Best (and Worst) Muzzleloading Bullet Experiences

[buffybr]

I‘m curious to know how folks’ recommendations would change for an all lead, conical only (no sabot) state like Idaho.

For me it would be no problem, and actually I would be all for it.

It was my understanding that the muzzzleloading seasons were started to allow a low number of hunters the opportunity to hunt with relativily short range traditional muzzleloading rifles, much like the archery seasons, before the hordes of orange pumpkins are turned loose in the woods.

Many hunters, like myself, saw these hunts as a way to hunt earlier in the year when the weather is more comfortable and the woods are less crowded. But then some of these hunters found out that with these primitive weapons that they would actually have to use some hunting skills and get inside of 100-150 yards of their quarry to make a clean kill.

So the push began to make muzzleloader rifles more accurate and to extend their effective range. Some gun manufacturers saw the opportunity for increased sales, and now we have gun manufacturers that advertize that their "modern" muzzleloading rifles are accurate out to 600 or so yards. A distance that is beyond the capability of many hunters with their smokeless powder/centerfire magnum rifles.

 

[95tigerbill]

I went to 338 grain power belts for full bore 50 cal requirements in Colorado. I had success with the 350 GR Hornady but follow up loading is way easier with the 338 power belt. For effective range you should put the load in a ballistic calculation and study the drop in energy. These 50 cal projectiles have miserable ballistic coefficients and loose effective killing power quickly compared to modern rifles.

 

[Bam Bam]

Yeah, I found that out last year- my old muzzleloader was dead on at 100 yards, and a whopping 8 inches low at 150 yards. Hence, the reason for this thread. I bought a newer muzzleloader that can take heavier loads, and I am going to try to extend my effective range to 200 or more this year. The wind is actually my biggest concern out here in Wyoming- those muzzleloader bullets really get blown off course during windy conditions.

 

[Addicting]

Yeah, I found that out last year- my old muzzleloader was dead on at 100 yards, and a whopping 8 inches low at 150 yards. Hence, the reason for this thread. I bought a newer muzzleloader that can take heavier loads, and I am going to try to extend my effective range to 200 or more this year. The wind is actually my biggest concern out here in Wyoming- those muzzleloader bullets really get blown off course during windy conditions.

I did a lot of testing and would keep velocity top of the list. Even with BH209, It was difficult to get enough velocity at 200 yards to ensure min expansion. I wanted to run a mono but didn’t feel safe at that distance for an elk.

Dropping down to a 250g got the velocity up but the actual ft lbs of energy was less than the slower 300.

Here is my data for the Hornady Bore Rider using a healthy charge of BH209.

 

[Old Marine]

In an effort to increase my effective hunting range, I purchased a CVA Optima LR recently. My goal is to find a bullet and powder combination that shoots consistently tight groups at 200 yards. I was going to grab 3 or 4 different bullets to try, but the sheer number of options really took me by surprise. Does anyone care to share their most (or least) accurate bullets for shots over 150 yards? Are sabots always more accurate out of muzzleloaders?

A couple (or 3) suggestions: Try the Scorpion - PT Gold - 260 Grain from Harvester. I shoot an older Optima and use the black crush-rib sabot from that company. They sell a number of sabots for the 50 cal, but this one works best for me.
MOST CRITICAL is the use of a "Spin-Jag" and centering the bullet before seating it. After I started using the spin-jag, my groups tightened up considerably. The spin-jag actually spins the sabot along the rifled grooves instead of tearing it up on the way down. This makes for a more consistent seating and takes that one variable out of the accuracy equation. Plus, these bullets are amazingly accurate. Just a great combo after many other trials.

 

[Old Marine]

In an effort to increase my effective hunting range, I purchased a CVA Optima LR recently. My goal is to find a bullet and powder combination that shoots consistently tight groups at 200 yards. I was going to grab 3 or 4 different bullets to try, but the sheer number of options really took me by surprise. Does anyone care to share their most (or least) accurate bullets for shots over 150 yards? Are sabots always more accurate out of muzzleloaders?

 

[Treeshark]

1 for 1 with Federal BorLocks, easy to use. No plans to change.

 

[Dan O]

No matter which magic bullet you use the wind will eat up your long distance accuracy. For a muzzleloader that means anything past a hundred yards. Check out the ballistic app's and study them then learn to read the wind.

 

[sambo3006]

I can't recommend the 250 gr SST as found it to not be up to the task when I shot a medium sized whitetail doe square on the shoulder bone on a quartering to shot. A really skimpy blood trail and several pieces of humerus bone eventually petered out and I lost the deer. It was a rock steady rest and the gun shot exactly to zero the next day. I switched back to 250 gr Barnes MZ bullets and have never had one fail from any angle on close to 20 deer, including a frontal shot. I do find the black Barnes sabots to be extremely difficult to load in cold temperatures. The blue sabots load much easier and are just as accurate (1" groups at 100 yards routinely from my .50 cal Encore). I don't think any bullet for a .50 cal traditionally rifled (1 in 48") inline barrel is going to give adequate performance past maybe 175 yards due to the extreme velocity loss.

 

[Wind Gypsy]

I'm new to muzzle loaders. My one and only is an encore with arrowhead 45 cal smokeless conversion that uses their Large Rifle primer modules.

The thing shot awesome until i messed it up so the primary experience I can share is the "worst". I loaded an arrowhead 275 XLD behind H4198 for hunting and never fired it. I left it loaded for a few weeks and after season ended i brought it to the range and fired it to get it unloaded. By that point the copper jacket had bonded to the stainless bore (i'm assuming) and it caused a huge pressure spike. So now I own an $800+ custom barrel with a small bulge in it that will never be fired again. Was definitely too careless with it due to the stainless, smokeless powder aspect making me lazier on the maint and concern over corrosion.

 

[Bam Bam]

I have found that Dan O's comment is spot on---at least in Western prairie conditions.

After shooting out in field conditions (WY open prairie) many times over, I found that my maximum effective range is about 175 yards because of wind drift. Even at that distance, the wind gusts often cause 5 to 10inch wind drifts on moderately breezy days. These conditions are normal in WY and they make it challenging to get a bullet into a 4-inch circle on the first try.

I did not find that my bullet choices made much of a difference at sub-200 yard shots, so I just went with a solid bullet that won't come apart it I hit bone.

 

[OleRedbeard]

Thor bullets.
Buy the test bullets to see which fits your bore diameter the best. Then go from there.
I get superb accuracy out of my LR and my CVA MR out of them.
A close second would be the Barnes but they are hard to find sometimes.
Sub MOA is easily attainable with the Thors in your rifle. I live in a state with a very long MZ season so I hunt with my muzzleloaders most of the year.

Best Muzzleloader Bullets | Thor™ Bullets - Official Website

The Best Muzzleloader Bullets on the Market - Thor™ Bullets - Bore Specific Black Powder Bullets

thorbullets.com

 

[shannerdrake]

Federal Bor Locks solid copper. are my go to. They shoot out of everything. Never had them shoot outside of 2moa in any ML. They are also CO legal which is why I started using them to begin with.

I have killed two elk, two mule deer, and two whitetails with them. They are the most consistently expanding bullet I have shot out of any gun (not just muzzleloaders). Kills were between 25-125 yards and the bullets all look the same. Thoroughly impressed.

If you want a sabot for the ballistics, then Barnes Spitfire TMZ. I like it for the the boat tail and ballistic tip. Between the 250 and 290 I’ve found one or the other will shoot for you.

All of my results have been over a weighed charge of BH209.

This summer I’m developing a load for my new Accurra LR so selfishly looking forward to hearing your results.

 

[Addicting]

I'm new to muzzle loaders. My one and only is an encore with arrowhead 45 cal smokeless conversion that uses their Large Rifle primer modules.

The thing shot awesome until i messed it up so the primary experience I can share is the "worst". I loaded an arrowhead 275 XLD behind H4198 for hunting and never fired it. I left it loaded for a few weeks and after season ended i brought it to the range and fired it to get it unloaded. By that point the copper jacket had bonded to the stainless bore (i'm assuming) and it caused a huge pressure spike. So now I own an $800+ custom barrel with a small bulge in it that will never be fired again. Was definitely too careless with it due to the stainless, smokeless powder aspect making me lazier on the maint and concern over corrosion.

Did you take it in and out of cold to warm environments?

That rifle should be able to stay loaded for long periods of time if kept at a consistent temp range.
With BH209 I can leave a copper bullet in my stainless barrel for a the month and it still fires fine. However, once mine is exposed to cold it stays outside in the truck or barn. If it has to come inside where it’s warm, it gets fired first.

 

[Wind Gypsy]

Did you take it in and out of cold to warm environments?

That rifle should be able to stay loaded for long periods of time if kept at a consistent temp range.
With BH209 I can leave a copper bullet in my stainless barrel for a the month and it still fires fine. However, once mine is exposed to cold it stays outside in the truck or barn. If it has to come inside where it’s warm, it gets fired first.

I did, at least a couple times from sub freezing temps to room temp.

 

[Addicting]

I did, at least a couple times from sub freezing temps to room temp.

That is your problem, the barrel condensation from the temp swing changes the powder. It is not the same as a cartridge round in brass. The condensation can seep past the bullet in the rifling and wet the powder. The powder will eventually dry and act completely different. Most of the time it’s a squib load that barely clears the barrel.

 

[Dave N]

I have a padded case that seems to let my rifle warm up slowly inside of it when I bring it inside. Haven't had any issues yet.

 

[Addicting]

I have a padded case that seems to let my rifle warm up slowly inside of it when I bring it inside. Haven't had any issues yet.

I wouldn’t bank on it always being that way. When you get one shot, the primer goes POP, and no bang it’s too late to find out you screwed up.

Been there and done that. Mine stayed inside a hard case with foam. It didn’t matter on one hunt and I got a squib load. I’ve also had a rifle rust where the padding dimple touched a blued barrel. Meaning moisture was present inside the case. Now it just stays in the cold and always goes bang when and where I want it to.

 

[EastCoast94]

I’ve had pretty good accuracy with Barnes bullets shooting from a TC Impact. 78 grains by weight of blackhorn 209 and I use a Burris scope with ballistic reticles. I’m comfortable out to 200 with it but wouldn’t shoot past that.

 

[Jchuck]

In an effort to increase my effective hunting range, I purchased a CVA Optima LR recently. My goal is to find a bullet and powder combination that shoots consistently tight groups at 200 yards. I was going to grab 3 or 4 different bullets to try, but the sheer number of options really took me by surprise. Does anyone care to share their most (or least) accurate bullets for shots over 150 yards? Are sabots always more accurate out of muzzleloaders?

I used power belts for a few years, killed 3 bull elk with them. All 3 were lung shots with no exit. They all traveled quite far after shot. The last one took me 3 days to find. My nose found it, not good.
After that I decided to go for a shoulder shot so the game would be planted. I shot a cow elk the next year in the shoulder, it kept walking, reloaded shot the shoulder again, kept walking finally I shot it in the spine and it went down but still had to finish off.
Both shoulder shots were within an inch of each other, neither penetrated the shoulder or even broke the bone, I was baffled so I called power belts. I was told that the bullets disinagate on contact. Powerbelts are JUNK, I switched to hornaday solids and have had 1 shot kills ever since