzzle loader stories you will see that he uses 100grs of powder and 300gr sabots for EVERYTHING from coues to moose. Why? Because it is accurate in his rifle and he know the load and where it is going to be at any given distance, aka practice.

I wish you good luck! Hopefully you won't need as much as I need(ed) to work up an accurate load for your muzzle loader. Remember to try a bullet with small changes in increases in powder, not just 100 or 150grs. I takes ALOT of time to find a good one.

 

 

 

[Guest Lark Hubbard]

i've never shot a coues with a muzzleloader, but have taken a number of muleys and bull elk with one. my favorite bullet is a 240 gr. hornady xtp hollowpoint, .44 cal, if you're going to use a .50 cal rifle. put 2, 50 grain pyrodex pellets behind it. shoots like an '06. will shoot through any elk out to 250 yds or so. real accurate. real fast. some of these guns say they're good for 150 grains of powder, but i never felt that much was needed. plus you'll have to go the chiropractor when you're done shootin' it. will kick worse than a mule. i've never liked the bigger bullets in a sabot because i'd rather have the velocity than energy. main thing is to hit em. the flatter it shoots, the better it will hit. my experience with a muzzleloader is that, unless you hit them in the spine, it's like hitting them with an arrow. they just wander a ways and die. seems to not be a bunch of knockdown. i've used this load time and time again with great success. in a traditional style rifle, FFg blackpowder is what i'd use, with the dame bullets. these newer rifles that use a shotgun primer, the pyrodex pellets work great.

[Mattule]

Thanks for the advise. I have been using 230 XTP bullets with 2 Pyrodex pellets(50gr. each) but I am only getting 8 inch groups at 100 yards (3 shots) so I am thinking about switching to loose powder and spending alot of time finding a load that my rifle likes.

I tried 3 of those pellets and chrono tested it and the diffence in speed was only a hundred FPS between 2 and 3 pellets so it was not worth the abuse. It was alot more fun to find a load for my 30-06 that smoke pole beats me with every shot but I will figure it out. Has anyone tried that triple 7 powder with any luck?

thanks again,

Matt

[Guest Lark Hubbard]

what kind of rifle do you have? you need a fairly quick twist in the barrel to stabilize sabots. like 1" in 28" or quicker. what caliber are the bullets you're shooting? if you have a decent rifle loaded with the right components you should be able to shoot inside of a couple inches at 100 yds anyway. 8" seems real excessive. is it an inline that shoots shotgun primers? #11 caps don't set off pyrodex pellets very well. if that's the case you should use loose powder and get some hot caps. remington makes some that are real hot #11's. i've never had a muzzleloader that i couldn't shoot inside of 1 1/2" or so. sometimes it took some work to get it there, but it's possible.

[Mattule]

Lark, I have a CVA magnum. I am using 209 primers with 100gr of pyrodex but I bought some triple 7 pellets and some 295 gr powerbelt bullets that I am going to try this weekend. I was also thinking about getting a 2-7X33 leupold scope on Friday to try to get my groups down. I had been shooting open sights because the rifle came with a cheap scope but I took it off after the second time it split my head open .

Matt

[.270]

it should do better than 8" at 100 yards. not using a scope might be part of it. i know i can't hit worth a darn with iron sights anymore. i've never used powerbelts and the guys i know that have, didn't like them. could never get them to hit the same place all the time. that why i've always stuck with the xtp's and a plastic sabot. they've always worked well in everything i've had. from my old .50 cal T/C hawken to my new inline. they've always been real accurate and have always performed well on game. they punch right through everything i've ever shot. seem to mushroom real well and hit real hard. Lark.

[More D]

I also have a CVA in-line, it might be the magnum as well in .50 cal. The 240grn XTP's worked great. My first (and only) elk cow stopped in her tracks, kneeled down for a few seconds then stood and fell over hard. BEAUTIFUL MUSHROOM TOO! I also tried the power belt hollow points and it did not go well at all, 8 inches at 100 was the tightest it would go. I might have a larger than average bore but I am only guessing.

At least your having fun at the range, scars and all!!

 

 

 

[Rembrant]

I got the budget CVA last year and went the same route with the powerbelts. Started with the lightest .45 cal bullet and couldn't hit the broad side of a barn. Ended up shooting the Powerbelt 295 with 110 gr of powder and am 4" low at 200 yds.(forget where zero is - gotta start shootin again)

I went from wondering what good a muzzleloader is - to complete confidence.

Figurin this stuff out is a lot of the fun.

[DesertBull]

I've never had much luck with 150 grains of powder with the PowerBelts. Seems they like a around 90-110 grains max. I think it just turns that flimsly little plastic base on the bullets into goo.

 

If it were me, I'd just find a lite weight bullet for deer and heavier bullet for elk. Shoot the heck out of both all summer. You can always adjust your sites after the first hunt.

 

Look at the DeadCenter bullets from Precison Rifle. Don's Sporting Goods in Scottsdale carries them.

Edited January 1, 1970 by DesertBull

[Mattule]

Thanks for the tips I will let you know Monday how it turns out.

[couestaxi]

Although I too have had good luck with the powerbelts in the past, there is one thing to be carefull with. Mark your ramrod with the seating depth of your load and check it occasionally during the day. On a hard hunt I have had the bullet move forward in the barrel leaving a dangerous air gap between the powder and the powerbelt bullet. This can cause your gun to blow up.

As far as the XTP's go I have seen more failures than success with these bullets. I personally shot a buck in New Mexico with these bullets out of a 50 Cal. renegade over 110 grains of powder. The deepest penetration was 4". I ended up shooting the deer multiple times. Last fall in Kansas my partner shot a huge Mule deer buck with a 50 cal Knight using 300 grain XTP's over 100 grains of powder ( 2 pellets). Same result, knocked the buck clear off its feet but it got up never to be found again ( in Kansas you can see for miles and he never stopped). I could see the wound in the chest, had he used a quality bullet with better penetration the buck would be on the wall. We have done a lot of testing of these bullets and others for penetration. We use 1 gallon paint thinner cans filled with water and set up in a row with about 4" of air between each can. The XTP's do not make it through 1 can! The best available are the Barnes MZ, Nosler Partition and Swift A Frame all in 50 cal at 250 grains, they detroy the first 3-4 cans and penetrate up to 9 cans!!! I personally use the noslers in a sabot made by Thompson Center Arms. I know this is not entirly scientific but I can back the results up in the field. You owe it to the animal to use the best equipment you can. You need to shoot what shoots best in your gun but keep bullet performance in mind, a bad hit is still a bad hit. Good luck! Huntin' with a smokepole is a blast!

[Mattule]

Couestaxi and everyone thanks for the tips. I shot 295 grain powerbelts with 2 triple 7 pellets over the weekend and got the group down to about 3 inches at 100 yards so with a little more practice and a chance to shoot I think this combo will be ok. I also shot some of the 230gr XTPs with knight sabots and was getting around 1900 (3 shot avg) fps but poor groups. I am only getting around (3 shot avg)1650fps with the power belts but I know where they are going so like I said I am going to give it a go.