best muzzleloader

[Lou358]

I am going to get a new muzzleloader this year. Any opinions on the best shooting muzzleloader out there now? Also bullet/powder recommendations are appreciated. Thanks

 

[iowavf]

Too many goods ones to say that one is clearly the best. Find one you like and meets your price range and it will get the job done.

 

[cecil30-30]

Too many goods ones to say that one is clearly the best. Find one you like and meets your price range and it will get the job done.

What he said..Alot of good ones out there,just depends on how much you are looking to spend.

 

[10mm4me]

The T/C Omegae and Encore series rifles are great @ a decent price. Cabela's usually has the Omega on sale. Both have very easily removed breechplugs for cleaning and the T/C lifetime warranty. I have an Omega and it shoots great. I also have a .50 cal T/C Hawken when I feel like being more traditional.

 

[rem270]

i have an encore and love it. if i didnt have an encore i'd go with a tc omega.

 

[ewc]

Find a Knight Wolverine. For $200, it can't be beat.

Is it the best? No.

However, it is a great mz for the money and, for a beginner, it is my best suggestion.

Good luck-

 

[Lou358]

thanks, what about sabots or the powerbelt or red hots?

 

[buckhorn40]

TC Omega great muzzleloader for the money.

 

[stik]

CVA makes some great guns. just as good as t/c. i shoot t/c, the rest of the family shoots CVA. not a fan of the knight wolverine. EXTREMELY muzzle heavy.

as for bullets, you just have to experiment and find the best combo for your gun.

 

[BIGORANGE]

i have an encore and love it. if i didnt have an encore i'd go with a tc omega.

Me Too!

 

[cecil30-30]

Stay away from powerbelts..They are complete junk..Try the Hornady FPB bullet out..Awesome bullet!!!

 

[FrontierGander]

New 2010 line up from CVA are awesome shooters.

CVA Optima
CVA Wolf
CVA Accura
CVA Apex

I own all 4 and they are the most accurate muzzleloaders ive owned.

For conicals i prefer the Thor Bullet. Pretty new to the market www.thorbullets.com

Powerbelts do great with the right powder charge, but if you over power them, they will fragment. I make a custom insert for them and so far i average between 3 to 10 grains weight loss from 20 yards on out to 100 yards. Got to work on that mold today, accidently over heated and warped the sprue cutter!

 

[stik]

Stay away from powerbelts..They are complete junk..

i have 2 hunters in the family and several dead deer that would disagree.

 

[cecil30-30]

Stay away from powerbelts..They are complete junk..

i have 2 hunters in the family and several dead deer that would disagree.

To each their own..They shot and grouped good for me on paper,but didn't perform to well on deer.I only shot the 270gr platinums..

 

[FrontierGander]

really depends on the powder charge you use with powerbelts.

100gr Pyrodex RS @ 100 yards with Two of the factory 245gr Aerotips ( Middle and far right) VS one of my custom tips.

One of the custom tips @ 20 yards.

 

[iowavf]

I am going to get a new muzzleloader this year. Any opinions on the best shooting muzzleloader out there now? Also bullet/powder recommendations are appreciated. Thanks

As you can tell there are several different opinions on MLs and what bullet and sabot to use. For me, some feel cheaper than others but will probably still shoot just fine. For choice of bullets, I don't like to have to always clean my barrel between shots so I found a couple choices of bullets which I can still load and they group well without cleaning after each shot. Try a few different ones and find one that groups well from your gun and then go hunting. I've tried several and as long as the shot placement was good, the deer was dead. Don't know of any bullets that make up for a bad shot placement, they might kill the deer, but you may not find the deer either.

 

[FrontierGander]

The fact that it took 12" of sloppy wet sand to recover them is pretty good IMO.

Ive tested the hornady FPB, not impressed. I still have the bullets i believe, let me see if i can find them. A guy on another forum blew one up on an elk last year.

SST has about as bad of reputation as powerbelts do.

I did fill my tag last year on a doe with the custom tipped 348 powerbelt. I wish i had taken pictures of the blood trail! Im not kidding you, that sucker was AT LEAST 2 feet wide.

 

[ewc]

Were those bullets recovered from game or shot into sand?

 

[FrontierGander]

wet sand. I mix it into a 5 gallon bucket and do a "cement" like mixture. I also use soaking wet news paper but its a Pain in the butt to set up and haul around.

 

[ewc]

best freaking ml in TN - Judd's custom built .40 smokeless ml

Thanks Lade-

 

[TennesseeJed]

traditional sidelocks.






sorry felt like stirrin the pot!

Yep, with patched round balls and black powder, the way God intended.

 

[FrontierGander]

im rebuilding an inline right now, old 1987 CVA Blazer .50cal thats going to shoot round balls. Has a 1:48 twist but later on i want to buy a .50cal GM blank with the slow 1:70 twist. That'd be a nice little set up. Working on the stock right now! Finally got rid of the ugly orange stain.

 

[Beekeeper]

T/C Omega in a .45 cal.

 

[mathews338]

for the money it was hard for me to find a better ML than the TC Triumph it's kinda of in the middle price wise and with the 250gr shockwaves with 100gr of blackhorn 209 it could be matched but NOT beat and i love the speed breech and getting a cap in and out fast is easy

 

[TennesseeJed]

I bought a T/C Tree Hawk this morning at a gun show for $85.00. It has a 21" barrel and looks like it's going to be all kinds of fun.

It has a synthetic stock though, I may wind up ordering a stock blank and turn it into a fullstock. :grin:

 

[W.Seay]

Powerbelts suck! And the Savage is the best muzzleloader hands down!

 

[iowavf]

Powerbelts suck! And the Savage is the best muzzleloader hands down!

I would probably agree with half your statement, Savage is hard to beat for the money.

 

[Encore Eye Candy]

You can tell what I favor, but I have a high interest in a Savage.

 

[rukiddin]

Take my Knight disc elite in 45 cal and stuff a 200gr sst down it and let her eat. If you never shoot further than 200yds, you will want to sell your reg rifle. My knight is the best, most accurate firearm I own.

As far as the bullets, I've seen the powerbelt bullets put down more deer than most people on here will even see in 10years. We never looked at the bullets or tried to recover them, we were too busy guttin, hangin, skinnin a DEAD deer. I killed a bunch with'em but switched to the sst's cause the gun liked them better. There mean little machines and I know my 260 really likes the sst handloads and so does my buddy's 300short mag.

 

[Winchester]

Savage smokeless is the best production MZ on the market imo. 250 grn Hornady XTP's get the nod.