Colorado ML set up

[wisconsinteacher]

This year my brother-in-law and I went to CO for ML elk. We both used CVA Optima rifles. For primers we used CCI Mag 209 primers and BlackHorn 209 powder. I used 110gr by volume and he used 120gr. I measured 10 charges and found that the average weight was 73.0 grains when I put them on a reloading scale. For my summer shooting, I would measure 5 quick load tubes before going to the range. We both shot 300gr Thor bullets. At 100 yards with open sights we were both hitting the vitals consistantly. While in CO he shot a bull at 30 yards and it went 20 yards where it stood for 15-20 seconds and then fell over. My bull was shot at 43 yards and ran 80 yards before crashing. Both bullets were found on the off side just under the hide and looked perfect. My bullet weighed 297.1 gr after I cleaned it up. The outfitter said that out of all the muzzleloader bullets he has found in bulls, these were the best looking and heaviest. One issue I did have during the summer was squib loads. It was from an older batch of powder. The new can has not had an issue since opening it. I also learned that you MUST clean the flash hole of the breech plug after a range session. A small drill bit and carb clearner works the best for me. I just wanted to put this out there for guys looking for a little feed back. I'm no expert but the results from our CVAs and bullets were impressive.

 

[elkduds]

Congratulations on going 2 for 2 w your outfitter. Curious if you each fired just the one shot on the hunt?

 

[wisconsinteacher]

We both arrived with clean rifles, and shot them to verify zero when we arrived. From there, we both reloaded and shot our bulls 36 hours later. As my bull was going down, I reloaded but did not shoot until I got home. 4 days later, my rilfe fired and I was still holding zero.

 

[Knight.54]

Congratulations!

 

[Gellar]

Sounds like a great hunt!

 

[Rhino Hunter]

Very nice. Congrats!

 

[JoltnJoe]

Pretty work!

 

[Jimmer3006]

Moving to CO soon. your info was very helpful for prepping a hopefully future ML hunt.

 

[radman]

Unsolicited additional info. I also hunted ML CO last fall on a public land DIY hunt. 300grain Thor and Blackhorn 209 in my Omega. Rifle was loaded the morning of day 1 and remained loaded with that initial load and fired without hesitation on the morning of the 9th day. Worked as advertised with the bullet nicely mushroomed caught under the hide on the off side.