Bullet weight

[stringtalker]

Just for conversation, why do most hunters use large muzzleloader bullets? I know which animal you are hunting has a lot to do with it, but let's just say for deer with this discussion. I myself use 185-200 grain Barnes and they work excellent. Please no arguing, just discussion.

 

[mike243]

My smokeless blows sabots with 200g, 240g xtp work well, used 300g xtp's last year due to no long range shots needed and they worked well and will probably use the same this season

 

[MUP]

Way back when I got my first ML, an America Knight, it came with some 260 gr lead bullets with sabots in a kit. I've used those same 260 gr hollow point lead bullets ever since, bc they performed perfectly on the deer I shot every time, and I haven't lost a deer that I've shot with them yet.

 

[Matador]

Most of your muzzleloaders now come with a 1:28 twist in the rifleling and will shoot the heavier bullets real accurate. I have been shooting a 300 grain bullet for years out of my 50 caliber Encore.

 

[Wiley]

Most of your muzzleloaders now come with a 1:28 twist in the rifleling and will shoot the heavier bullets real accurate. I have been shooting a 300 grain bullet for years out of my 50 caliber Encore.

^^^^ This

 

[Hunter 257W]

The classic reason when people really used black powder and lead bullets was that since velocity is limited with black powder, the only way to gain power was to add weight. With modern muzzle loaders most everybody shoots light weight for caliber bullets really since most use sabots to shoot sub caliber bullets. I started out shooting just a 200 grain 40 caliber TC bullet from my 50 caliber in-line. I did that to keep recoil as low as possible to help my shooting. These bullets worked perfectly on the 3 deer ?I can recall killing with them. Then i switched to a 44 caliber bullet i cast myself just because i wanted to use my own bullets. When going from 40 to 44 caliber you are going to gain some weight and i had a particular bullet I wanted to use and it happened to weigh 310 grains so that's what I've hunted with a year or two now. Really about any bullet you stuff in a 50 caliber muzzle loader will work for deer.

 

[Harold Money jr]

I started muzzleloading shooting .430 180gr hornady XTP's Over 80gr fffg pyrodex I killed probably 20 with That set up. I would always find a knot on the other side of the deer, there would be a perfectly and fully mushroomed bullet. The deer always ran a ways and I got worried that I'd not have enough blood to follow one sometime, so I went with 240gr xtp's they have passed through every deer (approx. 25) I shot with them. They all run the same distance as Before but with a double blood trail. I now shoot .45 300gr XTP's behind 63g/weight bh powder. It kills em deader than the loads before, LOL. I wouldn't hesitate to go back but, this setup is deadly and is where I'll be until I run out of bullets and/or powder.

 

[J.W.308]

I shoot a 250gr Barnes expander with 2-777 magnum pellets . I can almost clover leaf with this combination at 100 yards. My my is a Knight Rolling block .

 

[Cherokee]

For me it is accuracy and energy. From the accuracy standpoint - if my ML is not accurate with a bullet at any charge I will change bullets, either heaver or lighter. Accuracy is number one priority. After that, it boils down to where I am hunting. I most often mountain hunt and 100 yds is a long shot for me. That being the case, lighter and faster and flatter shooting has no advantage for me. I would rather have the extra mass. That is personal preference. If I were hunting farm land and had the opportunity to make some longer shots I would re-evaluate.

 

[mike243]

A lot of folks think its better to have 2 holes in a deer for a better blood trail, most hits are too high up in the chest cavity to give good starting blood trails, the lower the entry the quicker you will have a trail, the higher you go the more space the blood has to fill up before leaking out, then you can get some organs blocking 1 or both holes , nothing is a sure thing when hunting imo. I have had more bang flops with the powerbelts shooting lung/heart shot, the 1 shot to far back left a good blood trail for 70y and the bullet took out the liver .

 

[FLTENNHUNTER1]

This will be my first year deer hunting with a muzzle loader. I bought a Remington Ultimate Muzzle Loader. I am shooting their recommended bullet and powder. Barnes makes the 250 grain bullet and Remington recommends to use 200 grains of 777.

2800 feet per second with a 250 grain bullet equates to 4353.23 ft/lbs of energy. I can't wait to see the wound channel through a deer with this sledgehammer load.

 

[GMB54]

You wont get 2800fps with a 250gr bullet in the RUML. Aint gunna happen. You will get 2350-2400fps at the most.

 

[backyardtndeer]

My cva accura 115 loose triple 7 240 grain xtp mag.

Wife's cva accura mountain rifle105 grains loose triple 7 240 grain interlock (American whitetail).

TC Black diamond 120 loose pyro 240 grain xtp mag.

 

[GMB54]

I would say my 2 favorites are the Barnes 45cal 225gr XPB and the Lehigh 230gr Controlled Fracture looks good also. I highly prefer monolithic bullets if going light for caliber. In my 45 i love the Lyman Gould HP cast in pure lead for about 345gr using only around 75gr of BH209. Its simple and cheap to shoot. Flattens deer as well as anything ive seen yet. Recoil is not bad at all. FPE at 100y is more than a 44Mag 300gr at the muzzle.

 

[FLTENNHUNTER1]

You wont get 2800fps with a 250gr bullet in the RUML. Aint gunna happen. You will get 2350-2400fps at the most.

Correct 2400

 

[41Magnum]

I use the 200 gr TC Shockwave and 100 grs. equivalent of Blackhorn 209. I shot it through a chronograph and was averaging 1986 FPS. Worked for years.

 

[Rancocas]

I'm a "traditional" muzzleloader, either percussion or flintlock, but my guns are similar to what was available before 1860. I wouldn't touch an inline if your life depended on it. But, I digress.
I shoot real black powder with a cast lead round ball. In my .50 I use a .490 patched round ball that weighs about 176 grains. With a charge of 70 grains of 3F I put one of those balls through a 6pt. buck this past season. The buck was angled away from me. The ball entered behind its last rib, ranged up through the length of the deer's body, and finally lodged under the hide in its throat. It was about a 50 yard shot. That was the first round ball that I have ever recovered from one of my shot deer. All the others went completely through.
My .62 smoothbore throws a .60 round ball that weighs about 320 grains, also with a charge of 70 grains of 3F. I have only taken one doe with this gun but that .60 round ball knocked her flat just like a 20 ga. slug would do. That was close, though, only about 20 yards.
I believe in getting as close as possible to the game. I won't take a shot beyond 75 yards.

 

[wsm]

I shoot Barnes E-Z 250 grain in my CVA accura MR ,90 grains Blackhorn .

 

[Wobblyshot1]

I use to hunt a lot with my half stock English style .54 flintlock. My pet load for deer was a patched ball(235 grs) ahead of 100 grs GOEX 3fg black powder sighted pretty much on at 100 yds. I killed many deer with this rifle and load. It kills quickly and efficiently if you do your part. My biggest consideration when hunting traditional is the ballistic factor of the ball. Round balls shed velocity and thus energy fairly quickly. For this load, as an example, the muzzle velocity was chronographed at 1725 fps and energy pushing 1600 ft-lbs. At a hundred yards its already down to 1000 fps/535 ft-lbs.....thinking about taking a 200 shot....well....42" drop with velocity at 774 fps/314 ft-lbs.

That's why I like em closer is better. All the deer I've taken with this load have probably been 50 yds or less.

 

[billyboy]

I have killed dozens of deer with my Encore and CVA using MMP sabots and 45Cal 300gr XTP's. Groups well with 100gr Blackhorn even at 200yds. Recovered a few bullets and they were picture perfect mushrooms.