Muzzle loader bullet?

Jacob_Hanan

New member
What do you guys think is the best 50 cal muzzle loader bullet?

nock down power and accuracy?

I dont like power belts, the dont have any power, no expansion.
 
Opinions are like buttholes, everybody has one. Here's mine...
The trend these days seems to be big charges/lighter bullets. I suppose this is for increased muzzle velocity and less downrange bullet drop. I PERSONALLY know of 6 muledeer bucks and 1 bull elk that were hit and unrecovered to lighter (240gr) bullets in the last year. Nikon is marketing a muzzleloader scope with range compensation built in specifically for a charge of 150gr and bullet of 240gr. IMHO 240's are too light. Even with 150gr of powder you're unlikely to get a pass through and unless you make an excellent shot, little to no blood, and recovery becomes iffy. I hit a smallish buck last year standing broadside at 50 yards. The shot may have been an inch or 2 higher than I would have liked it to be but was definately in the lungs. He shuddered, hunched up, staggered just a little and I expected him to go right down. He straightened himself up and walked out of sight into the brush. I never found him and I'm positive he died, just not where I could find him. I changed my bullet to 405gr this year (I have an elk hunt coming up and don't want to switch bullets again) and changed my tactics too. From now on I am going to shoot my muzzleloader to break shoulders. I may not get an instant kill but at least I'm not going to lose another animal. The buck I shot this year with the 405 took 1 step on his remaining 3 good legs and fell over dead.

I'm sure others will disagree with me but my advice is to go with a heavy bullet and put it in the shoulder. And do your best to keep your shots under 100yds. These rifles are high tech these days but they are still considered a primitive weapon for a reason. I killed a B&C pronghorn several years ago with and old style (not inline) rifle and a maxiball at 198 long paces. Pure luck and honestly a bad shot decision, just luck. I'm pretty sure I'd let that buck walk now even with the improvements in equipment.

BTW, the 405's I'm using are Powerbelts. HGit my deer from the front at about 60 yds. Destroyed his left shoulder, a few ribs and took the top third of his heart off. Pretty good for no power or expansion.
 
The T/C shock waves (made by Hornady) in any weight will
get the job done. The new bonded shock waves are ment for the 3 pellet shooters and heavier chages of 777 loose powder.

If it's Elk your after the Barnes bullets is an excellent choice.
 
Lately my favorite are 320 grn homemade 'Conicals' from a Lee R.E.A.L. bullet mold. They shoot very well in my 50 cal Knight. Last Dec the bullet went right through the doe I shot & piled up in about 40 yrds. I attach a fiber wad on the base & add a little lube & I'm all set. The only issue is they don't fit as tight to the bore as the saboted bullets. I just have to watch that the conical does not come loose off the powder charge(95 grns loose 777) as you move around. There is a note in the Knight manual about this. My shots would usually be 50 yrds or less & never over 75.
 
I have a T/C omega 50 cal. and this is what I did. Last couple years two to three inch groups 100 yds. Power belts 290 gr. 300 gr dead centers PRB bullets were a little better. So I started to play...I free floated the barrel and bedded the action. Pretty simple two square lugs to bed. There are only two 10/32 screws that hold it together. I called PRB bullets and the owener said that he would use 260 gr extreme elite HP for deer. I wieghted out 100 gr of triple 7 which equals 77.7 grains of powder. I tryed triple 7 new primers. With this combanation this gun will shoot one hole group at fifty
yards. I do clean between shots...I did another three shoot group which was one ragged hole. I was totaly amazed at the results. I haven't had time to try this load at 100 yds. or crono it to see what kind of velocity it has.

Good Luck
 
It depends on the range that you are wanting to shoot at? 100 yds. and closer, I would recommend the Hornady Great Plains bullet. It's a 385 grain hollow point all lead bullet. I have never lost a deer that was shot with one of these bullets. I have never had to track a deer that was shot with one of these bullets. With good shot placement, the deer will drop dead in his tracks. Two other bullets that I like are the 300 grain Hornady XTP and the 300 grain Hornady SST. These shoot well out of my Revolution to about 200 yds. with 100 grains of Triple Seven.
 
After an apparent Powerbelt failure last year I switched to Precision Rifle's 260 grain Dead Center. They are a bit harder to load than powerbelts but so far have been more accurate and the one deer I have shot so far was the most dramatic kill I have ever seen. I shot the deer at about 60 yards close behind the shoulder, its legs literally folded up under it ! It didn't even roll onto its side, just straight down. I do think that serious deer weight bullets start at 250 grains and I would as much powder as your gun can can handle without accuracy problems. Having made that last statement I will tell you that my hunting buddy of 27 years killed the largest buck of his life last year on the last day of Missouri muzzloader season with a PR 195 grain Dead Center Duplex and 2 50 grain Pyrodex pellets. I don't like plated bullets of any kind for muzzle loaders, pure lead expands even at low velocity and also holds together pretty well.
Just my $0.02
Bob
 
If you are shooting whitetails, I don't think you can go wrong with a 300gr 45cal bullet. ML'ing is my favorite time of year and I have not worked a day during muzzloading week for over 12 years in a row /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/tongue.gif (will be taking off this year too /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grinning-smiley-003.gif)). For several years I shot the Hornaday XTPmag 300gr 45 cal. It is a magic bean for whitetails. Shoulders, ribs, angled shots, it's all good. (I shot .44-240gr's & a .45-235gr's and agree you will have few punch throughs).

Last year I bought a savage smokeless & changed to the 300gr SST's. Not sure if it is the extra speed (was shooting a wolverine w 100gr of select) but sst seemed more fragile. I shot 3 deer including a very large bodied 8 pt /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/shocked.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/tongue.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/tongue.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/tongue.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/tongue.gif
http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y135/coleridge/printFxdeerJPG.jpg
see entrance hole--> http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y135/coleridge/11-05-05_2.jpg

All three deer were piled on the spot. 0 ecscape! However, I did not have pass throughs on 2 of the deer (both were angled). I will be using the xtp mag again this year... my .02
 
I use the Powerbelts and have had no problems with them at all. I have taken 3 deer with these and only 1 of them went anywhere and that was only about 40 yards the other 2 dropped on the spot. The distances were between 50 and 125 yards. I use a Remington 700 and an Encore. Just letting you know what has been working for me but I am also interested in what else is working for others.
 
I started shooting the 290 grain Barnes TMZ this year in preparation for an elk hunt. They shot 3/4" groups out of my Encore with 3 pellets of triple 7. I set it up to hit 2.5" high at 100 and was shocked that it hit only 5" low at 200.

The elk that I shot just humped up and fell over. The bullet went through behind the shoulder and was under the skin on the exit side. The guide was pleased when I told him I was shooting a Barnes. He has guided for 30 years and probably witnesses 15 elk/year being killed with MZ's. I won't go into his opinions on all bullets, but he likes the Barnes.

I was going to go to the 250 grain for deer, but decided I liked the accuracy as is and the balistics were just fine.
 
I have just started to play with Triple 7 pellets and so far I have been pleased with it. I have noticed a difference in my groups so this is another reason for me looking into the possibilities of other bullets.
 
I was using the Barnes Xpanders in 250gr, great but expensive. Then I switched to Winchester Supreme Platinum Tips in 260gr. They shoot extremely well, and expand similar to the Black Talon LEO bullets(shhhh....don't tell anyone). Last year at 80yds with 100gr of powder, I hit a large doe in the shoulder on a quartering to shot with one. The bullet literally shot lenghtwise through the deer and exited the opposite side rear ham. I was sold. I buy them for about$17-$18 for 30ct.---2MG
 
Quote:
What do you guys think is the best 50 cal muzzle loader bullet?

nock down power and accuracy?

I dont like power belts, the dont have any power, no expansion.



You must not have enough power for that bullet. For me, I had the opposite with a Powerbelt. Complete fragmentation
and no exit that turned the entire insides into a soup. Not much fun field dressing that one. I found one tiny sliver of the jacket. First and last Powerbelt shot deer. Have tried everything. Current bullet of choice is a Shockwave, and I've tried just about everything.
 
I have personally flattened more black bear and deer with the Knight 300 gr. plane old soft point than any other I tried. ALL have been bang flops, they are deadly. JMHO, Rich
 
I haven't seen anyone say they use Jim Shockeys Gold powder, I used that and a 240gr XTP last year for 2 kills, I switched to horandy 250gr SST this year, I'll give them a try.
 
Wis,

I use American Pioneer Sticks for my TC Omega (Not the Shockey Gold) Its much cleaner than Pyrodex and a snap to clean. Ive had excellent results with the 200 grain Shockwaves and Remington Kleanbore 209's. Last year I Flattened two bucks with this combo. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/shocked.gif Massive damage and instant kills! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grinning-smiley-003.gif

Dave
 
This is a great discussion. Excellent ? and answers.

Personally I've cast and used for years the old stlye T/C Maxi Hunter conicals out of the traditional MLers. They are 355 grain pure lead with a slight concave in the nose. Loaded over 65 grains of FFFg powder they chrony's at 1180 or 1280 fps (I can't remember which right now) but any more powder and the lead strips out of the rifling and spoils accuracy. Many deer killed with this bullet. Never had a bang flop. Closest I came to that was a small deer hit double lung at 20 yards jumped 3 times and expired in the air.
I've started drilling the concave out to create a hollow point to facilitate expansion and they do expand better but I've not seen too much difference in responce upon impact.
For the Knight Disc Rifle that only two deer have been shot with the load is a .429 240 grain Hornady HP, 100 grains of Pryodex R/S, with a MV of 1725 fps. Grazed the heart on the first doe with a 40 yard shot, she ran 20 yards. 2nd deer was about 100 yards out hit with a frontal quartering shot through 1 lung and decimated the liver with the fully mushroomed bullet agains the hide of the offside rear ham. She still went well over 150 yards. Those Bang/Flops sound great. I may need to work on my loads some more.
 


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