hunting problems

[HuntFish714]

New to muzzleloaders. Got a good hunting spot today and missed 6 times ranging from 60-150 yards. Thanksgiving weekend had it zeroed at 150 yards 2" high at 50. My question is am I missing clean or am I actually hitting them? All shots felt good and I am generally a great shot. No blood found for any of them and none of them acted like they were hit, in fact two of them stayed around for a second shot. Ive been bushwacking it pretty good so I guess its possible that the sites got outta wack but they look like there in the same general spots. Im shooting 249gr powerbelt aerotips and 100gr whitehots. Any insight would be great, not sure what im looking for just frustrated and embarassed. Gunna hit the range to confitm zero I guess......

 

[rem270]

Only thing to do is clean it and check your scope to see if it's off. If you missed 6 times i'd say it's way off.

And imo i'd do yourself a favor and buy some shockwaves or hornadys. Powerbelts are horrible. JMO though.

 

[WestTn Huntin man]

Hard to trouble shoot shots on the internet. If you can hang up a sheet for a target it might let you see what the gun is doing.When you go to the range do not worry about the bulls eye till you can shoot tight groups consistently.Don't worry about 150 yard shots till you can get tight groups at 50 yards.Make sure you take a long a few extra guns to shoot between shots. A M.L. heats up pretty quick.Also make sure to have cleaning supplies .When you hit the woods it's with a cold gun and pretty clean barrel.
One common mistake that affects accuracy is consistently seating the bullet the same. A little lighter or a little heavier pressure on the ram rod can make a big difference.Much harder to seat a bullet with a dirty barrel.

 

[HuntFish714]

Hmmmmmm great things! Ill try that. I did notice at the range my wife packed the bullet in one shot and it shot way high, I was thinkin she may not have seated it all the way..... we were swabbing between shot but didn't let the barrel really cool between shots, so maby with the really cold temoeratures today it effected it. As far as the shockwaves-I read somewhere that you have to clean inbetween each shot because of the plastic unlike powerbelts that can go up to 5 shots inbetween. What is your ooinion on this? In theory it only takes or should take one to kill lol

 

[WestTn Huntin man]

I keep a few patches with me in the woods. I'll load a 2nd shot pretty quick without cleaning. My gun gets to tight to easily seat a bullet for a 3rd shot without cleaning.Some barrels are a little tighter than others. My knight likes the black sabots jackets. My Remington prefers the yellow ones.

 

[HuntFish714]

Ok ill have to give them a try. How is the knock down with them do they run far? Lol Also, if I were to switch bullets would they still hit in the same general area so youd only have to fine tune or is there to many factors to really tell?

 

[FrontierGander]

practice your off hand shooting.

 

[Anonymous]

Don't know what type of terrain you are hunting but if it is woods your bullet could be hitting twigs and such. Just a thought.

 

[iowavf]

I had a scope on my Encore that would zero and shoot lights out but after I'd clean gun and it set for awhile it would be 18 inches off. I shot twice and missed a good buck and could not believe I had missed until I left and went and shot it at 100 yards and didn't even hit the target.

 

[HuntFish714]

Ya im anxious to see what happens at the range tomorrow n if yhere open, and see what goin on. Im shooting iron sites but when I cleaned it the other day noticed the rearsite appeture was loose. I did take some advice and picked up a box of tc shockwaves. But no one had the super glides or 300gr so I got the 250gr with MagExpress sabots. I plan on puttin a littke nore butter on them which seems popular. Do the mag express sabots eork good? And how likely will the 250 gr with 100gr powder drop a big deer in its tracks or close to it? Hunting in thick brush that could make recovery hard with a long blood trail.

 

[FrontierGander]

its the worse thing to do to a sabot.

check out these videos, they may help give you an idea of what needs to be done. Bore butter on sabots is a horrible thing to do.
http://www.frontiermuzzleloading.com/t5 ... -the-range

 

[HuntFish714]

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOO thank you for the heads up!!!!!

 

[muddyboots]

No telling with the power belts. You could have missed or hit.

 

[HuntFish714]

range was closed today so have to burn my morning hunt at the range tomorrow. my question is what makes the showckwaves so much better? accuracy and knockdown?

 

[FrontierGander]

shockwave IMO is no better than a powerbelt when it comes to reputation. They often tend to fragment badly or not expand at all, leaving tiny holes and no blood.

 

[HuntFish714]

man.... I cannot win with this thing lol. I guess we'll find out tomorrow how my gun and hopefully the deer like them. what's everyones favorite deer combination on here?

 

[muddyboots]

I shoot barnes in my muzzleloader.

 

[HuntFish714]

Ok ive got another question. ..... does less recoil mean more power going to the load? When I initially sighted in with the 249g powerbelts the recoil felt like it was gunna dislocate my shoulder and was very sore for days after. Using the exact same charge I shot the tc shockwaves 250g with black sabots and had very little recoil compared to the powerbelts. Accuracy wise they seem to shoot the same and both have the polomyer tips. Only real difference is 50 cal vs 45cal sabotted. Just curious if that meant the sabots have more power due to less friction, or something,?

 

[FrontierGander]

most likely due to the loose fit of the red sabot, it is getting blow by and will feel weaker.

If you're getting good accuracy with either loads, good luck hunting and be safe!