Long range bullet

[cecil30-30]

Whats a good 150yds to 200yd bullet for a muzzleloader? Currently shooting the Hornady FPB,and while it shoots great at 100yds and performs flawlessly on deer,Im having issues with it at 150yds..I just feel that at 350grs,its a tad on the heavy side for those longer pokes! I have thought of trying the 300gr FPB,but I think I may have the same issues with the 300gr as im having with the 350gr..I've been looking at the Hornady SST ML bullet..Any info on these?? what about the T/C Shockwave bullets?? I think thats the name of them. Whats a good general wieght? 250grs or 300grs? Im not gonna change my set up now,but as soon as ML season is over,im gonna do some tinkering..Im also switching to Loose powder so I can tweek the load easier..

 

[paradis1142]

I really like the barnes expanders/spit fires.

 

[ewc]

For 200, whatever shoots in your gun accurately.

Drop from a 100 yard zero will be around 15".

Now push that to 250yd or 300yds with that same zero, bullet, and speed, add some wind-

Oops...

 

[tndeerslayer]

250 grain TC Shockwaves......Powder is the most accurate, but most guns wont shoot 150 grains accurately.....90-110 grains for consistency and accuracy....Some guns shoot diff, but most will follow the above.

 

[ewc]

250 grain TC Shockwaves......Powder is the most accurate, but most guns wont shoot 150 grains accurately.....90-110 grains for consistency and accuracy....Some guns shoot diff, but most will follow the above.

Can you tell me more? I'd like to know how far I can shoot?

 

[bvoss]

250 grain TC Shockwaves......Powder is the most accurate, but most guns wont shoot 150 grains accurately.....90-110 grains for consistency and accuracy....Some guns shoot diff, but most will follow the above.

Can you tell me more? I'd like to know how far I can shoot?

Same here. I'm shooting a similar load.

 

[tasaman]

Shockwaves or Parkers are much much better than those pure lead Dead Centers. Those Barnes Expanders are awesome as well but little difficult to find sometimes. Best thing going though would be a Barnes Original .458 spire point bullet in 300 gr fired from a Savage with smokeless pushing it about 2400 fps or better...then you can forget 150 and shoot for 200 or even 300 if your a good shot.

Also, 300 gr bullets shoot just as far as 250 gr do because they create more pressure and also have better ballistics most of the time.

 

[jakeway]

My Triumph shoots 300 gr Hornady XTPs 8 inches low at 160 yards. I bought some 2450 gr tipped Shockwaves to try, but this late in the season I won't mess with them till next year.

 

[tasaman]

Shockwaves or Parkers are much much better than those pure lead Dead Centers. Those Barnes

I beg to differ with you, tasa. I'd put my 240 grain Dead Centers against your Shockwaves or Parkers any day!!

And what would the distance be? 200? 300 yards? I'm just saying if your shooting for long distance you need to push the speed limit a bit. If your going for 300 and don't want 40 inches of drop you best be pushing that bullet about 2600 fps or faster. Oh wait, you can't push the pure soft lead that fast. One thing to keep in mind is that the better bullets work well up close when your hitting them near full speed and out at distance when your speed drops to around 1200 to 1400 fps.

Those Dead Centers were designed for average ML speeds. Blackhorn is even pushing what they can handle. When pure lead is pushed hard it obturates in the bore to a degree that throws off it's accuracy. This doesn't occur when using other subs like Pyrodex and even Triple 7. Smokeless with pure lead doesn't work well unless your using light charges. Does not make for good long range hunting.

 

[Crow Terminator]

I have just came in from our shooting range with my ML.

Mine is a Remington Genesis in 1/28 twist. Twist rate determines a lot of what grain bullet you should be shooting. 1/28 will favor a heavier bullet, say 300 grains+.

Now that said, I have been shooting the 300 grain T/C Shockwaves and I really like how they shoot but I ran out of them and the stores were wiped clean of them as well. So I bought a couple of boxes of Hornady SST in 300 grains.

I shoot 777 in pellet form; use 100 grains of it. I have tried 150 grain magnum loads but my shoulder and gun didn't really like that but it does seem to like 100 grains.

I had mine set center at 100 with the Shockwaves and just came in from shooting the Hornady SSTs. At 100 they shot the same. I was surprised by that. At 150 I'm getting about 5" drop from my 100 center. My range don't go to 200 so I can't tell you how they do there.

We'll have to see how the Hornady does on deer. I never had a problem with the Shockwaves in performance on deer; always got nice blood trails and pass through shots...the problem was I ran out and couldn't find any and have a draw hunt at AEDC the first weekend of Dec.

 

[EastTNHunter]

Hornady makes the shockwave for TC, just puts a dif tip on the sst... same bullet.

 

[Anonymous]

t/c omaga with a nikon omaga shooting a barnes original .458 300 gr with a mmp orange sabot,blackhorn 209 120gr, 250 yds no problem or try barnes 245 gr spitfire mz with a crushed rib sabot.and am sorry for you guys that are useing pellets your missing out on alot try blackhorn 209 you will never go back to 777.

 

[TheLBLman]

What's the best long-range muzzleloader bullet?

Anything you can get to shoot accurately, and shoot enough to know that YOU can shoot accurately at "x" range, that's NOT a Powerbelt. :grin:

I'm not pushing the limits of my .50 cal Savage smokeless (with AA5744 and/or BH209), but with those .40 cal 260-gr Precision Bullets (mentioned above), the gun is very capable out to 200 yards (fist-sized groups all day long at 200 yds).

I know there are better performing bullets on game, but none have produced the accuracy like these for me. I'd rather have that greater accuracy than marginally better performance. Really like the Barnes Bullets, just can't get them to group as well, and all versions were extremely hard to load in my Savage.

250 grain TC Shockwaves......Powder is the most accurate, but most guns wont shoot 150 grains accurately.....90-110 grains for consistency and accuracy....Some guns shoot diff, but most will follow the above.

[size]Can you tell me more? I'd like to know how far I can shoot?[/size]

;)
EWC,

Spoke to a guy out hunting during the Nov. ML who was bragging about how deadly his gun was out to about 250 yards. Not sure about the gun (wasn't a smokeless) but he thought he was "good to go" out at that long range simply because he had topped his muzzleloader with a ballistic reticle scope!

When asked about windage, he said that didn't matter.
He also thought those 250-gr Powerbelts he was shooting were a great longrange bullet since his had those "Aero Tips" on them and his weren't hollow points.

[size]So I guess you can shoot as far as you want. [/size] ;)

 

[TheLBLman]

By the way, if I were not using those "long" saboted .40 cal bullets in my .50 cal muzzleloader, I wouldn't want anything less than a 300-grain bullet on a 150-yard deer.

Seems to me, no matter what, we start really pushing the envelope with a muzzleloader beyond about 150 yards. In fact, one of the best long-range deer hunters I know personally limits his muzzleloader shots to little over 100 yards. This is a guy who shoots weekly at 300 yards, gets sub-minute 300-yard groups with his centerfires, and regularly kills deer with his centerfires at 200 to 300 yards. He has a wall full of mature bucks from Tennessee. Yet, he doesn't believe his muzzleloader is very "ethical" for him to use beyond a little over 100 yards.
Never mind that he can get 3-inch groups at 200 yards with his muzzleloader.

He and I disagree by a few yards on the effective range of our muzzleloaders, but I certainly respect his "opinion" and know where he's coming from in just being a very ethical hunter.

 

[TX300mag]

Wes,
Am I pushing the limit with my Savage? It LOVES the 300g Shockwaves/SSTs in the 2300fps range.

I've killed several around 175 yards and a couple over 200 yards. Good pass throughs on all of them, even through lots of bone.

 

[FULLDRAWXX75]

Mr. Wes Parrish,

Your PM box is full


FDXX75

 

[bigfoot318]

Hornady LeverRevolution .458 diameter, 325 grain bullets. I shoot them at 200 yards in my Savage 10 ML II with great results. Get the orange MMP sabots that are for .458 bullets in a 50 cal muzzleloader.

 

[FULLDRAWXX75]

Hornady LeverRevolution .458 diameter, 325 grain bullets. I shoot them at 200 yards in my Savage 10 ML II with great results. Get the orange MMP sabots that are for .458 bullets in a 50 cal muzzleloader.

What powder brand and charge are you using?

FDXX75